Tea Parties Challenge Republican Lawmakers to Pass E-Verify

Left-wing detractors who simplistically tar tea parties as tools of corporate America and the Koch brothers will be disoriented by a Florida tea group memo that blasts state Republican leaders.

The memo urges the state to mandate use of the federal E-Verify database to screen all new public- and private-sector hires, and chides the GOP for tinkering with the enabling legislation:

"Tea Party Fort Lauderdale, along with other tea parties and grass-roots organizations statewide, is extremely concerned with the lack of importance the Florida Legislature has put on the illegal immigration crisis in our great state.

"This past November, tea parties and grass-roots organizations helped elect what we thought was going to be the Tallahassee 'Dream Team' that would finally solve this issue crippling the job-market for our legal citizens. How can lawmakers speak of the jobs market and the economy, and not address the jobs being held by illegals? It does not stand to reason.

"With unemployment at an all-time high, combined with the under-employed of our legal citizens of Florida, it becomes a very difficult pill to swallow that this is not high-priority legislation."

Calling for immediate and mandatory use of E-Verify database to screen new employees -- not a gradual phase-in -- the memo urges recipients to contact Senate President Mike Haridopolos and House Speaker Dean Cannon.

"Remind them it is their duty as elected officials, not only to protect the citizens of Florida, but to enact laws that represent the majority," the e-mailed memo advised.

This is definitely not the party line of the chamber of commerce or corporate Republicans, all of whom abhor government interference in their hiring practices -- legal or illegal.

Tea Party Fort Lauderdale -- headed by Danita Kilcullen and Jack Gillies, and billing itself as "America's Longest Running Tea Party" -- joined Floridians for Immigration Enforcement in making its E-Verify plea.