JULIE VADER
›› UPFRONT
Tea and little sympathy Immigration debate verifies one thing— great lunch to be had at Le Chalet!
I
JULIE VADER
t had all the markings of an interesting monthly meeting of the Marin Coalition: good food (Le Chalet Basque’s vegetarian al dente pasta was excellent) seasoned with high anticipation of a verbal battle between two men on polar-opposite sides of the illegal immigration issue. It was scheduled to begin at about dessert time. Well, there was no dessert and the debate was punctuated only a couple of times by short angry outbursts that ended as quickly as they had begun and may have been barely audible to those 30 or so attending the Marin Coalition-sponsored luncheon last week at the longstanding Santa Venetia restaurant. The topic of the luncheon was, as spelled out by the Marin Coalition, “The Use of E-Verify, the government’s Internet based system that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States.” Debating the issue was Novato attorney Jerome Ghigliotti Jr., the sometimes volatile, always controversial leading proponent of E-Verify, and Tom Wilson, the mild-mannered and soft-spoken director of Marin’s Canal Alliance. The topic was prompted by the as yet fruitless attempt by Ghigliotti to get Novato to adopt E-Verify—in which the city would use the federal Internet system to verify the legality of employees,
Ghigliotti, and other like-minded people, want ‘to bring back the American way of life.’ 12 PACIFIC SUN APRIL15 - APRIL 21, 2011
and those with whom it contracts, through checks of Social Security information, among other things. He sees it as a means of reducing what he says is the burgeoning number of illegal immigrants in Marin’s northernmost city. The City Council has refused to adopt it as an ordinance or to put the question to voters despite an apparent successful signature drive by Ghigliotti to do just that. The matter is now in Marin Superior Court, which is expected to rule on it in May. (Note: Ghigilotti was ushered out of one Novato City Council meeting by police last September for, according to the council, noisily disrupting a meeting; he used his public-comment time to issue an anti-illegal-immigrant edict to those in attendance—adding, it seems, fuel to his fiery determination to make E-verify law in Novato). Ghigliotti said at the luncheon that he began his crusade when it became apparent to him that Novato had changed— meaning, he said, he had observed more and more Hispanics in the town. “I formed a group of like-minded people wanting change to bring back the American way of life,” he said. Wilson of the Canal Alliance countered with the observation that immigrants through history had been the backbone of America, providing the workforce that has grown the economy through the years. He also noted that the term “illegal” immigrants seems “pretty harsh” and that they should be referred to as “unauthorized” immigrants. They have come to this country after fleeing untenable economic and social conditions in their native country and have contributed much to the economy of America, he said. “Illegal is illegal,” countered Ghigliotti, adding: “Why can’t they better themselves in the country in which they were born?” Ghigliotti cited all manner of illegal acts that he said illegal immigrants engage in to stay in this country, including using false birth certificates, Social Security information and filing worker compensation claims for injuries incurred in jobs they are illegally holding. It was about at this point that the contretemps occurred, not between Ghigliotti and Wilson, but between Ghigliotti and a member of the audience, Dr. William Rothman of Belvedere. Rothman over the years has been a candidate for numerous publicly elected positions in Marin and, like Ghigliotti, is not foreign to controversy. (According to a Marin Magazine story this month, Rothman has opined that the
Le Chalet Basque’s vegetarian al dente pasta was excellent.
Pledge of Allegiance should not be recited at the beginning of Belvedere City Council meetings. “I’ve always felt the pledge had a childlike quality to it,” he is quoted as saying. Because of this he remains seated during the pledge, according to the article). It was apparent at last week’s luncheon that Ghigliotti and Rothman had locked horns before. Rothman attempted to ask Ghigliotti a question. Ghigliotti glared at him and said: “You are consistently out of order so please be quiet!” The other JULIE VADER
by D on Sp e ic h
‘The American dream is an immigrant dream,’ said Wilson.
attendees appeared puzzled, as Rothman had not been cited as out of order before his attempt to pose a question to the Novato attorney, himself no stranger to charges of being out of order at meetings. At another point, Rothman, undaunted, tried again with a question. Ghigliotti angrily responded: “You have been repeatedly rude to me.” At this point looks from others turned from puzzled to downright perplexed, because Rothman had not been repeatedly “rude” at the luncheon. (But, it would appear, he had seemed so to Ghigliotti in some other setting.)
Things settled down after that, and the discussion meandered away from E-Verify (which was never really debated) to the many questions and controversies surrounding the immigration issue in general. Ghigliotti talked about how illegal immigrants are rounded up by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, deported and then “come back [illegally] to the U.S. to sell drugs and live here.” Wilson, on the other hand, painted a completely different picture, saying that immigrants come to this country “because of oppression and poverty, to avoid that suffering.” They come here because of “family values and the American dream. The American dream is an immigrant dream.” The current immigration system is “unjust,” he said. “It separates families and presents problems that can’t be resolved.” Wilson added that the immigrants he knows are hard workers who pay their bills and provide for their families and through their wages help build the American economy. They pay into Social Security and provide a source of income for the financially troubled social program that would not otherwise be there, he said. “We don’t have an immigration problem but an immigration opportunity,” he said. And so it went. It was difficult to judge what effect any of this had on the audience. Some heads could be seen nodding in agreement when Ghigliotti said this or that. Others nodded their agreement with statements by Wilson. Information was shared, opinions were offered, a simmering controversy was revisited—and, most likely, no minds had been changed. But five stars to Le Chalet Basque for excellent food, service and a beautiful, verdant, early spring setting for a debate— or something like one. < Verify your status with Don at dfordonny@yahoo.com.
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