Just reading between the lines, the Republican state delegates from the area don’t appear to be appreciative of finding out about Stewart’s ambitions 2nd and 3rd hand. It appears they were blind sided.
After hours, News & Messenger online announced:
Stewart recently formed the “Rule of Law” campaign, saying he hopes to spur state legislators into passing a law similar to the one recently passed Arizona.
The Arizona law, which is similar to an ordinance passed in Prince William County in 2007, allows police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop or suspect of a crime.
Stewart said Arizona lawmakers acted because the feds weren’t enforcing existing immigration laws.
“They’re definitely not doing their job in Virginia,” Stewart said of the federal government.
We have all seen Corey Stewart’s proposals on his website, on local blogs and on facebook.
What have local legislators said as the Corey Stewart Rule of Law Immigration Act was unfurled?
Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R- 31st District, said legislators in Richmond are already on the job.
“We actually passed a law before Prince William did that would restrict services to people not legally present in the United States,” Lingamfeltersaid. “I’m very appreciative of Corey Stewart’s encouragement and support and interest in the topic, but he should be assured — as well as the public — that you have lots of people who are solidly engaged on this issue and will continue to be.”
Lingamfelter said Stewart could be of help operating on the local front.
“I think where Corey could really help if he wanted to is to get the Board of County Supervisors to propose legislation in their legislative package,” Lingamfelter said.
Dismissed. I don’t think Del. Lingamfelter liked the Corey Plan. Delegate Jackson Miller weighed in on the subject:
Del. Jackson H. Miller, R-50th District, echoed Lingamfelter in saying that people are already working on illegal immigration legislation.
“Many of us have been working for years in Richmond on illegal immigration reform and we will continue to do so, and we’re glad that Corey is supporting us,” Miller said.
Miller said he was taken aback when he heard about Stewart’s initiative from secondhand sources.
“I was a little surprised that I hadn’t heard from him because this is an issue that I’ve been working on since I went to Richmond,” Miller said. “Since he wants the state to address this, I’m surprised I haven’t heard from him about it.”
Rather than admit his gaffe, Corey talked back and actually appeared to diss the 2 lawmakers:
Stewart said he might not look to a Prince William representativeto introduce his ideas in Richmond.
“We’re going to choose somebody who can be effective in carrying legislation,” Stewart said.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a delegate from Prince William County,” Stewart said. “In fact it might be a benefit to have someone from outside the county carry the bill.”
Other areas in the state have issues with illegal immigration, Stewart said.
“Northern Virginia is not the only region with illegal immigration problems,” Stewart said. “Harrisonburg, in particular, Virginia Beach and the Hampton Roads area, and some of the faster growing areas are where you’re going to find the worst illegal immigration problems.”
In case you just missed this very pointed insult, Corey clearly believes he will have to travel outside PW Co. to carry on his zany idea. He apparently doesn’t feel his two Republican peers are capable of passing successful legislation.
Delegate Bob Marshall seemed unsure of Virginia law and has written a letter to the AG for clarification.
This behavior seems to demonstrate that once again, Stewart cannot be counted on to be a team player. He appears to be hard-wired to have total disregard for his fellow elected officials. Had he chosen to work with Delegates Miller and Lingamfelter, and include them in his ideas, perhaps some substantive legislation could have been possible, rather than a cut and paste version of the Arizona Law SB 1070 which is a lawsuit magnet. Corey is the little cheese. Miller and Lingamfelter are the Big Cheese.
Should we be surprised? We saw him throw several of his fellow supervisors under the proverbial bus when he handed over emails from them to a local blogger back in 2008 when he was allowing Chief Deane to be called a traitor. Not exactly a trust builder there (on any level). Additionally, he put these same BOS colleagues on the firing line when he left the county and trumpeted his plans to direct county employees not to do the work necessary to register newly qualified recipients of medicaid. He was going to pass a resolution to direct employees to break federal law! The other supervisors knew nothing of this plan either.
