LOCAL SPIN 08.01.13 - KSBW has fun with the immigration facts.

The discussion over immigration reform has seen unprecedented, spontaneous bursts of camaraderie breaking out all over the Central Coast. Union leaders snuggling with Chamber of Commerce chieftains. Growers hugging it out with labor interests. Ag lobbyists talking sweet to Latino activists.

At a July 24 conclave at the National Steinbeck Center, the bipartisan support behind reform was writ large (literally) as the California Strawberry Commission-sponsored event brought together a diverse group of interests to sign an outsized letter urging Congress to reach an agreement on meaningful immigration reform this year.

But as has been widely reported by everyone from the Washington Post to The Daily Kos, House Speaker John Boehner will not let the bill come to the floor, not without backup. If he can’t get the support of a majority of House Republicans, he won’t even try, and many House Republicans are looking at the bill with skepticism. As Jamelle Bouie writes in the Post, most see it as an amnesty program, even though without reform, the GOP stands to alienate Latino voters more than they did during the last elections.

Interesting, then, that in the joyous little bubble that is immigration chatter on the Central Coast, one bizarre voice stands out, determined once again to be wrong.

That voice belongs to none other than Joe Heston, president and general manager of KSBW.

Heston took to the airwaves last week to applaud the efforts of House Republicans in supporting the Dream Act, and for putting forth ideas that offer a fast track to citizenship for children brought to this country illegally by their parents. (Yet they’ve done nothing to address the issues of the migrant laborer parents who brought the kids here.)

And then, as he is wont to do, Heston went there.

“The Democrats say, ‘Not enough.’ For them it appears that immigration reform is an all-or-nothing deal,” he says. “We’re not here to argue the merits of either side’s proposals on immigration reform – or which party has the higher ground. For a person or political party to play for an all-or-nothing, one-size-fits-all victory, is truly a disservice to our nation.”

I guess in one way Joe’s right. He didn’t argue the merits or which party had the higher ground. He may not know. He went straight ahead and blamed the Democrats.

It happened that our top local elected Dem dropped by the office on Monday for one of his regular visits. He hadn’t seen the Heston editorial, so we showed it to him.

Sam Farr’s response, some feel, might not be appropriate to print in a semi-family newspaper. But it was sure fun to hear.

After he collected himself, Farr pointed out that while the Central Coast is indeed exhibiting unity on immigration reform (even Republican Rep. Jeff Denham is out stumping for it), elsewhere in the state, you have guys like House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield.

“You have members of Congress in the state who still reject immigration reform,” Farr says. “There’s great opportunity for political organizing, a chance to take it door to door.

“In California, you’re seeing a lot of unity,” he adds. “You can’t find any entity that isn’t for immigration reform.”

On Aug. 14, the grassroots are going to Bakersfield and straight to McCarthy’s door. As Whip, McCarthy is in charge of getting the votes Boehner claims he wants. No McCarthy, no bill. And right now, McCarthy isn’t saying or doing much of anything. The group organizing the event plans to send a caravan of 1,100 cars representing 27 cities to Bakersfield.

A few days after the Steinbeck gathering, I had the honor of meeting Gilbert Padilla. Padilla is a child of farm laborers who became a child farm laborer, a WWII veteran who returned from the war to find Latino servicemen were being spat upon and a founder of the Community Service Organization – a predecessor to the United Farm Workers. Padilla served as secretary-treasurer of the UFW from 1973 to 1980, and he was in town to visit old friends.

One of those friends (who is one of mine) swung him by the office. We chatted, and talk turned, yes, to immigration reform. I commented one labor official had described the immigration bill to me as “a modern day bracero program.”

I admit, I wasn’t taking notes during my conversation with Padilla. But at the mention of bracero comparison, Padilla nodded, smiled, shrugged and commented along the lines of, growers will always be growers, and the bill might be better than nothing.

And right now, better than nothing is a good place to start. Even Joe would have to admit that.

Mary Duan is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com