Bill White, Houston Police, and Sanctuary Cities
Bill White is described as livid over Perry's ad on Sgt. Johnson. From Kelley Shannon's AP report:
perryvsworld.com
Democrat Bill White accused Republican Gov. Rick Perry on Monday of "shamelessly" exploiting the widow of a Houston police officer who was killed by an illegal immigrant by using her in an ad that blames the former mayor's immigration policies for the death.
Corrie MacLaggan wrote down Officer Johnson's reply:
In Perry's ad, Sgt. Joslyn Johnson, Rodney Johnson's widow and herself a member of the Houston police force, comes down firmly on Perry's side.
She said in an interview Monday that she doesn't share Perry's political party affiliation but that this issue "goes above my beliefs as a Democrat."
In the ad, she says Quintero had been arrested and convicted several times before and had been deported.
She says White supported "sanctuary city policies that made it difficult for officers to safely do their jobs."
"I trust Governor Perry to secure our safety," she says in the ad. "Bill White had his opportunity as mayor of Houston, and he failed."
This is the downside to White's claim that it is a "total fabrication" that Houston is a sanctuary city. General Order 500-5 of the Houston Police Department prohibits officers from inquiring about citizenship status. The Houston Police Officer wanted that order rescinded. Bill White, who is in favor of the policy, refused to even let there be a public debate.
Whether Bill White wants to deny that Houston is a sanctuary city is irrelevant to the fact that the Houston Police Officers are livid about that and have been for some time. [By the way, what does Bill White want to call Houston? A semi-sanctuary city? Mildly sanctuary? It's pretty clear that Houston has different law on the subject than other cities, including Section 287(g) as well as General Order 500-5.] To those of us who lived in Houston while White was mayor, the ad isn't shocking. It's not so much pro-Perry as it is anti-White.
Strangely, the Houston Police were not persuaded by Austin journalists' Politipinions on whether Houston is a sanctuary city.
perryvsworld.com
Perry, White spar over immigration after emotional new TV ad
Officer's widow says White's policies led to shooting; White says ad exploits widow's grief. Enlarge Photo Rick Perry
Enlarge Photo Bill White
Texans for Rick Perry/COURTESY OF YOUTUBE
Enlarge Photo Sgt. Joslyn Johnson of the Houston Police Department, the widow of slain officer Rodney Johnson, appears in an ad for Gov. Rick Perry. She says former Mayor Bill White supported 'sanctuary city policies that made it difficult for officers to safely do their jobs.'
.By Corrie MacLaggan AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 9:27 p.m. Monday, Oct. 25, 2010
Post a Comment E-mail Print ShareLarger Type Small Type
In an emotional new ad featuring the widow of a slain Houston police officer, GOP Gov. Rick Perry's campaign suggests that the city's approach to immigration under former Mayor Bill White led to the officer's death in 2006.
On Monday, White, Perry's Democratic challenger, strongly denounced the ad.
"He's exploiting shamelessly the grief of a widow," White told reporters in Austin. "He's making false, negative campaign ads to try to hide his own record" on border security.
At issue is the death of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson, who was shot and killed by an undocumented immigrant during a traffic stop four years ago. While handcuffed in the back seat of Johnson's patrol car, Juan Leonardo Quintero shot Johnson several times. Johnson had searched the man but overlooked a pistol in his waistband.
Perry's camp says that a stronger city immigration policy — allowing police to ask about people's immigration status even if they are not under arrest — could have saved Johnson's life. But White laid the blame on the Perry administration for allowing deported criminals to be removed from a sex offender list, as Johnson's killer was.
The fight, which comes during the final, furious days before next Tuesday's election, goes to the heart of one of the most hot-button issues this campaign season: immigration.
In Perry's ad, Sgt. Joslyn Johnson , Rodney Johnson's widow and herself a member of the Houston police force, comes down firmly on Perry's side.
She said in an interview Monday that she doesn't share Perry's political party affiliation but that this issue "goes above my beliefs as a Democrat."
In the ad, she says Quintero had been arrested and convicted several times before and had been deported.
She says White supported "sanctuary city policies that made it difficult for officers to safely do their jobs."
"I trust Governor Perry to secure our safety," she says in the ad. "Bill White had his opportunity as mayor of Houston, and he failed."
White, though, said that federal and state officials have failed to secure the Texas-Mexico border against people such as Quintero.
Perry defended the ad during a campaign stop in Houston, saying that if White finds fault with Joslyn Johnson's own words, "then he needs to have that conversation with her."
Perry also noted that he's been endorsed by the Houston Police Officers Union, where Johnson is on the board.
"I think it's a powerful thing for your hometown police union to stand up and say we've worked with this guy, we know how he operates, and we don't want him to be governor," Perry said.
The ad's sanctuary city charge is an explosive one.
PolitiFact Texas rated False a charge by a state Republican Party leader earlier this year that White "offered sanctuary to illegal immigrants."
Houston police ask about the citizenship status of every person who is booked into jail, White campaign spokeswoman Katy Bacon said.
And through the Secure Communities program, Houston police check the fingerprints of arrested people against federal databases.
But Houston police officers do not ask people about their immigration status during routine patrols.
Perry spokesman Mark Miner said Monday that if Rodney Johnson had been allowed to ask about the immigration status of the man who ended up killing him, "that had the potential to save his life."
Miner could not explain exactly how.
Instead, Miner pointed out that White did not comply with a request from the Houston Police Officers Union that officers be allowed to ask about immigration status during routine patrols. That request, after the shooting of another officer by an illegal immigrant, came three years after Johnson's death.
"My guys get tired of dealing with the criminal aliens out here, and it seems like the severity of the crimes is escalating, and that's frustrating to the rank and file," Gary Blankinship , the union's president, told the Houston Chronicle in 2009.
A spokesman for White said at the time that White had no plans to change the policy, in part because his administration wanted people to feel comfortable reporting crimes. White left office in January, and the policy remains unchanged.
"What the mayor has said repeatedly is the police have to focus on what they do best, solving crimes and protecting our neighborhoods," the spokesman, Frank Michel , told the Chronicle in 2009.
statesman.com |
