Republican gubernatorial candidates Allen Weh, left, and Susana Martinez.
Republican gubernatorial candidates Susana Martinez and Allen Weh continued their sparring on Tuesday, but there are some gray areas and inconsistencies in their arguments that need to be pointed out.
First, on the question of whether Weh supported amnesty in 2007 when he backed President Bush’s immigration reform proposal: Martinez says in her new ad that Weh supported amnesty. Weh calls that allegation false.
The proposal would have required anyone here illegally who wanted to start down the path of becoming a citizen to first pay a fine and back taxes and meet other requirements.
Many – but not all – on the right called that amnesty, saying anything that allowed undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States and work toward citizenship was amnesty. President Bush defended the proposal as not being amnesty – a claim Karl Rove continues to make to this day. Many on the left agreed, pointing to the fact that there was a price that had to be paid for breaking the law before an undocumented immigration could begin the path toward citizenship.
The point? This isn’t a black-and-white issue. Martinez is taking a position – saying what Weh supported was amnesty – and Weh takes the opposite position that it’s not amnesty.
There’s a huge amount of disagreement in America about whether letting people who are here illegally stay – while facing some penalties less severe than deportation – is amnesty.
Weh kept running his false ad
One other point needs to be made about the latest sparring between Weh and Martinez. Weh, through one of his supporters, former state Senator Steve Komadina, said Tuesday that Martinez should stop airing her “false” ad.
“We believe the ad needs to come down immediately because it is not just negative, it is false. The assertion is laughable,” Komadina said.
But when I proved a month ago that Weh’s TV ad attacking Democratic gubernatorial candidate Diane Denish included a false claim, Weh didn’t stop airing it. He kept it going for weeks.
So does Weh want all candidates to stop airing false ads, or does he want to reserve the right to spread untruths while holding other candidates to a higher standard?