Send in the Republican Clowns

These days, it is really fun being a Democrat in California. The California Republican Party in March hired Michael Kamburowski as its Chief Operating Officer in charge of their multi-million dollar accounts. It's a laugh riot.

1. He is from New York. The plight of the Republican Party in California (the Governator not withstanding) is so pathetic there is not a single soul in the state who can hold the position.
   
2. His resume shows no employment from 2000-2006, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He has, however, been a real estate agent in the Dominican Republic. His Re/Max boss is quoted as saying that "he couldn't sell anything the whole time he was here."
   
3. He is not a registered Republican and has never voted for a Republican candidate. At least I assume he hasn't because he is not an American citizen and if he had done either of those things he has committed a felony.
   
4. Oh, yeah. He is not an American citizen. This came as a big surprise to several high ranking Republicans officials who say they never saw his green card (assuming he has one). That means...
   
5. The California Republican Party violated federal immigration laws. Possibly, again according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The law, one the Republicans say they want strictly enforced, requires all employers to confirm the legal status of any non-citizen employee. It gets better.
   
6. Kamburowski was ordered deported in 2001. He remained in the country illegally for three years until...
   
7. He was arrested and jailed as an illegal alien in 2004. He was released on bail, a friendly judge recinded the deportation order, and he is now suing the federal government over the arrest.
   
8. He's a Green Card Marriage kind of guy. In 1997 Kamburowski married a woman and applied for green card. They were divorced a year later, invalidating that green card. After he was ordered deported in 2001, he married a second woman and applied for another green card. I don't know the current status of his marriage or his green card. He does say he has a green card.
   
9. The answer is Cronyism. How did someone so ill-suited for the job get hired? He is a very close personal friend of California GOP chairman Ron Nehring (not that there is anything wrong with that). The are both buddies of Grover Norquist. Nehring personally vouched for his good friend with his Republican colleagues, none of whom has the wisdom of a walnut and asked, "who is this guy?"

Kamburowski resigned this week. One of his few acts was hiring a Canadian using an H-1B visa as the Republican's deputy political director because political consulting is such a "specialty occupation" only Canadians can handle it. The Canadian, Christopher Matthews, is another one of those "close personal friends" of Ron Nehring.

It's a pity about the resignation. I was only beginning to enjoy the circus.

Other sources: Los Angeles Times blog (scroll down to "Another Norquist Follower For California GOP Leadership"); Free Republic; The Age; The Australian; Red County.