Governor's Office Blasts Ballot Initiative on Illegal Aliens

Governor Beebe Opposes the Ballot Initiative to Deny Benefits to Illegal Aliens
His Office Very Condescending to Viewpoints of the Citizens

I called all the Arkansas US legislator offices yesterday and Governor Beebe's office to get them to go on record as to whether they supported Secure ARkansas's ballot initiative to deny certain public benefits to illegal aliens. The Women Action Group is also in the process of calling all the state legislators to see where they stand on the Secure Arkansas petition. We have received many responses back already. The petition can be read at this link http://www.securearkansas.com/Secure_AR_Act_Petition_Final.pdf

I had at least a 30 minute talk with Governor Beebe's office and spoke to the person, Matt DeCample, I was transferred to when I told them I wanted to know the Governor's position on the ballot initiative. He was very condescending and would not believe anything I told him about the things I have learned while collecting a couple of thousand signatures.

He was adamant in his views that illegal aliens are not receiving benefits in Arkansas.

As I tried to tell him about what all the people in the different offices tell me about how illegal aliens ARE receiving benefits, he told me at least five or six times that I was lying or was a liar. He kept saying that if anyone knows that illegal aliens are receiving benefits, that it is their responsibility to report it. I kept telling him that it was the Governor and the Attorney General's responsibility to enforce the law.

You and I know that people in the state offices would lose their jobs if they told the truth to people in charge. And we as individuals have no way of getting the proof. But we know that the Governor and the Attorney General would have the power to view the records of the various departments and determine if state benefits were going to illegal aliens, but they refuse to do the investigation and just close their eyes to the obvious and declare illegal aliens are not getting benefits. In legislative hearings on this subject, some of the department heads had to just estimate the number of illegals being served because they were not keeping records on who was illegal and who wasn't. This was reported in the newspapers. But we heard of no investigations by the Governor or Attorney General that followed such admissions.

I told DeCample that the more than 60,000 signatures we had collected on the petition was a way of the people reporting to them that we wanted the laws enforced and that we knew illegal aliens were getting benefits. I asked him why 95% of the people are signing the petition if the illegal aliens are not getting the benefits, and he said it was because the people had been lied to and because of fear mongers like me. Evidently he doesn't have much respect for Arkansans' intelligence.

I brought up Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona and how she had become a hero because she was fighting for her state. His comment was that Arizona is $4 to $5 billion in debt because of poor governance in the state and that Arkansas balances its budget. That pretty much indicates how the Arkansas Governor's office feels about Arizona's actions and about those of us who are supporting Arizona. He did not believe me when I told him that the reason they are in debt is because of all the illegal aliens they have to support.

DeCample said he did not believe me when I told him that Arkansas was number one in the increase of Hispanics and showed no interest in the credible sources that document that fact. And then he would not believe that most of that increase had to be illegal aliens since it takes a considerable length of time to become legal. Neither would he believe me when I told him of reports that only 1/3 of the illegal aliens in Arkansas even apply for citizenship, which is a much lower percentage than in the nation. In fact, he refused to believe everything I reported to him and showed no interest in all in ascertaining the facts. He told me more than once that he was telling me the truth and that I was refusing to believe him and that the things I was saying were absurdities.

He kept saying that Arkansas law already covers all the provisions in the ballot initiative petition and that all these benefits I was talking about were federal benefits - as if Arkansas has no state funded benefits. I asked him at least two or three times then why are all these states around us passing laws if they are not needed. He said he did not want to talk about other states; that he wanted to talk about Arkansas. When I asked that question the second time, he said the other states just needed those laws to catch up with the laws Arkansas has already passed. I asked him to please tell me one law that Arkansas has that these other states did not have, and he could not tell me of any and basically said we were talking about Arkansas and not other states.

As DeCample kept saying this petition would cover nothing that was already covered by Arkansas law. I specifically asked him wouldn't the initiative protect us from the state's ability to grant almost any form of welfare or benefits they desired to give to illegal aliens if the legislature passed a law to do so (as federal law gives states the right to do – something very few people realize). He didn't deny the truth of the statement but said it was absurd for us to think anyone would want to do that. I referred him back to Joyce Elliott's bill to give instate tuition and scholarships to illegal aliens that passed the House overwhelmingly in 2005 and lost only by 2 votes in the Senate and how Wilkins brought the same bill back up in 2007.

DeCample said that if I wanted to scare people into signing the petition by using that point, to just go ahead but stuck to his point that it would be absurd for anyone to think liberals would actually want to pass laws to give illegal aliens benefits (as if Obama and all those other Democrats are not wanting to give amnesty to them which would give them all the benefits.)

I told him one of my biggest concerns was we were becoming a nation of lawlessness. He said where he lived he saw no lawlessness. I told him that when he passes by a house where 50 Hispanics are working, he knows that a number of them have to be illegal aliens and yet no one does anything - that is lawlessness. His response was that he did not come to the conclusion that just because someone had brown skin they were here illegally and mentioned that he was a Christian, inferring that I was not Christian in my viewpoints – the same old argument we hear all the time from liberals.

I did tell him that if the people of Arkansas could learn that Governor Beebe was opposing this initiative that his poll ratings would drop 10 to 20 percent.

At the end of our conversation, I read him the quotes in the story below that Beebe said on the 2008 petition that we failed to get on the ballot and asked him if this was still Beebe's stand on the ballot initiative in 2010. And he agreed that the following is Beebe's position with the exception that Beebe said it would add to the expense to determine the amount of benefits illegal aliens receive by the departments as required in the petition.

May 20, 08 “Illegal-alien act faulty” by Michael Wickline
"Governor Mike Beebe announced that he will oppose the initiated act by the people that would allow citizens in Arkansas to vote in November to bar illegal aliens from receiving certain state services.
Governor Beebe said that the initiative “would duplicate state and federal laws” and that
“All of the proposal’s major provisions already are covered by federal or state laws.”

I will report back what I learned from the other offices when I finish my conversations with them. Senator Pryor's office has already said that I could report that he would not be signing the petition.

Debbie Pelley
For Women Action Group
www.wpaag.org
email: wpaagorg@gmail.com