By Bill Zeeble
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-703238.mp3
Dallas, TX – Two years ago, council member, now Mayor Pro Tem Tim O'Hare proposed an ordinance punishing landlords who would rent to illegal immigrants. It passed the council unanimously, & prompted these shouts outside council chambers, from both opponents and backers.
Despite current city issues of economic revival and efforts to grow the tax base, this election's driven by illegal immigration. O'Hare's first ordinance, possibly itself illegal, was re-written to require that every hopeful Farmers Branch apartment renter pay a background fee certifying legal residency. O'Hare says it's still tied up in court.
Tim O'Hare, Farmer's Branch Mayoral candidate: "Obviously on people s minds is illegal immigration. The costs of illegal immigration are staggering. And our residents voted overwhelmingly last year to have the city address the issue which we're still doing and we're still working on."
Outside Farmers Branch city hall, where early voting ends today, O'Hare volunteer Rick Johnson urges a vote for his candidate.
Rick Johnson, broker, O'Hare backer: "We need to know who's here in our city. So many times you hear of crimes and then people go across to the other side and there's no way to ID or track them. Then they go to other cities to commit crimes. That affects the whole community."
Johnson says illegal immigration costs Farmers Branch too much money, hurting the city. O'Hare opponent Gene Bledsoe, sitting outside near his own supporters, says O'Hare's approach to the issue has damaged Farmers Branch, and cost the city money.
Gene Bledsoe, Farmers Branch Mayoral candidate: "I believe people were misled because of the whole immigration issue. It's a federal issue. This city was going to do nothing but spend money, and we have. We've spent 800 thousand dollars so far and we've not removed one single illegal immigrant because of this ordinance."
While O'Hare says the city's still fiscally sound, Bledsoe says Farmers Branch legal bills will keep rising. He blames O'Hare for misleading residents about those costs, as if they would be of no concern. Bledsoe backer Maria Reyes is worried about those expenses. But she's also afraid the climate in her town. A long-time American citizen born in Mexico, she says O'Hare supporters have called her illegal because of her skin color and insisted she be deported.
Maria Reyes, Farmers Branch resident: "It is upsetting. I'm an American citizen, like you and all these other people."
Former long time Farmers Branch city council member Bill Moses says only a few people feel the way Reyes does and says O'Hare's doing what's necessary.
Bill Moses, past Farmers Branch City Council member: "I'm not opposed to immigration handled the right way. I'm opposed to illegals and he's also opposed to illegals."
Bledsoe volunteer Rita Clark says it's that attitude that prompted her political involvement in the first place.
Rita Clark, Bledsoe volunteer: "I've always been proud we've been multi-cultural, and now I feel, it's not that way any more, and not only that, it won't be that way again."
Other cities in Texas and beyond state borders will also watch the Farmers Branch election, as a fuller measure of the city's opposition to illegal immigration.
Bill Zeeble KERA news.