COX Newspapers Washington Bureau

REPUBLICAN CONVENTION COVERAGE: Watch this space for frequent updates!

Home > Window on Washington > Archives > 2006 > May > 17 > Entry

Mr. Rove Goes to Capitol Hill

By Ken Herman | Wednesday, May 17, 2006, 09:57 PM

Karl Rove was dispatched Wedneday to Capitol Hill to lobby House Republicans opposed to President Bush’s proposed guest worker program that could lead to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The session, according to White House spokesman Tony Snow, was “hopeful, optimistic and positive.” But Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and an opponent of the guest worker idea, offered a less upbeat review of the 30-minute session with the House Republican Conference. “Karl Rove had his hat handed to him,” Issa told reporters. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said Rove’s appearance was not a “persuasive event.” “If it was about Karl Rove seeking to convince members of Congress after debate that he’s right and we’re wrong it would have been better not to have the meeting,” King said. Two sources who were at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity because it was a private session, said Rove made no progress in luring support for the guest worker concept. “They made arguments prefaced by, ‘Listen, in my district…,’” a congressional staffer said of how some attendees noted that there is no way they could support a guest worker program. Sources at the Wednesday GOP session with Rove, including an administration-friendly adviser, said some lawmakers – including Reps. J.D. Hayworth, R-Arizona, and Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., - stood to voice their opposition to the guest worker provision, but did so in respectful tones. “There was a spirit of we’re all on the same team,” the source said. Rep. Ric Keller, R-Florida, asked the long-term question: What can be done to bolster economies of other nations so that their citizens won’t feel the need to head north. Rove told lawmakers that Mexico’s economy is growing, partly as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement. At the White House after the meeting, Snow, who did not attend the session, called it a positive event. “I’ve seen some talk that maybe this was going to be a highly contentious meeting,” Snow said. “The readout I get is that it was not at all. It was respectful.” Snow added, “People were obviously having exchanges of views on things.”

Permalink | |