Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007 | How much money did SDSU “researcher” John Weeks score for delivering half-a-report on the “costs” to San Diego County of undocumented workers here in the last year? Media touted the “results” of Weeks’ flawed work, but not even the voice has uncovered the amount of the professor’s payoff.
It is reprehensible to take a commission from super-conservative County Supervisor Bill Horn to speculate on this loaded subject of immigration from Mexico without noting the benefits of the cost/benefit ratio inherent in a serious study.
Unfortunately this practice is widely used these days to get one’s biased story out regardless of the facts of a case — as in the bogus newspaper columns planted by Karl Rove on behalf of George Bush or, closer to home, the paid “research” and foundation support for ex-Superintendent Alan Bersin’s unfortunate “Blueprint for Student Success.”
UCSD’s Steve Erie correctly notes the importance of any academic’s sterling reputation. Sadly, in this instance Weeks’ own SDSU colleague James Gerber may have characterized him best when he said “… we’re all whores.”