She’d like to see the federal government legalize gay marriage and pass a DREAM Act for immigrants. He wouldn’t.
You get to cast your vote for one of them.
Who more closely matches you on immigration and civil rights? If you’ve got two minutes, come along on a voter speed-date to find out.
She’s Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat who has represented this area in Congress for 22 years.
He’s Wayne Winsley, a motivational speaker and former radio talk-show host who’s running as a Republican to seek to unseat her in the Nov. 6 general election.
And the two do offer a clear contrast when it comes to civil rights and immigration.
As part of a series of stories offering voters speed-dates on issues in the Third U.S. Congressional District race, the Independent asked DeLauro and Winsley about the subjects recently — she in her Elm Street office, he a half-block away at the offices the Independent shares with the Spanish-language newspaper La Voz Hispana.
Check out their answers below to see who stands where you stand.
Paul Bass Photo
1. Should Congress repeal the Defense Of Marriage Act (which defines marriage exclusively as heterosexual)?
Winsley: “Keep it.”
DeLauro: Repeal it.
Liberal Democrats in Congress (including Paul Wellstone) originally backed DOMA in 1996 to fend off a more draconian anti-gay effort, for a constitutional amendment. Now that the country has moved toward favoring same-sex marriage, the pro-gay-rights position in Congress has evolved to repealing DOMA. DeLauro was asked about that shift. “It was a different time, a different period,” she said. “For me personally I was always supportive of civil unions. People ought to be able to enjoy their personal lives and have the benefit that married people have had with tax issues, with hospital visits. I think we have really grown in this respect and to understand that we don’t need to have a piece of legislation like DOMA. We ought to allow people their civil liberties.”
2. Should gay marriage be legalized across the nation?
DeLauro: Yes.
Winsley: No. “Gay marriage is legal in Connecticut. I’m not looking to change that. Personally I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s my belief. And yes, I would oppose a federal change on that.”
3. Do you support the criminal and civil investigations the U.S. Justice Department has done into the East Haven police’s profiling of immigrants?
Winsley: “Absolutely. That’s fine. That’s an individual case. As a person of color I can tell you: Have I been profiled before? Yes. Have I had things happen to me because of who I was, what I look like? Sure. We should prosecute those kinds of things. Absolutely. That’s a no-brainer.”
DeLauro: “The report of what they did … I have no reason to doubt what they came forward with. Those issues ought to be addressed.”
4. Do you support the overall tenure of Attorney General Eric Holder, under whom the Justice Department has stepped up civil-rights investigations?
Winsley raised Operation Fast & Furious, a botched gun-trafficking investigation that has been the subject of Republican-led hearings: “Eric Holder should have had the good grace to resign. President Obama should have had the temerity” to demand it.
DeLauro supports him and called those criticisms of Holder “politics writ large.”
5. Do you support deputizing local police forces to make federal immigration arrests?
DeLauro: No.
Winsley: “Sure. Why not? I think that if you are here illegally currently and you are brought to the attention of law enforcement, if you commit a crime, if you are pulled over,” you should face arrest for illegal entry into the country.
6. Should Congress pass a federal DREAM Act [to grant citizenship to many people currently in the country illegally]?
DeLauro: Yes.
Winsley: No. He also opposes Connecticut’s version, he said. “I think that … having in-state tuition and things like that for non-citizens, kind of sends the message that somebody’s children is more important than yours. When it comes to immigration in general, I think America should at least be as difficult to get into as Holiday Inn. … Holiday Inn welcomes any travelers from any place regardless of what you look like, who your mama is … but one requirement is you’ve got to check in. Anyone from anywhere should be welcome to the United States of America. We are a nation of immigrants. But you should at least do us the courtesy of checking in at the border.” He said he would support “streamlining the immigration process for those who are trying to do the right thing… For the 12, 13, 14 million people who are currently here illegally, we have got to try to find a way. We cannot deport them. … I do believe that we have to find some way to identify the people that are here and to somehow bring the into the mainstream of society.”
Just getting started? In the box below you can go on a longer issues speed-date with DeLauro & Winsley — as well as with the candidates for president and U.S. president. The quiz was prepared by an organization called ElectNext.
Previous installments of this series:
• Who’s Your Foreign Policy Match?
• Who’s Your Enviro Match?
• Who’s Your Health Care Match?