This is beyond funny:
The Canadian political operative hired by the California Republican Party on a coveted H1B visa to do campaign consulting has been fired after it was revealed he was apparently working in violation of immigration law.
The dismissal, announced this week, came after The Chronicle reported last month that Christopher Matthews apparently violated federal immigration law when he also earned money from a second employer.
So was he using the GOP to get into the country to really work for somebody else? Nope, he was double-dipping with the San Diego GOP to apparently break the law. Talk about heads exploding…
Sources said that some officials in the state GOP discussed hiring an immigration attorney to defend Matthews after the news stories revealed the apparent violation.
But that idea was scrapped after other party leaders argued that spending money to defend Matthews could subject state GOP officials – who have often been outspoken in their criticism of illegal immigration – to charges of hypocrisy.
“Would they have done that if his name was Mario Lopez?” asked one GOP official who was in on the discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Of course, this story has to remind readers of the context:
This was the second time in recent months the state GOP has faced questions about hiring foreign workers who have been targeted by immigration officials.
Matthews was hired for his job by Michael Kamburowski, an Australian citizen who in 2007 was named the state GOP’s chief operations officer. Kamburowski resigned the $130,000-a-year post after The Chronicle reported last year that he had sued federal officials who jailed him in 2004 for alleged visa violations and attempted to deport him.
The Chronicle reported this week that federal court records also show that Kamburowski had no valid visa or work permit – and no legal right to stay in the United States – during the five years he worked as a high-profile lobbyist for conservative icon Grover Norquist, a longtime adviser to President Bush and other GOP leaders.
Californian’s Republican Party!