Republican Priorities - Campaigning ahead of Border Security?

So what's up with this? A Republican controlled subcommittee revokes the invitation for our Sheriff to testify about Border Security issues in Whatcom County, so that our usually invisible 42nd Legislative District State Senator Dale Brandland (R) can get some free campaign publicity.

Border security meeting planned

JON GAMBRELL
THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing Tuesday in Bellingham to discuss how to best secure the nation's northern border. ...

... Committee members, including U.S. Reps. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, and Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, will arrive in Seattle on Monday. The congressional delegation will tour the Port of Seattle, Blaine's Peace Arch border crossing and the Bellingham Air and Marine Branch at Bellingham International Airport. ...

... State Sen. Dale Brandland, formerly the county's sheriff, will be the only person from Whatcom County testifying at the hearing. Current Sheriff Bill Elfo said he was invited to speak but later had that invitation revoked for time constraints. ...

Well hey! We here in Whatcom County already knew Brandlands views on Border Security and after he appeared on PBS NewsHour so did the rest of the world.

POLICING IMMIGRATION
August 14, 2002
Lee Hochberg of Oregon Public Broadcasting looks at how local police are fighting the war on terrorism.

...SHERIFF DALE BRANDLAND, Whatcom County, Washington State: I'm not going to have my folks out arresting illegal aliens and illegal immigrants. We have too many other things to do.

LEE HOCHBERG: Dale Brandland, sheriff of Washington State's Whatcom County, 2,000 square miles long the U.S.-Canada boundary with some 24 million border crossings per year. He says his force already prosecutes 90% of the immigration cases generated by the federal border patrol, Customs, and DEA agents. He says Ashcroft's new mandate would cost money his force doesn't have.

SHERIFF DALE BRANDLAND: To start suggesting this is our war and you've got to be part of the team, well, part of the team means everybody gets paid. (Laughs) We're not getting paid. We're just getting stuck with the work here. Of catching illegals is important to them, they need to go hire the people and do it themselves. ...