ProNet Wire: Government & Law: Border-Fence Plan
ROUNDUPS
Border-Fence Plan (2 experts)
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LEADS
1. Defense: Nomination of Robert Gates Affects War in Iraq
2. Defense: Steps to Get Out of the Iraq Quagmire
3. Government: Expect More Challenges to Reporters' Freedoms
4. Law: Electronic Discovery Poses New Challenges to Legal Industry
5. Law: Monitoring High-Risk Sex Offenders with GPS Technology
6. Law: Pension Protection Act Provisions Affect Donor-Advised Funds
ROUNDUP: Border-Fence Plan
The border fence, which was signed into law on Oct. 26 but has not yet been funded, is expected to be a key issue in President Bush's meeting with Mexico's President-elect Felipe Calderon, who has been critical of the administration's border security measures. Following are immigration and government experts who can discuss Bush's border-fence plan:
**1. DANIEL T. GRISWOLD, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at CATO INSTITUTE: "The only lasting solution to illegal immigration will be to offer a legal alternative. A temporary worker program of the type supported by President Bush and approved in May by the U.S. Senate would allow peaceful and hardworking people to enter the United States legally instead of illegally; and fill jobs in such important sectors as construction, retail, hospitality, food processing and agriculture that an insufficient number of Americans are available and willing to fill. In the 1950s, the U.S. government dramatically expanded the number of temporary visas available through the Bracero Program for Mexican agricultural workers. The result was an equally dramatic fall in illegal entries to the United States. When Congress ended the program in 1964, illegal immigration began to climb again and has not stopped since. Our own experience teaches that border enforcement alone without real immigration reform is doomed to fail. If it is ever built, the 700-mile fence will stand only as a monument to the failure of Congress to learn from that experience." News Contact: Nicole Kurokawa, nkurokawa@cato.org Phone: +1-202-789-5200 (11/17/06)
**2. MARGARET W. WONG is an attorney at law and founder of MARGARET WONG & ASSOC. CO. LPA, the largest immigration law firm in Ohio. Wong has represented thousands of immigrants over the last 25 years, many of whom have faced border issues with Mexico: "Absolutely, the border fence will not work. The only way to eliminate undocumented workers from crossing the Mexico-U.S. border is to educate Mexicans that it's dangerous to cross illegally. They should get good visas, period. President Bush should work with the new Democratic Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, including an increase in the quotas for H1-A visas (currently at 65,000), H2-B visas (currently exhausted through October 2007), and the quotas for skilled workers to clear the backlog in the B3 caseload, particularly for Mexicans, Filipinos, Chinese and Indians. I believe there is a real opportunity for the new Congress to work with President Bush on this issue to achieve real, comprehensive immigration reform." Wong is an Ellis Island awardee, and AV-rated Ohio Leading Lawyer and Ohio Super Lawyer. She is also co-chair of the Immigration Law Committee for the NAPABA (National Asian Pacific American Bar Association). Wong: wong@imwong.com Phone: +1-216-566-9908, ext. 128 or 227 Web site: http://www.imwong.com (11/17/06)
_____ LEADS
**1. DEFENSE: NOMINATION OF ROBERT GATES AFFECTS WAR IN IRAQ. JEFF ADDICOTT, director of the Center for Terrorism Law at ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY in San Antonio, can discuss the nomination of Robert Gates and how the war in Iraq will change: "I think the U.S. may now try to declare victory and withdraw within the next 18 months, which could result in an independent Kurdish state, a great number of lives lost in sectarian fighting throughout the rest of Iraq, increased power in the region for Iran, and possible U.S. military involvement in Iraq in the future." News Contact: Phil West, philwest@gmail.com Phone: +1-512-535-2652 (11/17/06)
**2. DEFENSE: STEPS TO GET OUT OF THE IRAQ QUAGMIRE. DON MARUSKA, author of "How Great Decisions Get Made," has guided deeply divided legislative bodies, government agencies, corporations and communities to successful results. He can discuss streamlining decision-making processes on even the toughest issues: "The politics of fear have hijacked decision making about Iraq by both Republicans and Democrats. The problems with current U.S. decisions about Iraq are predictable from the process followed to reach them. Decision-making case studies and actual scans of brain activity explain why past efforts have failed to tap the creative thinking necessary for success. We need a fresh start that enlists a broad range of stakeholders, engages them to get past their fears to what they hope to accomplish together, uncovers the real issues that stymie progress, and achieves solutions with broad support for successful results. We have a process problem rather than a people or political problem. Once we grasp the potential and follow proven steps to work together productively, practical results will follow." Maruska served as legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Joe Biden for foreign relations and military issues in the early 1970s. Since that time, he has been founder and CEO of three Silicon Valley companies and, for the past thirteen years, an expert consultant on solving tough issues. News Contact: Michelle Tennant, michelle@publicityresults.com Phone: +1-828-749-3200 (11/17/06)
**3. GOVERNMENT: EXPECT MORE CHALLENGES TO REPORTERS' FREEDOMS. TOM FORESTIER, attorney at WINSTEAD SECHREST & MINICK P.C.: "The case of video blogger Josh Wolf, imprisoned in California for his refusal to give authorities footage of a demonstration there, is emblematic of challenges faced by today's journalists. Take, for example, the Valerie Plame case where prosecutors threatened reporters with jail if they failed to divulge the sources that gave them information about the former CIA officer. What that case did was teach prosecutors everywhere that reporters don't enjoy as much protection as we may think. Because of that, prosecutors now are more likely to go after reporters if they believe those reporters have information about a case." News Contact: Mark Annick, mark@legalpr.com Phone: +1-800-559-4534 (11/17/06)
**4. LAW: ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY POSES NEW CHALLENGES TO LEGAL INDUSTRY. DONALD WOCHNA, Esq., chief legal officer of Cleveland-based VESTIGE DIGITAL INVESTIGATIONS: "The explosive growth and impact of electronically stored information (e.g., e-mails, text messages, instant messages, memos, etc.) present the legal industry with a formidable challenge. On Dec. 1, amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure will take effect that address electronic discovery in all federal cases." Wochna testified on this subject before the Judicial Conference of the United States (JCU) in February 2005: "These amendments represent one of the most significant and transforming decisions to occur in the legal industry in decades, and companies need to understand the implications to avoid sanctions from failing to properly discover electronically stored information." News Contact: Christina Capadona, christina@pr2020.com Phone: +1-216-333-1245 (11/17/06)
**5. LAW: PENSION PROTECTION ACT PROVISIONS AFFECT DONOR-ADVISED FUNDS. JOHN READEY, partner in the private client group at BRYAN CAVE LLP, can discuss several provisions of the Pension Protection Act, which adversely affect donor-advised funds and make them less attractive: "These provisions make the funds look like private foundations. One of them is that a 20 percent excise tax is imposed for each taxable distribution from a donor-advised fund." News Contact: Luis Mocete, luis.mocete@bryancave.com Phone: +1-212-541-1141 (11/17/06)
**6. LAW: MONITORING HIGH-RISK SEX OFFENDERS WITH GPS TECHNOLOGY. RANDY OLSHEN, president of SECUREALERT, a provider of monitoring devices for people on parole or probation, is available to discuss the GPS monitoring technology that has raised questions and concerns from coast to coast: "Sex offender laws, requiring high-risk sex offenders to wear GPS tracking devices, are quickly becoming a heated debate. In California, for example, just one day after Proposition 83 passed by an overwhelming majority, a federal judge blocked enforcement of this mandate, saying it was punitive in design and unconstitutional. Meanwhile, Nassau County's (New York) comptroller released an audit recently that found high-risk sex offenders who wear global positioning tracking devices in Nassau are not being monitored 24 hours a day, even though the technology allows for it and the offenders' sentences demand it. The only way GPS technology will be effective when it comes to monitoring high-risk sex offenders is if they can be monitored 24/7 and communicated with real time." New Contact: Susan Vander May, SVanderMay@citigatecunningham.com Phone: +1-415-618-8721 (11/17/06)
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