Rep. Fredette’s Hollow Rhetoric Doesn’t Match His Hollow Record on Immigration

Posted on by Maine First Media
Photo Credit: Maine Public

12/10/17, Maine First Media Staff Report,

Maine House of Representatives Minority Leader, Rep. Ken Fredette wrote an op-ed piece for the Portland Press Herald this weekend coming out against “sanctuary cities” as he calls them.

First, let’s call them what they are. They’re municipalities that harbor illegals from federal agencies. They’re not offering sanctuary; they’re harboring criminals. They’re not sanctuary cities; they’re Harboring Havens.

However, Rep. Fredette’s use of terminology is the least of Maine First Media’s worries.

The piece by Rep. Fredette — one of the front-runners in the Republican Gubernatorial primary to replace sitting Gov. Paul LePage — comes off as disingenuous, out-of-touch, and as an attempt to pander to conservative Republican Primary voters.

After making a half-hearted case against Harboring Havens, Rep. Fredette turns his intentions to legal immigration.

“We are a state of immigrants,” Fredette wrote. “Let me be clear: I’m not against immigration, but what I’m for is legal immigration.

Rep. Fredette continued:

“Legal immigrants are vital to the long-term economic vitality of our state. We are acutely aware of the workforce challenge facing Maine. Immigration can be an integral part of meeting economic work force demands. Many of these immigrants have college educations or skills our employers so desperately are seeking.”

Rep. Fredette is rightly assuming many of his rivals in the GOP Gubernatorial primary — namely Leftist Senate President Mike Thibodeau and Senate Majority leader, Garrett “Maine-Last” Mason — are unlikely to come out against Harboring Havens.

However, Rep. Fredette’s glowing endorsement of legal immigration as the savior of Maine’s future workforce shows the House Majority Leader just doesn’t get it!

Here’s what Rep. Fredette is missing:

Maine doesn’t need to import new foreign workers!

What Maine’s workforce needs is a refocus on vocational and technical education. Maine needs students entering college majoring in desired fields, not “minority studies” degrees. Maine needs to train and transition life-long Mainers for the new digital/robotic economy. Maine needs to ease the burdens on the growing number of entrepreneurs and self-employed Mainers. Maine needs to take the massive funds being spent on teaching foreign students how to speak English and put that money toward education improvements for English-speaking students.

Will Rep. Fredette vow, as Governor, to:

  • Defund Harboring Havens?
  • Cut off all Government benefits to non-citizens?
  • End the Refugee Resettlement program?
  • Mandate E-Verify?

Maine First Media has posed those questions to Rep. Fredette and are awaiting his response.

In his time as Minority Leader of the House, Rep. Fredette has done nothing to advance any of those policies.

Rep. Fredette was complicit in letting LD1652, a bill penalizing Harboring Havens, die a quiet death. The House Minority Leader also twice voted for budgets providing benefits to non-citizens.

Furthermore, as Maine Frist Media previously reported, Rep. Fredette once threatened to have a conservative activist escorted out of the building when he asked the House Minority Leader to grow a spine and stand with Rep. Larry Lockman on the Harboring Havens bill.

Maine First Media has asked Rep. Fredette to explain those positions, since they are directly counter to his new-found, phony concern about “sanctuary cities.” We have received no response as of the time of this posting.

Rep. Fredette is trying to talk tough about immigration all of a sudden. But his record doesn’t match the rhetoric. And his defense of legal immigration proves Rep. Fredette simply doesn’t understand the problem or the solutions.

The Representative’s late-to-the-game rhetoric rings hollow to real Mainers facing real problems and in need of real solutions.