SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) – Rudy Giuliani picked up the support
Thursday of former Gov. Pete Wilson, an endorsement that could be a mixed
blessing for the Republican presidential front-runner because of Wilson’s hardline reputation on illegal immigration.
“America needs America’s mayor to lead us as
president,” Wilson said while endorsing the former mayor of New York.
Wilson, who served terms as a U.S. senator
and San Diego mayor, becomes Giuliani’s most recognized supporter in the
nation’s largest state.
But the endorsement represents some tricky
political calculus for Giuliani, since the immigration policies Wilson
championed as governor in the 1990s are widely blamed for driving Hispanics
away from the GOP in California.
Wilson’s support could help Giuliani lure
support in February’s GOP primary, in which conservatives predominate. But it
could work against him in the general election in November 2008, when a far
larger number of Hispanics would be voting.
“It may be good to have the endorsement of
any former governor of a large and important state like California, but Pete
Wilson comes with a lot of baggage,” said Jaime Regalado,
executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California
State University, Los Angeles.
“He was largely despised by most Latinos,” Regalado said.
Wilson appeared with Giuliani at a hotel in
Santa Monica.
Later, the candidate traveled up the coast to
Santa Barbara and spoke at a luncheon fundraiser.
Wilson is arguably best remembered for his
support for Proposition 187, the 1994 California law that blocked illegal
immigrants from access to most government services.
The law was quickly overturned by the courts
and never took effect, but Wilson became its public face. It was credited with
helping him win re-election but made him a pariah in the Hispanic community.
Giuliani, in his days as New York mayor, was
one of the proposition’s outspoken opponents. He called it “mindless.”
Asked about the proposition Thursday,
Giuliani didn’t directly address its provisions but appeared cautious not to
repudiate the position he had at the time.
“Whatever position I took then, I took then.
It’s part of history, it’s not part of what’s going on right now,” Giuliani
said.
While he disagreed with Wilson on
Proposition 187, “the simple fact is we end up in the same place right now,” he
said.
“We have to end illegal immigration, and we
have to stop it mainly at the border,” Giuliani said.
In recent weeks, Giuliani has been defending
New York’s so-called sanctuary policy, which stopped city workers from
reporting suspected illegal immigrants.
The policy is intended to make illegal
immigrants feel that they can report crimes, send their children to school or
seek medical treatment without fear of being reported. It did require police to
turn in illegal immigrants suspected of committing crimes.
An estimated half-million illegal and
undocumented immigrants live in New York, and only a
fraction are deported each year.
“What’s the best thing to do about that?”
Giuliani asked in 1996. “Put them in a situation in which they keep children
out of school? Put them in a situation in which they don’t go to hospitals? Or
put them in a situation in which they don’t report crimes to the police?”
Does he still support public benefits for
illegal immigrants?
“I think those are very difficult, practical
choices that cities and states are left with, because the federal government
does not do its job,” Giuliani said. “It turns out the practical choices I made
reduced crime.”
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who
was campaigning in Sacramento on Thursday, criticized Giuliani as “a mayor that
welcomed illegal immigrants to his city and presided over a sanctuary city.”
On the presidential campaign trail, Giuliani
has stressed tight border controls and the use of a tamperproof ID card for
guest workers.
“I think he’s gambling that Pete Wilson’s
endorsement will help him in the Republican primary, especially on
immigration,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe,
who teaches political science at the University of Southern California.
“This doesn’t help him with most of the
Latino electorate,” she said.
Associated
Press Writer Laura Kurtzman in Sacramento contributed
to this story.
Copyright
2007 The Associated Press.