Republican Presidential candidate Tom Tancredo was a bit of an unwelcome guest at a hearing here organized by members of his own party.

Earlier this week, Assembly Republicans held a hearing on Eliot Spitzer’s driver’s license plan, which they say rewards illegal immigrants with the chance to obtain a state driver‘s license. Tancredo has been running a presidential campaign based on hostility to illegal immigration.

According to a story in El Diario, Tancredo was invited by Assemblyman Greg Ball, but Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco quickly sought to distance himself from the candidate's appearance. Tedisco's office put out a statement–in Spanish–saying that he supports legal immigration and that his ideas are different from Tancredo's.

Will he be making similar clarifications for the English-language press?

UPDATE: A reader called to remind me that meeting was, technically, a "public hearing" and not an official Assembly hearing since only Committee Chairman (all of whom are Democrats) can hold hearings.

Follow Azi Paybarah via RSS.