NEW: RI Taxpayers Speak Out Against Immigrant Drivers' Licenses
GoLocalProv News Team
NEW: RI Taxpayers Speak Out Against Immigrant Drivers' Licenses
“Rhode Island's unemployment rate ticked up in December to the highest in the country,” pointed out R.I. Taxpayers spokesperson Monique Chartier. “It is stunning that the response of the Governor and advocates in the General Assembly is to make it easier for illegal aliens to take jobs away from legal immigrants and US citizens.”
RI Taxpayers also suggest that illegal immigration represents a very real financial burden to taxpayers at both the local and state level. While Rhode Island officials have not put a figure on the cost to local and state taxpayers of education, uncompensated healthcare and other services provided to undocumented immigrants, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimated this cost in 2010 at $278,000,000.
“Of course, Rhode Island cannot make immigration policy or single-handedly solve the national problem of illegal immigration. But we can do a lot to mitigate its impact on our state's employment rate and already over-burdened budgets with some very reasonable policy measures that discourage illegal immigration into the state,” Chartier stressed.
Yesterday on WPRO, Chafee referred to the drivers licenses “a logical step.”
"It is a logical step only if the goal is to exacerbate the state's unemployment rate and budget woes," Chartier emphasized. "Drivers licenses for illegal aliens are a complete non-starter. Our elected officials need to enact policies that are good for the state as a whole, not just a very narrow band of special interest advocates."
Is Clay Pell the Next Lincoln Chafee?
Family Legacy - Chafee
Lincoln Chafee is the son of John Chafee, the former Governor of Rhode Island, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of the Navy, who was a decorated WWII and Korean War Veteran, and posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Named in his honor include the USS Chafee (DDG-90), the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor and the John H. Chafee National Wildlife Refuge.
Family Legacy - Pell
Grandfather Claiborne Pell was Rhode Island's longest serving Senator, having served six terms from 1961 to 1997, whose legacy includes the Pell Grant, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
A decorated coast guard lieutenant in WWII and foreign service officer, Pell's Rhode Island legacy includes the Newport Bridge being renamed the Claiborne Pell Bridge, as well as the Pell Center of International Relations and Public Policy established at Salve Regina University.
Money - Chafee
Both Chafees and Senator Pell had to disclose as members of the U.S. Senate personal financial information -- and both a considerable net worth.
The U.S. Senate is known as the U.S. Millionaires Club -- in 2005, while Chafee was still in the Senate, Open Secrets pegged Chafee's wealth at between $40 and $63 million dollars.
Money - Pell
In a Time piece entitled "The New Limousine Liberals", the magazine pegged grandfather Pell's net worth at $12.7 million -- in 1992.
The website Celebrity Net Worth puts wife Michelle Kwan's personal wealth at $8 million.
While Pell's first campaign finance report has yet to be made public, records show Pell gave Democratic challenger Gina Raimondo $250 during her bid for General Treasurer in 2010.
Education - Chafee
Chafee was educated public schools in Warwick, and attended private schools Providence Country Day, and Phillips Academy before graduating from Brown University.
Chafee then attended the Montana State University in the horseshoeing school.
Education - Pell
Early Career -- Chafee
Chafee served as a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention in 1985, and was elected to the Warwick City Council the following year.
He was Warwick's mayor in 1992 until 1999, when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1999 when his father passed away while in office.
Early Career -- Pell
Named to the 2011-2012 class of White House Fellows, Pell served as Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Staff prior to his appointment by President Obama as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International and Foreign Language Education last April.
Wife - Chafee
Wife - Pell
A decorated Olympic figure skater and world champion, Michelle Kwan went on to pursue a career in public service, serving as an American Public Diplomacy Envoy as well as on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports -- and was recently inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
