Meet Ed Leather, Candidate for U.S. Congress, District 1

Ed Leather is running for Congress in the 1st District for the seat currently held by incumbent Patrick Kennedy. Anchor Rising caught up to Mr. Leather at a recent Young Republican meet-the-candidates event, and offered him a chance to introduce himself to our readers in his own words....

Anchor Rising: Why are you running for Congress and what issues are most important to you?
Ed Leather: I am running because our representation in the first district is terrible. That’s the main reason I decided to run. It wasn’t for anything personal. I just want to do a better job than our present Congressman.

One of my greatest concerns is illegal immigration. I am not against immigration. My father was an immigrant; most of our forefathers were immigrants. But as a U.S. diplomat, I have turned down people for immigration that didn’t fulfill our requirements relating to criminal history or health issues. These people can now come right through our borders. They can bring in TB. They can be terrorists.

Illegal immigrants are a drain on our economy. Any true study will show they are more of a drain than a help on our economy, and they hurt our workers because they pull wages down so that our true working poor have a hard time making ends meet.

Being against this is certainly not for the rich, it is for Americans. What illegal immigrants cost in the state of Rhode Island would balance our budget. You can add up the figures and find that out with what they cost in medical care and what they cost in schooling.

This is not to say that illegal immigrants are all bad people, but they have broken our law and in no case should they be rewarded for breaking the law. I am very much against illegal immigration and in favor of enforcing our current laws. It will go a long way towards solving the problem if we just enforce our current laws.

Yesterday, Anchor Rising posted its interview with Jonathan Scott, who is also running for Congress in Rhode Island's first district.