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1. Richardson flop a blow to Dems
2. Secretary-select to face challenge
3. AZ co. chair's ascent called victory
4. NY Italian population decreasing
5. Firm to pay record fine

1.
Richardson Withdrawal Hurts Obama’s Southwest Strategy
By Adam Nagourney
The New York Times, January 6, 2009

Washington, DC -- The withdrawal of Gov. Bill Richardson’s nomination as Commerce secretary was more than just a jolt to President-elect Barack Obama’s otherwise smooth transition. It was a setback for a less-remarked-on but politically significant aspect of the selection of Mr. Obama’s cabinet — the extent to which it reflects a marked attempt to consolidate Democratic gains in the Southwest, a crucial political target for Democrats as the party takes control of the White House.

Mr. Obama’s advisers said that where cabinet officials came from was not the main factor in making these selections. But they said it certainly was one, an extension of the effort by Mr. Obama in the campaign to take advantage of changing demographic patterns to move states like Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada into the Democratic column.

“We are conscious of the political and demographic changes in the political Southwest, and these appointments are a reflection of the growing importance of the Southwest to the Democratic Party,” said Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama’s designated chief of staff. “It is not the reason they were made: But we are conscious of the benefits that can come from it.”

Mr. Richardson, of New Mexico, was one of three prominent elected officials from that part of the country chosen for cabinet positions, joining Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Mr. Obama’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, and Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, his choice to be Interior secretary. Mr. Richardson withdrew in the face of a federal grand jury investigation into state corruption that he said risked slowing his confirmation at a time when Mr. Obama wants to move urgently to address the deteriorating economy; there is no indication that either of the other two nominations face any trouble.

In an interview, Mr. Emanuel was quick to rattle off — apparently from memory — all the gains that Democrats had made in Congressional and Senate seats in that section of the country over the past four years. And in November, in one of the more politically significant outcomes of the election, Mr. Obama won Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico after making a huge effort there. And there is reason to believe that he might have won Arizona as well, were it not for the fact that his opponent was Senator John McCain of Arizona.

There is a regional logic to the picks. As Interior secretary, Mr. Salazar will be in a position of obvious interest to Western states like Colorado, and can draw on long experience with land and conservation issues. Ms. Napolitano’s experience as a border state governor could serve her and the new administration well when it comes to one of the most politically sensitive issues in her portfolio as Homeland Security chief, illegal immigration.

Mr. Emanuel disputed the notion that the Richardson withdrawal represented a setback to this strategy. But Mr. Emanuel would give no clue about who the incoming Obama administration might be considering for the post, much less what part of the country the new nominee would come from.

More than that, he would not entertain questions about whether the Obama administration’s eagerness to get Mr. Richardson into the Obama cabinet might have contributed to what appeared to be an uncharacteristic laxness in what has, for the most part, been a very rigorous and disciplined vetting operation.

The existence of the grand jury investigation in New Mexico was hardly a secret, and Mr. Richardson’s view of it — that he was not implicated in the investigation in any way — has not changed. The sop-to-the-Southwest angle was just one of several reasons why Mr. Obama might have been eager to get Mr. Richardson into the cabinet: Mr. Richardson is Hispanic and gave Mr. Obama a crucial endorsement during the primary process.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/us/politics/06web-nagourney.html

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2.
What's awaiting Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano
Confirmation should be easy, but Homeland Security job won't be
The Arisona Republic (Phoenix), January 7, 2009

Washington, DC -- Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to lead the Department of Homeland Security, is expected to move quickly and smoothly through the Senate confirmation process beginning next week.

But if she is confirmed, the two-term governor and former federal prosecutor faces politically charged issues, from how to handle controversial raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to new intelligence that concludes terrorists probably will acquire weapons of mass destruction.
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Immigration. Napolitano has won praise from lawmakers for what they see as her tough but human approach to immigration. But Napolitano has taken positions as a governor that she might have to rethink as a national policymaker.

She criticized the decision to pull back the National Guard from the U.S.-Mexican border before some fence work was done. She also opposed the government's Real ID mandate for biometric identification cards, saying it would unfairly shift costs onto border states like Arizona.

The controversial raids by ICE agents, which critics call too aggressive, are sure to come up during her confirmation hearing. Obama apparently doesn't like the way ICE is enforcing policy.

In a speech to the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group, he talked about communities being "terrorized by ICE immigration raids."

Lieberman said Napolitano "will be looking very closely at what ICE has done."
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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/01/07/200901...

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3.
Anti-Joe crowd greets Wilson
Arpaio foes welcome new head of supervisors
By Yvonne Wingett
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), January 6, 2009

Maricopa County Supervisor Max Wilson on Monday took over as chairman of the Board of Supervisors in front of a crowd of Sheriff Joe Arpaio protestors.

Wilson, of Litchfield Park, replaced Supervisor Andy Kunasek as chairman and will serve for one year. As chairman, Wilson will serve as the public face of the board and will be responsible for the board's agenda.

The change in leadership was welcome with the protestors, and Kunasek's reign as chairman was met with a demonstration.

Dozens of protestors with Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability staged a mock funeral near Arpaio's offices in the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix. Then they gathered in front of the board's meeting hall, calling Kunasek's time as chairman the "death of democracy."

The demonstrators crowded into the county chambers as the meeting began.

For months, the group has requested that the board place it on an agenda so members can formally address concerns they have with Arpaio and some of his policies, notably illegal immigration, response times and jail conditions. Kunasek has denied the requests.

Since MCSA started efforts against Arpaio last summer, several members have been arrested during or after meetings for disturbing public meetings or suspicion of trespassing.
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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/01/06/20090...

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4.
For Italians in Brooklyn, Voices on Streets Have Changed
By Fernanda Santos
The New York Times, January 7, 2009

Like many of the Italians who frequently visit the Amico senior center in Borough Park, Brooklyn, Salvatore Amato, 78, who arrived here from Sicily in 1958, speaks little English.

Some, like Luigi Buonincondro, 91, a former Italian soldier who came to New York from Naples in 1961, understand English, but have a hard time reading or writing it.

“I got here, I was 44,” Mr. Buonincondro, a retired carpenter who lives three blocks from the center, said in heavily accented English as he savored some manicotti in the center’s cafeteria. “I had to work. Too old for school.”

Although the last big wave of Italian immigration ended in the 1960s, Italian remains one of the six most common foreign languages in New York, according to a 2007 census estimate. But those who speak it exclusively are increasingly elderly and isolated, with the small, tight-knit enclaves they built around the city slowly disappearing as they give way to demographic changes.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/nyregion/07italians.html?ref=nyregion&...

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5.
IFCO Fined Record $21M for Hiring Illegal Workers
Material Handling Management, January 7, 2009

Houston -- IFCO Systems North America will pay a $21 million settlement to avoid criminal prosecution for hiring illegal workers.

IFCO, a pallet manufacturer, was caught with more than 1,100 illegal workers on its payroll in April 2006. John P. Torres, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official, says the settlement between ICE and IFCO will send a "powerful message that ICE will investigate and bring to justice companies which hire illegal workers.”

The Houston Chronicle reports that the IFCO settlement is larger than Wal-Mart’s 2005 illegal-hiring case, when it paid $11 million to avoid prosecution for knowingly hiring illegal workers.

A tip to ICE in February 2005 launched a government investigation at an IFCO plant in Albany, where illegal immigrants were seen tearing up their W-2 forms. ICE agents arrested 1,187 illegal immigrants at some 40 IFCO locations across the country on April 19, 2006.

Seven IFCO managers pleaded guilty to knowingly hiring illegal aliens and transporting and harboring illegal aliens. They are awaiting sentencing. Five other IFCO managers were indicted in February for similar crimes and are awaiting trial.

According to federal prosecutors, the government’s analysis of IFCO payroll information submitted to the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration show that from 2003 through April 2006, as many as 6,000 illegal immigrants worked at IFCO plants.

The settlement agreement concerns only the liability of the corporation and does not address any pending or possible future criminal charges against individual employees.

In a statement, IFCO says it cooperated with the government's probe.

"Over the last 32 months, we at IFCO have significantly upgraded our compliance procedures to go well beyond what the law requires," says IFCO President Dave Russell.

During the past few years, the ICE has gone after companies that hire illegal workers. In the past two years, the agency has collected more than $60 million in employment-related fines and forfeitures, including IFCO’s fine, the Houston Chronicle reports. The Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan group, says in 2003, ICE collected $37,000 in employment fines and seizures.
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http://www.mhmonline.com/nID/6679/MHM/pNum=1/viewStory.asp