It helps to have a little background on the Governor of my state. She was not elected to this office, she merely took over when Janet Napolitano resigned her position as governor to become Secretary of Homeland Security. Ms. Brewer is up for election in November 2010. If she wins it, it will be the only term she will be allowed to serve.
The Arizona Constitution prevents her from seeking another term. If she loses to Terry Goddard her Democratic opponent, we will have a good chance to change this law which might be done through court challenges anyway. Attorney General Goddard has come out against this racist bill which will use racial profiling to stop and arrest whoever they, the local police see fit, or whoever they, the cops think looks like an illegal immigrant. Although the governor doesn't seem to know what an illegal immigrant looks like. I'm sure Sheriff Joe Arpaio will educate her very eruditely on who he thinks looks like an illegal immigrant.
This law would require them to stop people they think look "illegal". The governor is being disingenuous when she says that law enforcement will be trained to avoid racial profiling. How will they be trained if the state of Arizona is broke and is contemplating cutbacks in education and an increase of one cent in sales tax?
It helps to see Governor Brewer's record. It is extremist, made to order for the GOP and the Tea Party folks and many of her positions don't pass the common sense test. It helps to understand how extremist her views are on key issues that are of importance both in the state of Arizona and nationally. This November, Democrats in Arizona can alter that and bring positive change to this state which badly needs it by putting a Democrat in the governor's seat and defeating Jan Brewer.
The Governor's record:
Gun Control
Under Gov. Brewer, we have seen her sign legislation into law that allows people to carry guns into bars unless the bar owner refuses to allow the carrying of firearms in their establishment. She has not cared about the risk this would pose to innocent customers who come into the bar thinking they are in a safe environment and free from harm.
State Sen. Ken Cheuvront countered that the new Arizona law has more potential for danger because the state's permit system is among the more lenient nationally.
"All I know is that guns and liquor do not mix," said Cheuvront, a Democrat and the owner of a wine bar in central Phoenix. "They're putting other patrons and my staff at risk by having a gun in my establishment."
She has only chosen to help herself politically where she has seen it feasible or advantageous. She did it to further burnish her credentials with 2nd Amendment militant groups who routinely misinterpret the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution for their own agenda. She has chosen to ally herself with the rabid folks who gathered recently at the mall in Washington DC with firearms on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing. These folks are militants who routinely choose to incite violence. These are the people who used to show up with loaded weapons outside President Obama's health care reform rallies.
Gay Rights
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, said the change would take health care away from people who work hard to earn it.
"To discriminately deny that health care to some while providing it to others I think is especially nefarious," she said.
With this action Gov. Brewer turned back the clock on Gay rights. Once again she has chosen to ally herself with the very bottom dwellers in the GOP cesspool who would rather divide than unite. She has shown she is willing to do whatever it takes to appeal to the GOP in her state. Taking away this right, tramples on the civil rights of the gay and lesbian citizens of her state. I do not think she has taken the time to understand the gravity of her actions, just like the immigration bill.
Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, said supporters of the change were "mean-spirited" to take away health benefits during an economic downturn.
"After their success in putting a constitutional ban on gay marriage, they weren't satisfied," he said. "They wanted to go further and deny benefits to same sex and opposite sex couples who for whatever reason do not get married."
Elimination of S-CHIP
This was a program that numerous governors supported and asked Congress to fund for their states. It was a nonpartisan issue, yet she choose to politicize it. We have a governor who actually eliminated a program that was popular among both Democratic and Republican governors. Once again, when it comes to helping the poor families of her state we see Jan Brewer doing the wrong thing. It boggles the mind how she could do this to poor families with children who have no other recourse.
Arizona on Thursday became the first state to eliminate its Children’s Health Insurance Program when Gov. Jan Brewer signed an austere budget that will leave nearly 47,000 low-income children without coverage.
But wait the governor wasn't done yet. She elected to reduce Medicaid coverage where so many Arizonans with needs will be left out in the cold. Why can't this governor see the heartache and pain she is causing for her own political benefit? Why is she so hell bent on doing what is wrong for this state when she has the chance to make it so much better for the people of this state? She is leaving so many poor Arizonans out in the cold.
The state also will roll back Medicaid coverage for childless adults in a move that is expected to eventually drop 310,000 people from the rolls.
Racial Profiling
The governor doing what is right for her career. Or could this be the biggest gamble of her career when it comes to her upcoming primary and general election in November? She has chosen to defend and sign a law that is inherently racist and illegal. It will make the people of Arizona suspicious of the police. The cops will not have the training of a border patrol agent and they will meticulously stop people based on their skin color and nothing else.
This laws brings shame to the state of Arizona. Any competent judge will throw out this dangerous law because it is unconstitutional. Has she forgotten the Hispanic voters this November? It is not hard to see how they will react to her actions i.e. signing a bill that specifically targets them based on their skin color.
On a moral level Jan Brewer has failed the test. She is being challenged by 3 other Republicans for the nomination for the Governorship. One of these candidates is a tea party endorsed candidate. In order to burnish her credentials with the extreme wing of her party she has chosen to sign a most venomous piece of legislation. Let us not forget that some cops in Arizona are already using the formerly illegal practice of racial profiling. Ask any African American motorist in Arizona.
And opponents wonder whether her coterie of aides has undue influence, noting she had never made immigration control a passion until it was clear that she was running for election.
She did not even mention the border or immigration in her January 2009 inaugural speech, which focused squarely on the biggest problem on her hands, the imploding economy and a state budget in tatters.
"Jan has always been a tough cookie and very partisan," she said. "I think what led her to this decision on the immigration bill was political, cold calculation. She felt the Hispanic community would not matter."
Only time will tell if this decision will cost Jan Brewer the Governorship, and that will only happen if her Democratic opponent Terry Goddard, the Attorney General, can make this the issue of his campaign. It is up to him to expose Brewer for the partisan politician she is, who is willing to do anything to further her own standing with the Republican party and with people like Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has welcomed this law and was already encouraging his cops to engage in racial profiling before she signed it.
Jan Brewer has failed in her duties to the state of Arizona and to its people. We need a governor who will not ignore the US Constitution, due process and basic fairness. Terry Goddard has promised a repeal of this law. Please contribute if you can or wish to.