To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter 178

No, you did not accidentally open a message from me dated last October. :-)
There really are candidates involved, as I will explain, but first,
please bear with me.

I do not endorse political candidates in this e-newsletter, as I don't
consider that to be proper.  However, I do analyze their positions on
H-1B and offshoring, and have written about the politics--money
politics, that is--of those topics.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a lifelong Democrat, but on the H-1B
issue, both major parties are culpable, succumbing to pressure from a
variety of groups having vested interests in the visa--industry CEOs,
the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the university lobby and
so on.  And in addition to campaign contributions, many in Congress have
the gut feeling that the tech industry is the last bastion of American
economic power, so "don't mess with it," e.g. by reforming H-1B.
Indeed, as some people who call their senators and representatives tell
me, many on the Hill are rather closed-minded on the issue.  The
excellent bipartisan Durbin/Grassley bill in the Senate is a welcome
exception, but there were no cosponsors to the bill, last I heard.

In that sense, H-1B is a microcosm for the current ills of our
democratic process.  Monied lobbyists and DC insiders run the show.  As
such, an analysis of the politics involved is worthwhile, even though
this is an election only for a specific congressional district.

As it happens, it is my district.  The current office holder, Ellen
Tauscher, has resigned in order to accept a position in the Obama
administration, so we now have an election to replace her.  There is
an excellent information page on the election in Wikipedia, at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California's_10th_congressional_district_special_election,_2009

Also, you can read a posting I made to my e-mail list early this year on
the political mess, complete with quotes from two politicians admitting
that Congress voted for a higher H-1B cap in 2000 primarily due to
campaign contributions from the industry, and with some material on
Tauscher, at http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/WhyDontTheyListen.txt

Well, last Saturday, a man who is a family member of one of the candidates
was canvassing for votes in my neighborhood.  He stopped at my house, so
I asked him the candidate's stance on H-1B.  He didn't know, but called
the candidate, and then informed me that the candidate had said, "Many
CEOs in Silicon Valley have told me that we have a shortage of
programmers and engineers, so we need H-1Bs."  This of course is the
standard line for those already holding office, but I was startled to
see that the industry had apparently talked to each of the candidates
already.

Meanwhile, a reader of this e-newsletter who also lives in the district
tells me that one candidate, Anthony Woods, actually does favor reform
of H-1B.  She e-mailed me his message, which I'm enclosing below.
Without sounding negative about the reader, which I do not intend,
I must note here that I have not verified this message as coming
from Woods.  It is not on his campaign Web page.  But I believe it
is genuine, and I assume a summary will soon be added to Woods' Web
page.  (If so, I will send out an update message, in fairness to him.)

I must say that I'm disturbed to see that Woods' Web site does say the
following:  "...we must reform our visa system to make it easier for
talented minds from all over the world to contribute to American
industries and research institutions."  This is the "instant green card"
idea, which is just as harmful as H-1B, as I've explained before.  The
reason I'm disturbed to see that is that someone seems to have
"educated" Woods too--probably the Democratic Party.

I feel the need to reiterate that I'm not endorsing Woods, either
directly or by some nefarious scheme to endorse him on the sly by
making a disclaimer to the contrary. :-)  I don't know whom I'll vote
for yet, though it's a safe bet that it won't be the one whose family
member came to my door last Saturday. :-)

Norm

Woods' message:

> There is an urgent need for Comprehensive Visa reform in this country.  It
> is time to stop large corporations from discriminating against Americans and
> permanent residents to save money by hiring guest workers on H-1B Visas at a
> lower wage than existing workers.
>
> Senate Bill 887, introduced by Senator Richard Durbin, is a fine step toward
> solving these problems.  This bill would require employers to make a good
> faith effort to hire Americans first, stop the practice of "H-1B Only" ads
> for potential employees, prevent H-1B and L-1 workers from exceeding 50% of
> an employer's labor force, and provide for auditing and accountability for
> all companies who participate in the H-1B program.  I support this
> legislation and hope that it is a part of any comprehensive immigration
> reform package.
>
> At a time when unemployment is soaring and our nation is facing the worst
> recession in decades, we must pass legislation like this to ensure that
> Americans have a chance to compete for American jobs, so that employers
> don't simply outsource on our own soil. 
>
> I hope you will join me in this campaign, so that I can work to bring common
> sense solutions like this to the United States Congress.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Anthony Woods