By Jo Mannies and Deirdre Shesgreen
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
April 7, 2000

A coalition of anti-immigration groups is behind a barrage of local radio and newspapers ads targeting House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt.

The ads, which included one published Wednesday in the Post-Dispatch, call on Gephardt, D-St. Louis County, to oppose a pending congressional bill. That measure would increase the number of high-tech foreign workers allowed into the country under temporary three-year visas.

Gephardt contends the ads distort his voting record and misrepresent the bill. The coalition behind the ads -- called the Coalition for the Future American Worker -- says it is Gephardt who is distorting their cause.

"He's turned his back on his heritage," said coalition spokesman Roy Beck, who also is president of Americans for Better Immigration, a Washington-based group that is part of the coalition. Gephardt used to be a stronger critic of the visa program, Beck said.

Other members of the anti-visa coalition include POP.STOP, a population stabilization group; American Immigration Control; BrainSavers, an Internet group for programmers; the Programmer's Guild; and the American Engineering Association.

Beck characterized the groups as advocating less immigration to the United States, generally for environmental or cultural reasons. They are opposing the visa program, called H-1B, because they believe it reduces jobs available for American high-tech workers, he said. Beck contended that Gephardt was siding with the high-tech industry to woo campaign contributions for Democratic candidates. Many in the industry have been GOP donors, Beck said, citing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's strong support for the visa program.

Gephardt's spokesman angrily denied that donations had anything to do with Gephardt's stand. In an interview in Washington, Gephardt said the bill was a temporary measure to keep high-tech jobs from going overseas for good.

"My record on supporting workers and worker rights and helping working families in this country is clear," he said. "I also believe that we shouldn't lose jobs from this country if we can't produce the trained people to fill the jobs, and that's what this is about."

Gephardt said he has met with St. Louis area business leaders in recent weeks, and "at every one of the meetings, they say their biggest problem is they can't fill the jobs that are there now."

Gephardt supports a version of the H-1B bill that requires corporations to contribute to a training and education fund "so that we can produce the workers in this country from our citizens who can fill these jobs." He emphasized that the foreign workers allowed in would have to leave after three years.

Bob Kelley, head of the St. Louis Labor Council, said he had no objections to the bill as long as the education and training provisions remained. The visas would apply only to "highly educated, trained workers," he said.

But coalition spokesman Beck said the proposed corporation contributions were too low - no more than $1,000 per visa issued. It costs more than that to educate an American high-tech worker, he said.

Beck said his group wants Gephardt to support another H-1B version that imposes stricter rules on companies seeking the visa.

Beck declined to say how much the ad campaign will cost nor would he identify the donors paying for it.

© Copyright 2000 The St. Louis Post Dispatch