I noted a couple of weeks ago that the California Republican Party has found itself in an embarrassing jam. The state GOP hired Christopher Matthews, a Canadian citizen, as its state deputy political director through a coveted H-1B visa, which seemed odd, given that the party was implicitly suggesting that there are no Americans in California qualified for the job. Better yet, Matthews was hired by Michael Kamburowski, the state GOP’s chief operations officer, who is an Australian citizen.
In light of the Republican Party’s troubles on immigration policy, the mini-controversy in California was quite amusing. As it turns out, however, it’s even funnier than we realized. The San Francisco Chronicle ran a front-page item the other day that make an embarrassing story utterly humiliating. Matthews, it turns out, has no experience in statewide politics, and Kamburowski, well, take a look.
Michael Kamburowski, the Australian immigrant hired as a top official in the California Republican Party, was ordered deported in 2001, jailed three years later for visa violations — and has filed a $5 million wrongful arrest lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to U.S. District Court documents.
Kamburowski was named in March to be the chief operating officer of the California GOP. He is responsible for the state party’s multimillion-dollar budget and oversees campaign funds and financing for the nation’s largest state GOP organization.
As the state GOP’s new operating officer, the 35-year-old Kamburowski was handpicked for the post by state Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring, who became party chief in February.
According to the Chronicle, Kamburowski, before he took over the California GOP, was a real-estate agent in the Dominican Republic. His former boss said, “I wouldn’t give him my company to run, I can tell you that.” Then, in February, Kamburowski “ran away without mentioning anything to us,” he said.
After this story ran, Kamburowski resigned.
Michael Kamburowski, an Australian immigrant who served as the California Republican Party’s chief operating officer, abruptly resigned Sunday — less than 24 hours after The Chronicle reported he had been ordered deported in 2001, jailed in connection with the order, and now has a $5 million wrongful arrest lawsuit pending against U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials.
The move was reported in a terse statement late Sunday by state party chair Ron Nehring, who said the state GOP’s Operations Committee accepted Kamburowski’s resignation during a teleconference with him.
“We thank him for his service,” Nehring said in his e-mail statement.
Steve Schmidt, who left the White House to run Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign, described the appointment of Kamburowski as “almost a parody of incompetence and malfeasance.”
“Somebody who has been imprisoned, faced deportation, has never worked on a state political campaign … and who is suing the government for harm inflicted by his deportation order defies description,” Schmidt said. “The bylaws of the Republican Party invest enormous authority in the position of chief operating officer — and it’s clear that this person brings no experience and qualifications to run a state party of the size of California, not to mention the assorted legal issues involved.”
Republican politics in the Bush era is fun, isn’t it?