Strike Everything

The national spotlight that lit up Arizona when lawmakers passed SB1070 will be back sooner than some anticipated.

Sen. Russell Pearce and numerous out-of-state allies plan to unveil his birthright-citizenship bill during the first week of January in Washington, D.C. The model legislation will serve as a template for lawmakers in 14 states, including Arizona, which hope to force a U.S. Supreme Court case that would challenge the longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment and end the practice of granting automatic citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrant parents.

Daryl Metcalfe, a Pennsylvania state representative who is pushing the birthright-citizenship proposal in that state’s Legislature, said the model legislation will give anti-illegal immigration lawmakers a rallying point for the war against birthright citizenship and show unity among members of State Legislators for Legal Immigration, which is what the group of lawmakers is calling itself.

“First we have to have the language formulated,” said Metcalfe, a Republican from Cranberry Township, Penn. “Then you have the process of rolling that out to various legislators across the country that are interested in working on the rollout project and then bringing a number of us together to actually announce the final working product, the final language that’s come out of our efforts.”

The high-profile rollout likely will rile Arizona lawmakers and members of the state’s business community who wanted birthright citizenship to take a back seat during the 2011 session, at least until the Legislature passes a budget and a jobs bill. Some lawmakers claimed Pearce pledged to put birthright citizenship on hiatus until those priorities were out of the way, though Pearce disputes the claims.

“I hope it doesn’t distract Senator Pearce from what our primary objectives are this session, in terms of budget and economic,” said incoming Sen. John McComish. “The first week of January (is) a very busy time for us.”

Senate Democratic leader David Schapira said the press conference will be a distraction for lawmakers who should have higher priorities.

“It appears that the focus of the leadership of the Legislature is going to be on this issue instead of on economic develoment and job creation,” he said. “I’m waiting to hear about Pearce’s announcement of a press conference on economic development and job creation. That’s a priority right now.”

Pearce did not return messages seeking comment. But his stalwart ally in the House, Rep. John Kavanagh, said the unveiling wouldn’t distract from the more immediate tasks of balancing the budget and putting the economy back on track.

“We’ll file the bill early,” Kavanagh said. “My understanding is we want to put the budget and the jobs bill to bed before we move on to this. But it will be this session.”

Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican, said the rollout will get some attention, but he doesn’t expect it to last long.

“I guess you can get a day (of coverage), but that’s hardly the 1070 tsunami,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva

This year, if you are a Democratic congressperson who voted for the federal health care law, didn’t call loudly enough for tough new immigration laws or supported the stimulus act – then voters feel as though you have a lot of explaining to do.

Three of the five Democrats who represent Arizona in Congress are in serious trouble this year. Polls show Democrats Harry Mitchell, Gabrielle Giffords and Ann Kirkpatrick are running neck and neck with their Republican challengers.

Each of those Democrats is running in a district that is split fairly evenly – neither Republicans or Democrats have a wide voter registration advantage. And each of them supported those unpopular policies, which is now coming back to hurt them on the campaign trail.

But perhaps the most revealing indication of just how big the Republican wave could be in Arizona is the race in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District. Incumbent Democrat Raul Grijalva seems to be in a fairly tight race in what has been a Democratic stronghold ever since the district lines were drawn.

Republican newcomer Ruth McClung has gained a lot of traction this year by running an anti-establishment campaign, and she is presumably getting a big boost from Grijalva’s announcement earlier this year calling for the boycotts against Arizona after the state immigration law was passed.

The fact that Grijalva’s race is even close illustrates how significant the Republican movement is in this state – and it shows how voters are reacting to politicians who are soft on immigration.

- Matt Bunk

Nearly five months ago, I reported that the lasting impact of SB1070 – assuming it ever goes into effect the way its drafters intended – may be to increase the number of illegal immigrants who are given temporary work visas and permanent U.S. citizenship.

A major part of that story is the severe backlog in immigration court. Several immigration attorneys I spoke with told me that the courts have been inundated with deportation proceedings, and cases were regularly being scheduled for 2013 and beyond. One attorney said he had a hearing scheduled for February 2014.

The increase in border enforcement that began two years ago is now resulting in an even bigger backlog in Arizona immigration courts, which only have five judges. Attorney David Asser told me this week that Judge John Richardson, who operates out of the Phoenix court, is scheduling cases for May 2015.

Those cases are for immigrants who hope to stay in the United States. Last year, more than 5,100 illegal immigrants who were processed through federal immigration courts in Arizona were released from custody on bond while they fought deportation. The vast majority of them were eligible for work authorization documents that are valid until their cases are resolved.

And that five-year schedule is only for the final hearing on the merits of a case, not appeals. Asser said it takes upwards of three years for an appeal to be resolved.

During that whole time, the immigrants will be living with their families and working in the state just as legally as those who crafted the nation’s toughest immigration law.

- Jim Small

Sheriff Paul Babeu calls it an offensive billboard. The creator calls it a piece of art meant to spur debate.

Either way, the billboard-sized sign that sits on private land outside the U.S. Post Office in Oracle has ignited a firestorm for the Pinal County sheriff.

The sign depicts a handsome, dark-skinned family, which implies they are Hispanic when placed next to a quote attributed to Babeu, who has been a vocal and highly visible advocate of SB1070 and securing the U.S. border with Mexico.

The quote states: “This is our most serious public safety issue and national security threat.”

Babeu said his quote was taken out of context when placed next to the image. It was originally meant to highlight what he believes are threats of drug cartels and human smugglers who sneak across the border.

The sign, he said, tries to advance President Barack Obama’s assertion that Hispanics involved in such innocuous activity as going for ice cream will be harassed by police for their papers.

“Clearly they’re trying to depict the most innocent image of a Hispanic family,” said Babeu, calling from Longmont, Colo., where he was at a training seminar for sheriffs.

The sign was created by Oracle residents Frank Pierson and his wife, Mary Ellen Kazda and an artist friend, Michael Moore.

Kazda said Sept. 23, the sign has been up for four weeks, and a there are mostly supportive comments in a book that is placed next to the structure.

Babeu spokesman, Tim Gaffney, said the sheriff found out about the sign Sept. 17, when he was meeting with Pinal County Supervisor Pete Rios. Gaffney said the sheriff has since learned of false allegations being made in chain e-mails that Babeu paid for the sign.

Gaffney sent out a press release Sept. 23 dispelling that rumor and making it known Babeu was offended by the sign.

“We are really happy to hear he is distancing himself from the quote and we look forward to a meeting with him so he can clarify his position,” Kazda said.

Babeu said he consulted with a lawyer because the sign doesn’t represent his values or the values of the Sheriff’s Office, but acknowledged that the Oracle couple has a First Amendment right to display it.

“There’s not a lot I can do or would do,” Babeu said.
Kazda said the family on the sign came from a photo in the public domain and she doesn’t know them or their nationality or ethnicity.

“They’re certainly not Anglo and not Asian, they’re brown-skinned,” Kazda said.

She and her husband own the triangle-shaped parcel that is less than an acre, and they have built a ramada on it and opened it up to the public. They bought it in 1979 with a bunch of other investors to protect it from development.

They built a metal structure that includes a roof to cover the giant placard from the weather.

The first sign went up in July and read “Happy Birthday U.S.A.”

A second sign had a photo of the Statue of Liberty and “Nation of Immigrants” posted on it and a third sign read “Viva Grijalva” in reference to Congressman Raul Grijalva, a Tucson Democrat who called for a boycott of the state over SB1070.

- Gary Grado

Illegal immigration is an inescapable subject in Arizona’s heated elections, but several policymakers are actively trying to steer the conversation back to the elephant in the room – the economy.

And some are encountering some limited success in moving the discussion beyond the highly emotional and complex subject of immigration.

Senate Majority Whip Steve Pierce said he started seeing the shift about a month ago.

Earlier, he said, when he spoke in forums people always wanted to bring the topic back to immigration and weren’t really interested in fiscal issues.

“Nationally, I think things are so bad… people are changing. They are starting to be more aware and they are more interested in the economy,” he said.

Immigration has dominated the headlines ever since the Legislature passed SB1070, Arizona’s strict new immigration law.

The law has also shaped the tone of the campaigns. Many credit the law in giving Gov. Jan Brewer a clear path to the Republican nomination, which she easily cinched on Aug. 24.

In the meantime, discussion about Arizona’s economy receded in the background.

But many policymakers want it back on the front seat.

“The 14th Amendment stuff (and) all that – that can wait,” said Sen. Frank Antenori, a conservative Republican from Tucson and a strong advocate for states rights.

Antenori is referring to potential legislation to end birthright citizenship.

Like most Republicans, Antenori backed and defended SB1070.

But he worries about what would happen when the recently approved one-cent sales tax hike goes away in three years.

“If we don’t have this economy going to make up that revenue shortfall by then, we are in big, big trouble,” he said.

Antenori wants lawmakers to hammer out an economic plan before the session starts next year, arguing that any fiscal policy takes time to make an impact.

“The day we hit the ground in the Legislature, our No. 1 mission had better be figuring out how to make Arizona the most business-friendly economic juggernaut of the Southwest, even of the United States, if we can,” he said.

Many others, like Pierce, share the sentiment.

“Illegal immigration is important,” Pierce said. “But while everybody has been watching that the state is on fire, the barn is on fire, (and) we’re going down in flames.”

Arizona, whose economy relies on growth, is one of the states hardest hit by the housing bust. There have been signs of recovery since the economy tanked, but economists forecast a painfully slow rebound.

In the meantime, state policymakers have been grappling with a multi-year, multi-billion dollar deficit.

- Luige del Puerto

Terry Goddard’s gubernatorial campaign brought on a second high-profile member of the Napolitano administration with the addition of Jeanine L’Ecuyer as deputy campaign manager.

L’Ecuyer served as former Gov. Janet Napolitano’s deputy chief of staff for communications. Prior to joining the Goddard campaign, L’Ecuyer served as vice president of communications for ECOtality, a clean energy technology company.

L’Ecuyer’s addition to the campaign comes as Goddard strives to overcome dramatic increases in incumbent Gov. Jan Brewer’s popularity and approval ratings. Brewer, whose ability to win the GOP primary was in serious doubt six months ago, got a major political boost by signing S1070, the state’s landmark illegal immigration bill.

That boost pushed Brewer’s Republican primary challengers out of the race, and recent polls give her a sizeable lead over Goddard, who is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination. A July 16 Rocky Mountain Poll showed Brewer with a 20-point lead over Goddard.

L’Ecuyer said it’s too early to put much stock into such polls. She said she believes voters will be impressed by Goddard’s resume as attorney general, and said there is plenty of time left in the campaign season to get his message out.

“He’s the one who’s really done a lot of the heavy lifting on a lot of issues here in Arizona,” L’Ecuyer said.

One of those issues, L’Ecuyer said, is immigration. She cited Goddard’s record of cracking down on money laundering and wire transfers by Mexican drug cartels as a top accomplishment of his eight years as Arizona’s top prosecutor.

“He’s the guy who figured out how to cut the cash to cartels, and the system that he’s put in place has been tremendously effective. As a matter of fact, it has been cited as a model for other states to use,” she said.

L’Ecuyer served as director of communications for Napolitano’s 2006 reelection. The only other campaign job she’s ever had, she said, was stuffing envelopes for former Gov. Sam Goddard, Terry Goddard’s father.

In June, Goddard brought on former Napolitano chief of staff Jan Lesher as campaign manager. Lesher replaced Rodd McLeod, who subsequently joined U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ reelection campaign.

-Jeremy Duda

Attorney General Terry Goddard has had quite the roller coaster ride while staking out his positions on S1070. He opposed the law and wishes Gov. Jan Brewer had vetoed it, but also opposed the lawsuit against it. He vowed to defend the state in court, but blasted Brewer for her failure to do so.

Along with accusations that Brewer is playing politics with illegal immigration and failed to do anything about border security, Goddard slammed his campaign rival for signing “a bill she could not defend in court.” The statement came shortly after U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocked key provisions of the law from going into effect on July 28.

It was a curious comment from an attorney general who denounced the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit over S1070, vowed to vigorously defend the state in court, and said a strong argument could be made that the landmark illegal immigration law is perfectly constitutional.

Goddard, however, said there was nothing inconsistent about the slap at Brewer.

“I said she couldn’t defend it in court. I didn’t say it couldn’t be defended in court,” Goddard told the Arizona Capitol Times shortly after the injunction was handed down.

Goddard said things might have gone differently if Brewer hadn’t exiled him from the state’s S1070 defense team, which he acknowledged is still a “sore point” for him. Brewer not only refused his offer to defend the state in the federal government’s lawsuit, but pledged legal action to remove him from the case if he fought her on the issue, saying his opposition to the law made him an unreliable defense attorney in the suit.

He noted that on his watch, the Attorney General’s Office successfully defended the state in illegal immigration-related lawsuits, such as the suit against the Legal Arizona Workers Act, which his office will defend before the U.S. Supreme Court later this year. Bolton’s injunction may have come with or without Goddard’s help, he said, but the state could have benefitted from his office’s expertise.

“She wanted to shoot all the baskets and grab all the glory and basically refused to have a joint defense,” he said. “Our lawyers are, I believe, the best in the country in issues like this. We’ve successfully defended two Arizona immigration statutes. I’ve never lost a motion. That’s a pretty good record.”

Brewer’s campaign said Goddard was flip-flopping on the issue and made fun of his recent comment in the New York Times that, “I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t” when it comes to S1070.

“Attorney General Terry Goddard hailed the judge’s ruling today a little over a month after fighting to defend the law and lamenting his position to the East Coast elite at New York City’s Harvard Club. That was, of course, following the first time he changed his mind after initially speaking out against it. It’s enough to make your head spin,” Brewer said in a statement released by her campaign.

Goddard said Brewer is the one who’s being disingenuous – she rails against the feds for not securing the border, but hasn’t done anything to improve border security herself, he said. Brewer has said numerous times that S1070 doesn’t do anything about border security, and Goddard said Bolton’s injunction gives the state an opportunity to move past the political rhetoric about S1070 and focus on the more important issue of fighting violent drug cartels and human smugglers – as he has done.

“Perhaps now we in Arizona can focus on effective steps to fight border crime and keep our families safe. Now we can focus on steps, such as the ones I have been taking, to go after border crime and cut off the cash that flows to organized criminal cartels that smuggle thousands into the U.S.,” Goddard said.

As to the constitutionality of S1070, which the Justice Department said usurps federal authority over immigration, Goddard said arguments could be made that it isn’t preempted by federal law and could be implemented in a constitutional way. But Bolton made some pretty persuasive arguments to the contrary, he said.

“I think she made a strong and defensible argument. I don’t think it’s a matter of agreeing or disagreeing. That’s the law,” Goddard said.

-Jeremy Duda

It seemed like a sign of the times that Attorney General Terry Goddard was in Congress to talk about Arizona’s efforts to crack down on money laundering by drug cartels, but the only thing the congressmen wanted to talk about was S1070.

Goddard on July 22 testified at a U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security hearing on how to stop illegal immigration, and Goddard said he was there to discuss the steps the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has taken to stop the flow of money of Mexican cartels and human-smuggling groups. But members of the committee were far more interested in discussing Arizona’s strict new illegal immigration law and sanctuary city policies, and denouncing the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Arizona over S1070.

Goddard said he outlined Arizona’s six year-old program, but was surprised that committee members kept straying from the topic. He urged the committee to approve $50 million for anti-money laundering programs to Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

“It just went into … sort of unconnected statements about immigration. And the congressmen would come in, get in their seat, make their statement, ask a question and then leave,” Goddard said. “It was fascinating, but I’m not sure how productive.”

One committee member thought every city in Arizona was a so-called sanctuary city, Goddard said, and pondered whether the federal government should prosecute them. Another wondered aloud whether cartel leaders should be deemed enemy combatants, the same status given to many international terrorist leaders. Others simply wanted to make general denunciations of the federal government’s lawsuit against Arizona.

“I would say on both sides that was a bipartisan affliction,” he said.

Goddard said he was more interested in discussing Arizona’s anti-money laundering program and other efforts against drug cartels, and the ways those programs could be applied on a nationwide level. He suggested that greater cooperation on such issues between the four border states and the federal government could be a boon to the fight against violent drug cartels.

If Goddard had trouble diverting people’s attention away from S1070 in Washington, D.C., things don’t look like they’ll get any better once he’s back in Arizona. Goddard, the Democrats’ candidate for governor, has been taking a pounding in the polls since Gov. Jan Brewer signed the popular law.

S1070 has put Goddard in a tough spot. He opposed the law, but said he believes it is constitutional. He also tried to defend Arizona in the Justice Department lawsuit, but was removed from the case by Brewer, whom he will face in the November election.

Goddard’s campaign has focused largely on the economy and jobs, but the furor over S1070 has kept the attention of the public on illegal immigration. As Brewer’s erstwhile challengers for the Republican nomination learned – before they dropped out of the race – illegal immigration is a winner for Brewer, and anyone hoping to hit her on other issues may have a tough road ahead.

-Jeremy Duda

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced July 20 that he will be opening a new section of his tent city jail, just for those convicted under Arizona’s new immigration law. The new section of the outdoor jail will be called “section 1070,” according to a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.

The new section will be arranged inside the existing tent city area in south Phoenix, since expanding the boundaries of tent city would require approval from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, with which the sheriff has had high-profile public fights involving budget issues.

But the board of supervisors told the Arizona Capitol Times before Arpaio’s announcement that any changes to tent city would need to meet safety and liability requirements, and that despite his assertion that he gets the final say on what happens at his jail, the board needs to provide the proper checks on his practices.

Arpaio will hold a press conference to formally announce and display his tent city addition at 3 p.m. July 21. The announcement coincides with the 17-year anniversary of the opening of tent city. The sheriff’s office will be giving “hot chocolate cake” to all the inmates to celebrate the anniversary. A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office said all media except the Phoenix New Times is welcome.

Rasmussen Reports isn’t regarded by most political insiders as the most accurate of firms, but no margin of error is likely to ease the blow its most recent poll delivered to Dean Martin and Buz Mills.

A Rasmussen poll released June 21 shows Gov. Jan Brewer with a whopping 61 percent of the Republican primary vote. Mills, who has spent more than $2.3 million in his pursuit of the Governor’s Office, pulled 16 percent, while Martin trailed at 12 percent. The automated telephone poll surveyed 707 likely primary voters on June 16.

Brewer’s numbers eclipsed the substantial lead she had in Rasmussen’s last poll in May, which showed her with 45 percent compared to Martin and Mills’ 18.

The three candidates were in a dead heat in March, when Rasmussen showed Mills with 21 percent, Brewer with 20 and Martin with 19. But the governor’s fortunes turned that month when the Legislature passed her budget plan and referred Proposition 100 to the ballot, and her approval numbers shot up after signing the strict illegal immigration law S1070.

Two percent of respondents said they would vote for another candidate – the fourth candidate in the race, Matthew Jette, was not included in the poll – and 9 percent said they weren’t sure who they would vote for.

Brewer had the highest favorability ratings of the three candidates, with 86 percent saying they had a very or somewhat favorable opinion of her, compared to 48 for Mills and 43 for Martin. Mills had the highest unfavorable rating at 30 percent, though Martin was close behind with 28 percent, while Brewer had 13 percent.

Much of the poll focused on voter attitudes toward illegal immigration, an issue that has put Brewer at the top of most polls conducted since she signed S1070 on April 23. In the poll, 89 percent of respondents said they supported S1070, with only 8 percent opposing it, and 77 percent said S1070 would be “very important” in determining who they voted for.

-Jeremy Duda