[Todd White, Chairman, EDC Republican Party]
In March Placerville City Councilwoman Wendy Thomas put a resolution on the city council’s agenda that opposes Senate Bill 54. If passed by the state Legislature, SB 54 would make California a so-called “sanctuary state.” In reality, California would not become a sanctuary at all, but a safe haven for hardened criminals who are in the United States illegally.
SB 54 passed the state Senate and is now headed for a vote in the state Assembly. Since SB 54 violates federal law, California and El Dorado County are at risk for being in the midst of hardened criminals, who are being safeguarded by the state. Also, the state and county are at risk of losing federal funding.
The El Dorado County Republican Party has been working on getting a resolution opposing SB 54 passed by the county Board of Supervisors and the Placerville City Council for months. Our committee was given assurances by a county supervisor that he would place the item on the county’s agenda. This county supervisor later went back on his word and reprimanded our committee for risking our county’s position in terms of forestry and water issues. I’m not sure how illegal immigration correlates with water and trees, but I may need to be a bureaucrat to understand.
Since the resolution opposing SB 54 was pulled from the Placerville City Council’s agenda in March, Councilwoman Thomas has been working diligently with the agricultural community and business leaders to ensure that a resolution opposing SB 54 has to do with complying with the rule of law and ensuring that criminals are not given a safe haven anywhere in our county.
We also would like to thank Hispanic-American City Councilwoman Trisha Wilkins. The child of a single mother, who was also a farm laborer here in EDC, she knows first-hand how hard working the farm labor community is and does not seek to put those families at risk. She also knows that American freedom and opportunity are what has brought her the success that she enjoys today as a city councilwoman. We thank her for her support in opposing SB 54.
As we continue the move toward opposing SB 54 we would like to thank City Councilwoman Thomas for taking the time to have real dialogue. Politicians will tell their constituents all day long they will do something, but when it comes down to following through the end results can be rather anticlimactic. Fortunately, this has not been our committee’s experience with Councilwomen Thomas and Wilkins.
TODD WHITE
Chairman, EDC Republican Party
