The Key Pol on Reform?

YOU may not have heard of Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of San Jose yet, but it you are interested in the immigration reform issue you certainly will.

Lofgren, 59, a former immigration lawyer, may well be the most important voice in Congress on the issue. That is because she is the head of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.

As such she will have the major task of shepherding whatever immigration legislation eventually makes it to the House through her subcommittee, through the Judiciary Committee and eventually the full House.

The House is where the battle will be joined, as Senator Edward Kennedy and John McCain are expected to ensure that their bill will make it through the Senate with many votes to spare.

How important is Lofgren’s job? Well, consider that the last great immigration reform bill was known as the Simpson/Mazzoli bill after Senator Alan Simpson in the Senate and Congressman Roman Mazzoli, Lofgren’s equivalent in the House, back in 1986.

So far the signs are good that Lofgren will take a very active and positive role. During a live interview with KCBS in San Jose before Christmas, she said this time around the debate should be more focused and there “should be more of a bi-partisan comprehensive approach to the issue that I think was lacking in the last Congress.”

She pointed out that many of the politicians who shouted loudest on being tough on immigration lost in the midterm elections. “So I think that has been a wake up call for the Republicans that people want some practical solutions,” she added.

She stated that the goal was to get some true legislative reform this year in order to avoid the presidential elections in 2008 when it will be very difficult to deal with such a divisive issue.

That seems like a very good start for Lofgren on the issue which, no doubt, will come as music to the ears of pro-immigration reform veterans. The fact that she was an immigration lawyer also certainly helps as she needs no assistance in getting up to speed on the issue, unlike many other leading figures in the debate.

LOFGREN has an interesting past in San Jose politics. She was elected in 1994, the only freshman Democrat elected west of the Rockies in what was an overwhelmingly Republican year which saw Newt Gingrich and the GOP take control of the House for the first time in over 40 years.

However, it was her success in the primary which caused waves.

The overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination was San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery, very well known in Irish American circles.

McEnery had twinned San Jose with Dublin, had written his master’s thesis on Michael Collins and was scion of one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the San Jose area, the center of Silicon Valley.

However, Lofgren caused a huge upset which effectively ended McEnery’s political career. A few months later she won her seat and has held it easily since.

She is not without Irish connections. Her husband John Collins is a prominent Irish American in the San Jose area.

FORMER New York resident and IRA prisoner Gerry McGeough is resident in Ireland these days, where he is editing a magazine called The Hibernian which is actively advertising in Irish American circles for subscribers.

While in New York McGeough made clear his extremely conservative views and was close to the Ancient Order of Hibernians leadership. However, The Hibernian has been attacked in the anti-racism British publication The Searchlight which accuses McGeough and the magazine of perpetrating fascist ideals.

Searchlight reports that McGeough “first emerged as a figure on the Irish extreme right when he accompanied Justin Barrett on a lecture tour of Irish towns in March 2004 in support of Barrett’s bid for election to the European Parliament.

“Support fell away from Barrett following the exposure of his and his supporters’ links to European neo-fascist groups …Barrett had also attended the German NDP’s National Day of Resistance rally in Passau in May 2000 at which former members of the Third Reich spoke along with international neo-fascist figures…”

McGeough’s intent, according to Searchlight, is to reinvigorate the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Ireland, which has long become largely a moribund group composed of elderly men who give donations to Catholic charitable causes.

McGeough’s Mission

FORMER New York resident and IRA prisoner Gerry McGeough is resident in Ireland these days, where he is editing a magazine called The Hibernian which is actively advertising in Irish American circles for subscribers.

While in New York McGeough made clear his extremely conservative views and was close to the Ancient Order of Hibernians leadership. However, The Hibernian has been attacked in the anti-racism British publication The Searchlight which accuses McGeough and the magazine of perpetrating fascist ideals.

Searchlight reports that McGeough “first emerged as a figure on the Irish extreme right when he accompanied Justin Barrett on a lecture tour of Irish towns in March 2004 in support of Barrett’s bid for election to the European Parliament.

“Support fell away from Barrett following the exposure of his and his supporters’ links to European neo-fascist groups …Barrett had also attended the German NDP’s National Day of Resistance rally in Passau in May 2000 at which former members of the Third Reich spoke along with international neo-fascist figures…”

McGeough’s intent, according to Searchlight, is to reinvigorate the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Ireland, which has long become largely a moribund group composed of elderly men who give donations to Catholic charitable causes.