Cal State professor Gonzalo Santos replies to Congressman McCarthy's description of their meeting on immigration reform.

 Gonzalo Santos is a CSUB sociology professor who has been active in the movement to push for sweeping reform of our nation's immigration laws. He was with a small group of pro reform activists who met with McCarthy recently. McCarthy told me Santos threatened him by telling him he would 
"make me feel the pain" by having protestors shadow his every movement. 

 Today Santos claimed that McCarthy had twisted the facts. His note to me follows. Santos also accepted my invitation to be my guest on First Look with Scott Cox this coming Tuesday at 9 a.m. on KERN NewsTalk 1180. The interview will be broadcast live on Bakersfield.com. Tune in to hear his side of the story. His note:


"Mr Beene,

I know blogging is held to more relaxed standards of journalism than straight reporting, but it would have been nice to check with me statements attributed to me.

"For the record, what Rep. McCarthy told you I told him is a distortion, a fabrication. If you are interested in finding out what I actually told him, feel free to ask me and I'll be glad to tell you or one of your reporters.

"But for now, and paraphrasing Harry Truman: I'm not in the habit of threatening politicians, I merely tell them the truth and they think it's a threat.

"BTW, his 'explanation' for his noticed absence on the two pilgrimage events last Sunday & Monday is also disingenuous. His staff informed us WEEKS IN ADVANCE he would not greet or meet the pilgrims. Had he been willing to greet us and join us in searching for a pathway to citizenship for 11 million aspiring Americans, we would have gladly walked even longer to accommodate his busy recess schedule.

Thank you for the excellent coverage of those events and publishing our editorial on Wednesday.

Prof. Gonzalo Santos