In 1994, Californians, including Governor Pete Wilson and even Arnold voted overwhelmingly for Proposition 187.
The GOP-backed Proposition 187 to deny health care and public education to illegal immigrants was passed by a wide margin, although it was eventually ruled unconstitutional. It remains a contentious issue and a litmus test for some voters, particularly Hispanics, to gauge whether a candidate is immigrant-friendly.
Does it remain a contentious issue? I remember the exit polling showed that a majority of legal immingrants favored the proposal. The only people who seemed to be against this were the ones who cannot legally vote.
Speaking on ABC's "This Week," Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party, slammed Schwarzenegger for his decision to appoint former Gov. Pete Wilson, the architect of Proposition 187, as chairman of his new campaign.
"There's a famous phrase in our community, and that is, judge a person by the friends that he keeps," Torres said. "And unfortunately, his new chairman, Governor Wilson, supported 187 furiously against immigrants and Latinos."
One can only gather that the Democrats are trying to garner the illegal alien vote. Is that the key to winning elections in California?
UPDATE: I was sort of wrong about immigrants favoring this as it turned out. Legal Spanish speaking immigrants voted against this measure. However, Asian immigrants, blacks and non-Hispanic whites voted in favor of it. I guess the big deal is that 600,000 Californians have fled to other states since this vote and over a million new Spanish-speaking immigrants took their place. In other words, the vote would probably have more trouble getting through.
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