Politician at the door

I was showering the kids and the doorbell rang. My wife we dealing with the boy so I ran down to greet a rather large smiling man on our porch. I’m not a small man. I’m comfortably over six foot and check out my post about my lovelies for an idea of my girth. See it here: http://inandoutoftruth.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-lovelies.html . This man made me feel a little small but his smile seemed genuine.

He introduced himself as Bob DaSilva and he is seeking to become Rhode Island state representative. A politician was at my door. Now when Barack Obama was looking to become the candidate we had swarms of college kids doing a politically motivated version of Ding Dong Drop but instead of running after they rang the doorbell, their jaws would drop when I started asking questions about Obama’s policy. This was actually the politician at my door. I felt so important.

I had come from shampooing the kids. I still had my work shirt on but unbuttoned to my navel and my shirt sleeves we rolled up as high as they could go. I had my slacks still on but I didn’t have on shoes or sock. I was also wet and covered in shampoo foam. That is how I met Bob Silva. His first comment to me was, “Washing the kids? That’s how I look when I wash mine.” He shook my hand and then casually flicked off some of the shampoo I dripped onto him. I immediately liked him.

Bob is a democratic candidate seeking to replace State Representative Henry Rose who is retiring at 67. It was nice to shake his hand (shampoo and all), he really did seem to be a likable guy, but I had questions before I would support him. First, I asked, how did he feel about Rhode Island State Senator Paiva-Weed, the democratic Rhode Island Senate Majority Leader, blocking a vote on a bill requiring the use of E-verify. I wrote about it here: http://inandoutoftruth.blogspot.com/2008/06/its-out-own-fault.html . Basically, E-verify is a system were employers can go online and verify the working status of new employees. If the employee doesn’t show up in the system, the employee can challenge it immediately and correct any mistakes. If there weren’t any mistakes, that person is not eligible to legally work in the United States. Paiva-Weed refused to allow the legislature to vote on the bill. She killed the democratic process and didn’t allow our representatives to even vote. Bob is from the same party and was appropriate but basically said that the legislature should have had the opportunity to vote. I warmed to Bob some more but I had another question.

I asked Bob about the use of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) database. This database is something law enforcement departments can use to submit identification checks on individuals. It will tell if the person is in the United States legally. It will also alert ICE if there is someone who needs to be deported. At this point, I probably was coming across as some racist. Bob could have told me what a racist wanted to hear and say run every hombre through the system and deport everyone who has a tan or darker skin but he didn’t. Bob told me he was a police officer and believed in enforcing the law. He would not support profiling or running anyone will dark skin through ICE for every speeding ticket. One the other hand, he would support running ICE checks on anyone who was arrested and brought to the police station. Luckily, I do think there are a lot of great American citizens who come from central and south America and profiling would be against their constitutionally granted rights. I do support ICE ID checks on all arrests.

I know I have preached voting 3rd party from president down to dog catcher but I think Bob DeSilva is going to get my vote.


Here are a few articles relating to Bob DeSilva:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2008/06/03/state_rep_henry_rose_to_step_down/
http://www.projo.com/news/content/EB_EPROV_ROSE_3_06-03-08_HQACAO8_v29.3b7a83e.html
http://bobdasilva.com/