AZ Policy Wonk

Every time a major piece of legislation is signed or a controversial bill advances, I get bombarded with press releases from notable people and organizations that want to weigh in. Today, as expected, my inbox was flooded with reaction to the new immigration law, S1070.

Here are just a few snippits from the statements I’ve collected so far:

“We fear that SB1070 will create a chilling effect that will make some parents hesitant to send their children to school, even if those children are eligible to attend Arizona public schools, thus inhibiting such opportunities for success.” – Arizona School Boards Association.

“The Governor did the right thing by signing Senate Bill 1070 into law.  It mirrors the ‘Enforcement First Act’ I authored five years ago in the United States House of Representatives.  As John McCain and others serving in Washington have alternated between inaction and amnesty, Arizona acted decisively today to enforce the rule of law and truly secure our border.” – J.D. Hayworth, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate who is running against Sen. John McCain. 

“Brewer’s signing of SB 1070 is just the most recent example of government-gone wild in Phoenix. She will likely also receive another bill, SB 1024, which gives the Secretary of State discretion in whether or not to put Barack Obama on the ballot in 2012 based on false claims that he is a Kenyan.” – Pima County Democratic Party.

“The bill the Governor just signed does nothing to secure our border or make us safer from the cartel violence behind most border crime. We need stronger penalties against illegal entry, and I have made specific recommendations to the President for real federal border reform.” – Attorney General Terry Goddard. 

“Although the tendency to seek scapegoats during a recession is all too common, Arizona will pay a heavy price for codifying nativism.  SB1070 will exacerbate Arizona’s economic train wreck, since Latino’s - citizens or not – will seek a more hospitable place to live, work, pay taxes, and spend their hard-earned money. Since Latinos will fear to report crime, neighborhoods will become less safe. Police resources will be stretched to the breaking point, interfering with their ability to pursue dangerous criminals.” – Arizona Interfaith Network.

“Gov. Brewer promised to do ‘what’s right for Arizona’ with SB1070. Instead, she did only what’s right for her upcoming Republican primary. What a wasted opportunity for the governor to show true leadership and courage. Now, our state will suffer as the clock rewinds to the bitter, divisive days of Ev Mecham, when Arizona was seen as a national embarrassment. By signing SB1070, Gov. Brewer has sealed her own legacy of failure.”  – Don Bivens, chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party.

“The proponents of this bill have falsified crime statistics and blamed undocumented migrant workers with all sorts of exaggerated claims in order to get their way. And, with the stroke of her pen, the governor will hand state power over to the mechanics of bigotry and oppression.” – Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform.

“By signing this bill into law, Brewer has just authorized violating the rights of millions of people living and working here. She has just given every police agency in Arizona a mandate to harass anyone who looks or sounds foreign, while doing nothing to address the real problems we’re facing.” – Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona.

“This will give state and local law enforcement officials important new tools for the fight against illegal immigration. I strongly support its passage and look forward to defending the law in court next year should I be elected attorney general.” – Andrew Thomas, a Republican candidate for Arizona attorney general.

“(Brewer) joins a long line of other Arizona politicians who are trying to ensure their own political survival at the expense of the people they claim to represent and serve. This is a watershed moment for the President and Congress. Will they continue to abdicate their responsibility and allow other states to follow suit or will they show leadership and respond to the state of emergency that our communities face by enacting comprehensive immigration reform?” – Janet Murguía, president and CEO of National Council of La Raza.

“This is a discriminatory policy that cannot be enforced without committing grave breaches of due process and equal protection. The law will not withstand legal scrutiny, and I call on the president immediately to reject it in the strongest possible terms.” – U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva.

“I will not tolerate racial discrimination or racial profiling in Arizona.” Gov. Jan Brewer.

“Arizona should brace for the inevitable response to its leadership’s folly – decreased cooperation with police that yields higher rates of crime, decreased international commerce that has ripple effects throughout the state economy, and a significant waste of taxpayer resources on defending and vainly attempting to implement a deeply flawed law.” – Mexican American Legal Defense Fund.

“It is hypocritical of Brewer to have stood in front of two large Latino functions and say that she would do what she believes was right for Arizona. Eroding our economic recovery and marginalizing communities does the exact opposite of what is right.” – Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia, a Democrat from Tucson.

“The costs in human and economic terms will be felt for a generation, if not more. The idea that SB 1070 will secure borders and insure safe neighborhoods is ludicrous and unsupported.” – Rep. Ben Miranda, a Democrat from Phoenix.

“We need to secure the border, and we need to secure it now. That’s why I voted for SB1070, and that’s why I urge the governor to sign it. Gabrielle Giffords, meanwhile, won’t just be honest with southern Arizonans. Once again, she’s standing with Barack Obama – not with the interests of her constituents.” - Jonathan Paton, a Republican who is running against U.S. Rep. Giffords in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.

The Arizona Boxing Commission has reinstated Joe Diaz’ boxing license.

The commission voted unanimously this afternoon to restore the license that was stripped from Diaz five years ago. The hearing was originally scheduled to take place three days ago, but commissioners agreed to reschedule it when there was a hang-up over 25 subpoenas requested by Diaz’ attorneys. Today’s hearing was expedited to clear up the matter.

“I’m happy, but I’m not through,” Diaz said after the commissioners announced their decision.

Diaz had claimed all along that he was framed by his rivals back in 2005, when he was accused of lying about receiving a cash payout for one of his fighters, Ramon “Yori Boy” Campas. Diaz also said former Boxing Commissioner Mary Rose Wilcox, who is now a Maricopa County supervisor, was part of a conspiracy to force him out of boxing.

Diaz, 70, continued to operate Top Level Gym in Phoenix even though he couldn’t officially train them. He was still licensed as a boxing trainer in 22 other states and a handful of foreign countries, which allowed him to take his boxers out of state to fight.

“When they hurt me, they hurt boxing,” Diaz said.

He lost many of his clients during that time, but he said he’s now ready to rebuild the following he once had and to repay debts to those who helped him keep his gym open during the past five years.

Businessman Joe Azin helped Diaz pay the bills at his gym. Private investigator William Rucker worked on Diaz’ case without pay. Several attorneys also pitched in: Tim Watt, Tom Wilmer and Ed Moriarity.

“I just want to say ‘thanks,’” Diaz said. “I couldn’t have done this without them.”

The Arizona Boxing Commission rarely has to deal with dozens of subpoenas and the prospect of 10 hours of witness testimony for a simple licensing hearing. Yet that’s exactly the scenario that was laid out by Joe Diaz’ attorneys this morning.

The Boxing Commission was scheduled to either accept or deny Diaz’ application for a trainer’s license, but the hearing was postponed until next month to give both sides more time to prepare for what could be a long and complex hearing. 

Ed Moriarity, an attorney from Montana who is representing Diaz, told Boxing Commissioners Michael Preston Green and Lionel Ruiz that he is seeking subpoenas for 25 witnesses, and that the testimony will take at least full two days.

Moriarity said Diaz’ trainer’s license – and his reputation – are at stake.

“This is a critical situation that has to be fully supported, so you gentlemen can make this decision,” he told the commissioners this morning.

Preston Green, though, warned both sides that he plans to keep the hearing as short as possible, without violating Diaz’ rights to due process.

“I’m going to reign this in as tightly as we can,” he said.

But Moriarity insisted the subpoenas were necessary to prove that Diaz had not committed the violations that led to the revocation of his license five years ago. Diaz’ license to train boxers was stripped on July 9, 2005, after the Boxing Commission decided that he had lied about signing for prize money after a fight.

Diaz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying his rivals framed him by forging his signature. And last year, Diaz’ primary accusor, boxing promoter Peter McKinn, was indicted on several felony counts, including conspiracy, fraudulent schemes, theft, and forgery.

The accusations against Diaz “are incorrect and we can prove it,” Moriarity said.

When it became clear that the legal arguments were going to more resemble a full-blown trial than a hearing over a boxing license, the Boxing Commission decided it would be best to hold a hearing in three to four weeks. No date was set.

If I had to guess, I’d say the Boxing Commission will do whatever it can to limit the scope of any future hearing involving Diaz. Otherwise, Diaz’ attorneys are likely to go on the offensive, and the witness testimony could have legal ramifications that stretch far beyond the intended purposes of the legal authority granted to the Boxing Commission.

I could be wrong, but I don’t think Diaz is ready to call it quits - even if he gets his license back.

It’s been 1,772 days since the Arizona Boxing Commission revoked Joe Diaz’ boxing license, compromising the livelihood of a man who had spent five decades getting good at one thing.

At 70 years old, Diaz knows only boxing.

For the past five years, Diaz has operated as a sort of boxing outcast. He is an unsanctioned expert who still runs Joe Diaz’ Top Level Boxing Gym on Ninth Avenue, which has retained a small band of followers. He still works with his most-prized fighter, Ramon “Yori Boy” Campas. And, perhaps more importantly, Diaz is still tough as nails.

Other than that, though, Diaz’ life has pretty much collapsed around him.

He’s had to borrow money from friends to pay his bills and keep his gym open. He’s had to find lawyers who would work for free to represent him as he punches back against the politicians who he blames for tearing down his career. And he’s had to spend much of his time trying to clear his name.

He’s also lost about 90 of the 150 boxers he once trained.

Now Diaz wants back in. He has applied for reinstatement of his boxing license, and the state Boxing Commission is set to make a decision on April 19.

If Diaz has his way, the hearing will include testimony from more than two-dozen people — some of them are Diaz supporters, others are people who may be responsible in some way for pinching him out. Diaz wants his opponents — most notably Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox — to show up and explain why his license was taken away.

Diaz’ problems all started about six years ago when he began a feud with promoter Peter McKinn of Top Rank Boxing. The dispute was over money and, to hear Diaz tell the story, involved betrayal, forgery and general corruption within the boxing world. Diaz tells a wild tale, one that could be a storyline for a movie, but he also provides evidence to back it up.

The short story is that Diaz’ feud with McKinn became a problem for Top Rank Boxing, which is run by Bob Arum, and Wilcox, who was a supporter of McKinn. Both sides went out of their way to trash the other: Diaz accused Top Rank of withholding money from Campas and other boxers; Top Rank accused Diaz of signing for a payout and then lying about it; and Diaz accused Wilcox of engaging in a conspiracy to cover up crimes committed by McKinn.

It’s very complex, believe me. I’ve read dozens of documents about the case, and the Arizona Capitol Times has covered the story for several years now. Accusations are numerous and lofty, and discernable facts are few.

Only Diaz, McKinn and a handful of other people really know what happened — whether Diaz was lying about the money, or whether it was a smear campaign by his enemies. But it is important to note that McKinn was indicted on several felony counts last year and is awaiting trial.

It’s also significant, I think, that Campas’ boxing license was taken away for the same reasons and at the same time that Diaz’ training license was revoked, although the Boxing Commission buckled to pressure from the Attorney General’s Office and later reinstated Campas’ license.

Diaz, though, remains without a license. He has struggled to find boxing venues out of state, and he has to borrow money every time he takes his fighters to places such as Mexico, New Jersey, New York and Texas.  Diaz is still licensed in 22 other states and a few foreign countries.

Diaz fears he’s never going to make enough money to repay all of his debts and retire comfortably. His once flush bank account is empty, and, at 70 years old, much of his life is behind him now.

But when I asked Diaz earlier this week why he decided to take on billion-dollar companies such as Top Rank, politicians such as Wilcox and others who clearly have more clout than a pug-faced boxing trainer from central Phoenix, he said he’s doing it for the sport and for the kids growing up now who need the structure and discipline of boxing to stay out of gangs and away from drugs.

“I want the kids to know the sport is free, that they don’t have to worry about corruption in boxing,” he said. “I want to make sure they never have to kiss anyone’s hand.”

Diaz says he’s pretty sure the Boxing Commission will reinstate his license to train boxers. I hope he’s right, but I’m less certain than he is. After all, if you believe Diaz’ side of the story, then you also have to believe boxing is still corrupt and politicians still act in their own best interests.

I have been a regular on the Capitol luncheon circuit for the past three years, which qualifies me a connoisseur of chicken, political speeches and the sauces that they put on chicken to make it seem like their chicken is different than the last chicken.

By connoisseur, I mean I’m picky. For example, I often avoid writing about the keynote speeches at lunchtime events because they are generally frilly, predictable and unsubstantial. Furthermore, even though I always eat the chicken, I rarely enjoy it.

But the experience was much different on April 5 at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce’s Update from Capitol Hill Luncheon. Although the speakers – Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl – spent a fair share of their stage time rehashing all the ways Democrats are screwing up the country, they also gave some pretty insightful predictions about what Congress will do next, now that its finished the monumental task of passing the federal health care law.

I had just carved out my first bite of – you guessed, it – chicken when Kyl started out his speech with, as he put it, “a few declarative statements about what I think is going to happen.” When I heard that, I stopped eating and started taking notes.

First of all, Kyl said he doesn’t think Congress will pass the Employee Free Choice Act, known as card-check legislation. But he said he’s worried that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will agree to an administrative rule that would allow the establishment of labor unions without a secret-ballot vote, essentially as outlined by the card-check legislation.

Kyl was worried that the appointments of two Democrats to the NLRB – Craig Becker and Mark Pearce – will shift the board solidly to the left and give unions an advantage in labor agreements.

For the past two years, three of the five seats on the board were empty, and many of the cases the board dealt with wound up gridlocked when the two members of the board couldn’t agree. President Obama’s recess appointments of Pearce and Becker leave only one seat open – a seat reserved for a Republican.

Becker, Kyl said, was particularly concerning, given his background as an attorney for the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union. It’s likely, Kyl said, that Becker will lead the charge for an administrative rule change that would create a cap-and-trade program similar to the one outlined in the Employee Free Choice Act.

On Immigration reform, Kyl said it’s not likely to occur this year because President Obama “doesn’t have the courage to take on the issue” because of its political ramifications. The immigration measures proposed so far lack the support necessary to pass, Kyl said, and none of the bills will move forward until it addresses two priorities: the creation of a guest-worker program, the deployment of 20,000 National Guard troops to the border, and continued funding for a border fence.

“Before immigration reform has a chance, we have some unfinished work to do,” Kyl said.

McCain, after predicting Kyl would someday become majority leader of the Senate, said creating a legal worker program “has to be part of any (legislation) addressing the issue in this country.” He also said border security must be the top priority because the gang violence that has swept across Mexico “threatens the existence of the Mexican government.”

Any legislation that deviates from those priorities won’t have enough support to pass, said Kyl, the Senate minority whip.

Two final predications: Kyl said Congress will vote to increase spending on unemployment benefits; McCain said the U.S. will not meet its renewable energy requirements without additional nuclear power.

Of course, the pair couldn’t resist taking a few jabs at their political opponents. McCain said Nancy Pelosi was the reason offshore drilling was not allowed on the West Coast. Kyl said the federal stimulus has failed to create private-sector jobs. And McCain noted the health care law inexplicably provided $100 million to a hospital in Connecticut.

There’s more where that came from. But I focused on the new because I’m tired of the old. A person can stand only so much repetition at one time – and I was already stuck with the chicken.