NewsNight Minnesota; 7076; NewsNight Minnesota Episode from 01/11/2000; SD-Base

Merrick Minnesota is a production of clay TC old station Minnesota Public Television. NEWSNIGHT is back on the air I'm Little Harben he skins die and I am out a couple of big stories on the local scene I'm going to find out what's next for some illegal immigrants who are working out of Minneapolis Holiday Inn Express. Their lawyer is here as well as a director from the i n s and Donald Blom was sentenced today on federal weapons charges. We're going to learn more about what's next in this murder case but first stop the headlines. Minnesota is made possible in part with support from the Blanton Foundation creating a stronger Minnesota my bridging rural and urban community. And by the McKnight foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life for Minnesota family business and technology reporting on NEWSNIGHT Minnesota is supported in part by the law firm of great plant providing legal and business counsel for more than 125 years Democrats and Republicans joined together today at the Capitol to announce the environmental legacy an

initiative the plan calls for increased funding for CERP land improvement for parks trails rivers and other environmental sectors. NEWSNIGHT is merely Hammer reports on the initiative that has the backing of more than two dozen conservation local government environmental and farm groups. What do Teddy Roosevelt pro-wrestling. Climate and the environment have in common. Welcome to Minnesota politics. We like the bow. We like them we like a fish we like the canoe. We like our parks we like the bike we like to jog. We like the rumors. A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to make sure you can do all of your outdoor activities for a long time. These are really a lot of Republican type initiatives. These are kind of the old Teddy Roosevelt initiatives for preserving our open lands protecting our public resources that are so important to our future. Lawmakers backing the environmental legacy plan want to spend nearly two hundred million

dollars on the initiative. That amount will likely clash with the 400 million dollar spending limit the gov has set for the upcoming bonding session probably lying the way we're going to learn that politics is not like wrestling. You don't always know in advance who is going to win the match. Sometimes you actually have to wrestle a match before you find out who the winner is so we'll find out a name from many lawmakers are still feeling scorned after Ventura's post session vetoes. And they're vowing to stand up to the big guys do you know now is the time to fund these programs. We've just announced another record revenue surplus somewhere in the excess of one point five billion dollars. Many of my colleagues will discuss how we can return these dollars to our taxpayers. And I suggest that we return it by preserving their natural resources. It is theirs.

The environmental legacy initiative also seeks to get 135 million dollars in federal money for further land and water use. Governor Ventura is on a two day tour of southern Minnesota. Today he hit Fairmont Linden Boulder Slayton Marshall cottonwood Granite Falls Clara city and Wilmer and Wilmer The governor held a town meeting that was broadcast live. The tourist says his administration is emphasizing better roads access to technology and government involvement for citizens in greater Minnesota I said that the future success in Minnesota will depend heavily very heavily on our ability to strengthen regional cities much like Wilbur. I said that we need healthy and vital communities in greater Minnesota in order to provide opportunity and hope for families that want to live and work in the comfort and beauty of rural Minnesota. In the next two days I will be traveling to 13 cities and

talk with mayors and community leaders. I will be emphasizing how very important it is for us to work together to help build those healthy and vital communities in greater Minnesota and tomorrow we'll catch up with the governor and Albert Lee and Heidelberg. When city housing advocates are trying to figure out just how to get the attention of state lawmakers this year many community leaders feel they just haven't done a good job getting legislators to take them seriously. So they're mapping out ways to get people to listen during this next session. Today organizers held a meeting to figure out exactly how to go about it. They heard a passionate plea for some practical solutions. And what they can realistically is. Back from the state this year. Here's a bit of all three more to go up with the top down strategy is that we need to either have Jesse Ventura Roger Moe or Steve swagger or perhaps I would say in parentheses Dan McIlroy who chairs the housing money in the house. We need one of the three of them to become a champion.

And what we're trying to do short of that which I also like the groundswell to talk about might not be possible and I'm not sure Roger mode is a good chance. Last year the legislature in a one time appropriation actually did make housing 1 percent of the state's budget last year but it was a one time appropriation So we need to say the campaign last year was they have to be every year that were 1 percent of state budget. How many dollars is take this year to be one percent of the budget for this year and for the coming years. There's a major movement now at the Metropolitan Council to think about housing as a system. So we have a legislature love obviously I think you can target your ticket the legislature the legislature the appropriate power has the budgets and the resources to do this but I think also the Metropolitan Council is beginning to deal with this issues and we have a better Metropolitan Council than we've had in many years we've had a better health council that has been our expense of home housing developers for a long time that we have at least a fighting chance while the citizens are out of there. They're going to do the right thing but they're at least open to do the right thing. It is a crisis. We believe that it is responsible to ask government officials to assemble.

We think this ought to be a people's movement and affordable housing people and when we asked legislators to come meet us don't ask us to come to the Capitol. Those of you who are not people of color in this room have had a like a great deal of experience in dealing with the legislators than we have. We can leave to go in and get the governor to meet with us you know. You turned this down said we were a special interest group. So we don't have that kind of know how to deal in the operating and development but we think that it is and so we think it's important as legislators and public officials to come to us after I'm gone. They call themselves often public servants so we don't think it's anything wrong to create a board and ask them to comment here. In other news not everyone is happy about the proposed merger between US West and quest. Some of us West's former employees want Minnesota regulators to look into alleged misuse of their pension fund. They claim that U.S. West Minnesota pensioners will not see the more than three billion dollar surplus accrued in the pension fund.

They say that the money will be spent on Quest. Employees who never provided service in Minnesota and should not receive money from rates paid by Minnesotans. And today in an amiable X band of Chippewa chief executive Marge Addison gave her state of the band speech. She says that recent success with treaty rights and economic growth should give the band a confidence to make more progress. Anderson says that band members must continue to fight intolerance with dignity and honor. One of her goals for the year 2000 to build more assisted living facilities for elders. Now for our first big story of the night a seventy two thousand dollar settlement awarded last week to illegal immigrants that was then called Landmark and unprecedented is now taking another turn. The case involving nine undocumented workers from Mexico came to light when their employer at the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Minneapolis turned them into the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Now that kind of thing happens all the time. But these workers were part of an effort to bring a union into the hotel. The hotel

manager said he was following the law and reporting their illegal status to the INS. But the union and the illegal workers filed suit saying it was a case of retaliation because of their organizing effort that led to a joint investigation by both the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board and the unprecedented out of court settlement in which the hotel agreed to pay the workers. Now today at a press conference with the attorneys for the workers and a representative from Senator well Stone's office the question shifted to whether these former housekeepers should be able to stay in the U.S. or be deported. Oh well. Help us communicate to administration officials in the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Department of Justice. Janet Reno the attorney general and Doris Meissner the commissioner of Immigration. Our request for amnesty for the workers and amnesty that would permit each one of the workers to remain in the United States and

work on a permanent basis. Yes but it's appropriate that I'm most it just to make it a yes if there's any way we could stay here in the United States would want that very much welcome at us but I thought it was Jack and I walk up and it's a blessing to have to leave the reef. So should these workers stay or leave. What precedent has a case like this for other employers and illegal workers. Perfect Russians for an extra gassed. Curtis all jets is the district director of the ins and St. Paul Jorge vapourize chief legal officer for Central the gal which is representing eight of the illegal immigrants. I'm going to start with you Jorge. The easy O.C. basically came out and said you cannot discriminate against any worker on the basis of race religion or whether they're legal or illegal is I right. That's correct. And two important messages here.

One you can't treat workers desperately based on immigration status on race or any other national we're talking about treating differently what the Holiday Inn Express was alleged to have done was allegedly if you were a Latino or a minority you didn't get breaks. If you were non minority you got breaks. If you were a Latino or a minority you had 20 minutes to clean a room if you were non minority. You had 40 minutes to clean a room. If you were a Latino you got a raise after 90 days or if you were non-Latino you got a raise after 90 days if you were Latino you didn't get the raise. OK. It should be noted that we did ask folks from the Holiday Inn Express to appear they declined they have said that they did not do anything wrong but they settled out of court to save money. The question obviously is that these people shouldn't be here to begin with. That raises maybe one of the fundamental questions here and it's about fairness. It's about the way people should be treated in the workplace regardless of legal status regardless

of where they come from. Everybody should be treated the same. We can equate this very easily to murder. If you are in another country legally or illegally certainly you can have an expectation that your civil rights include not being subject to murder. And if someone is murdered that is a matter of vital it's a clear violation of their rights. OK let's turn to you Mr. all jets. I understand that you had said that if you had known that these alleged illegals were part of a union organizing effort the INS would not have gotten involved is that right. That's correct as far as that goes but what I added to that at that particular time. We don't want to be used as a vehicle to intimidate people to stop them from organizing into a union. We're not interested in allowing or creating an environment where employers can exploit workers where they're here legally or otherwise. We try to cooperate with all the regulatory agencies to allow them to do a complete investigation in instances like this.

But the bottom line is separate from these other issues they are here unlawfully and they have to go through an immigration process. As I understand there was alleged unfairness to them. There's been a settlement on that. That's a separate issue from the immigration issue and the immigration issue is new. They were apprehended they were determined to us so far to be unlawfully they're set up for a hearing before an impartial immigration judge. And as far as I'm concerned that that process should continue. Now you're a little worried that this case is going to set up a couple of precedents if not legal the just the way the people operate. One being you're afraid employers are now going to be afraid to go to the INS when they should. Correct. Some people may look at this and may have a chilling effect I would think that well if I've got an unlawful worker in my workplace I've got a union shop can I go ahead and properly dismiss them. Yes there are procedures that you can do that I don't want to pass judgment on what happened on this Holiday Inn Express in fact I've tried to maintain a distance and knowing those type of details.

But there are procedures by which employers can follow the law where they do not trample on people's civil rights or their rights to to organize into a union labor. Well you know employers don't have a duty to report undocumented aliens if if undocumented workers are working in their premises and they discover that there's some problem with their documentation. They can simply fire them. There is no duty to pick up the phone and call the INS. And that's not going to is it. Surprising people. I mean most people see through it they don't there's not there's not a law requiring them to report them but they are not supposed to continue to employ them if they do they are subject to penalties. And the lines from the Immigration Service. But the greater penalty deterrent that we've phone than necessarily the fines that we impose is when we go into a workplace and there are number of undocumented workers and we remove them from that workplace. A lot of times that's stops an assembly line or process a costly employer a whole lot more. So it's in their best interest to have lawful workers.

The problem is that employers want to both ways. There are a lot of unscrupulous employers out there who want to have undocumented workers because they do jobs and they are available to work and they're hardworking. But at the same time when we have these employers having a hard time getting anybody else to do the Sackler seven bucks an hour and this is where these two cases are intricately intertwined with what's happening at the INS. And that's that it brings to light the issue of immigration how this are all just indicated that that these are two separate issues. The the law is where the problem lies not with Mr. or. Or the local office it's in Congress where the laws right now are not permitting employers to have a mechanism to bring in undock documented workers legally. But we are in an environment where workers are coming in to work. Employers are using them to their benefit. And then as soon as they exert any rights they call the INS or they fire them on that basis

and that's unfair. Well we get a lot of tips on people here unlawfully in the United States for five to 10 a day in your office in our office. But I don't know that people are using that the threat of immigration too intense they were able to. I don't I don't have the background. We do I do know that I do know a concertmaster of them are cases we do know that employers are part of it is pointing the finger you're pointing the finger at them. Some employers not the INS. Well we think that it's so that the issues are the same here. The employer certainly need to be held accountable employers who are discriminate against workers and exploiting them. And that's what this EEOC settlement is going to help us do what employers are recognizing is that if they're abusing workers discriminating on the basis of immigration they stand a very good chance of having to reach for their wallet if they're caught. That's not a deterrent against calling the INS. That's a deterrent against discrimination. And. These workers now have rights that they can exert and that's fair.

We we we ask questions before we embark on one of these worksite enforcement operation to determine whether there's some type of labor dispute going on at the time. Obviously the employer is not always honest with us and that's why there is some mechanism there. We refer people to other agencies when we feel that type of process is going on because we have no interest in them exploiting aliens. We feel that that is unjust and we do not condone it either. We got about two minutes to go let's talk about this issue of amnesty. Now it seems to me that that would send up if it were granted that I'm an illegal worker the first thing that I do is find a place that's about to unionize and then get busted. Well I think the facts here are very different than that. What happened here is we had employees or workers who participated in considerable federal government investigations by federal agencies the EEOC the NLRB the Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel.

They were prepared to it. So you want to make us all very cooperation with after the fact they have exactly they fulfilled a significant government interest and without their participation. This settlement would not have been possible. These workers are deserving of amnesty an exceptional amnesty in this case would not be out of the question given that they should be the ones who should most enjoy the fruits of the settlement. Well I think I think the settlement is the justice they've sought and that's what they've received. That's separate from the immigration issue altogether and I'm also concerned with the same issue you're talking about. If we send this message out is that not going to be a magnet for people to come into United States unlawful workers get involved in union and then think that there's immunity from any type of immigration law. You know you think that's a dangerous message is the EEOC the NLRB the Office of Special Counsel all have benefited from their participation. Now fourth federal agency is ready to show them OK 20 20 20 seconds to go what's going to happen to these people when's the hearing going to happen. When is this going to be we've tried to cooperate with their office. One time they asked the expedited process next they didn't.

I understand now that they want to wait for the normal processing. We're willing to cooperate with and what we have right now is them set up for a notice to appear before the immigration judge and immigration judge will determine whether the portable and what type of relief is available. We're waiting for executive intervention we've called on administration officials to grant these workers amnesty in this case. And I'm going to leave it right there gentleman. Thank you very very much. Thank you thank you. All right good discussion putting the T in BLT its business labor and technology night here on NEWSNIGHT. So we can tell you Detroit rolled out its big concept car show over the weekend and NEWSNIGHT Kevin McAndrews was on hand. Now apart from the Hummer that will be available in 2002 most of these designs will not be available for a long long time doesn't hurt to look though. Here we go. Nice car show and the feds consider it a victory of sorts as we move on the sentencing today

of Donald. John two time today ordered Blom to spend 19 and a half years in prison for his conviction as a felon in possession of a firearm. Blom of course is the one and only suspect in the kidnapping and murder of 19 year old Katie Poyer. In fact that trial is expected to start sometime this spring but the sentence brings up a lot of questions what happens next. How does this affect the upcoming trial to name a few with us tonight. We welcome Scott Swanson assistant state public defender Thanks for coming down. Nineteen and a half years surprised by the length. That actually is the pretty typical sentence for this offense. Given his criminal history and the number of guns or fun of the property judge Tom Himes gave a sentence that was within the normal sense and guidelines a little on the high end. Right now you're expecting that this sentence today on the federal violation is going to impact the murder case that you're working on. I really don't. It maybe decreases some of the pressure on everybody involved in the state court case but it won't affect it at all otherwise it's going to continue and we're going to have a resolution

of the kidnapping charge. OK when you say pressure you're talking about the obvious pressure that we're all seeing. Yes I think you know the pressure on the judges in the prosecutors and the defense attorneys that we've seen throughout this case. Surprised at all today at the comments of the allowed to speak before he was sentenced and he maintained his innocence and felt it was a political. Situation he said to the feds just wanted to get him because they suspect him in a murder case and therefore you had that game in place to cries at all about that. Not really. Mr Blom has been frustrated I think by the process at times and his inability to speak on the record in the court rooms when his lawyers are speaking about things. And so he got an opportunity to talk and he talked at length. Right now in the murder case itself and I know you can't get into a whole lot the change of venue to talk about that for a moment. Well I was moved from Carleton County not too far north to St. Louis County but the obvious problem in Carlton County was that a number of people in that it's hard to tell how many but many many people searched. They help searched as part of their community and that's very understandable.

And they need to be moved out of a community where people had their own information about the case. St. Louis County seems as reasonable as anywhere else in Minnesota given the kind of blanket coverage of this offense. We're in a fine line and a change of venue is not whether people heard about a case that it's you know you've got an opinion and everybody's heard about this case. We're not going to have a place where nobody knows about it or will just have ignoramuses on the jury. Certain people know we just have to find people who haven't formed an opinion as to his guilt. How difficult is this for you. Because certainly from all we know of the prior convictions records going back in 1976. We can't call a likeable guy. And that makes it much more difficult I would suspect for you. Well I've represented a lot of people who've had a lot of criminal history and I find that in representing them one of my goals is to have them feel as though they've got a voice in the system and that's part of what we do. I also insist that you know our larger

society and the courts treat them fairly. Let's see if we're going to do this let's do it the right way. Let's not have procedures that are unusual we had a variety of very unusual things going on early in this case and girls and counting and we kind of signed on in an effort to get that back on track and that is back on track now and Judge Douglas said he is moving along. And does it make it that much more difficult for you when you think of. It's no secret if we took a poll tonight we would find it probably most people in Minnesota say hey we're glad he was convicted of the federal charge. We suspect that he did kill Katie Poyer. And in case the state bungles up the rest it is at least they got him on this charge. Couple of things here one is that notion we keep hearing and I heard again in the news tonight that this has been bungled. Nothing has been bungled we have a lot of problems. But aside from that can I sit down and I think every human being deserves respect. I think sometimes we forget that and it's part of our broader Judeo-Christian

ethic it's part of our social fabric. I can give Mr. won respect and maybe some people don't think he deserves any respect but if you respect him he can respond and that's that's what I do. But it was I mean you know and it's a very valuable thing. All right. Expecting an appeal on the sentence today. So Mr. blondes maintain that is innocent and he maintains a census excess. All right Scott thank you so much for joining us. And with that will say write a tiger with you tomorrow. NEWSNIGHT Minnesota is made possible in part with support from the Blendon Foundation creating a stronger Minnesota by bridging rural and urban communities. And by the McKnight foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life for Minnesota families

business and technology reporting on NEWSNIGHT Minnesota is supported in part by the law firm of great plant muti providing legal and business counsel for more than 125 years.