When Jan Brewer signed Arizona's "your papers, please" immigration bill into law, it was pretty much taken for granted that it would hit the state economically with the force of a George Foreman uppercut. Even though it was basically gutted last week, the economic damage has already been dnone.
SSeveral companies have packed up and left. At least 40 groups have canceled conventions and conferences, says Debbie Johnson, CEO of the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association. And the Phoenix area alone is projected to lose $92 million in business, according to Mayor Phil Gordon. "Anyone who says our image has not been hurt is living in a bubble," he says.
As we already know, several artists have canceled performances there, several states and cities have cut business ties, and MLB is under heavy pressure to yank the 2011 All-Star Game from Phoenix. The bill's opponents are even talking about getting other countries to impose sanctions--and have put other states on notice that they'll get the same treatment if they pass a similar law.
How bad is it getting? Some businessmen fear Arizona could have as bad a reputation as the South did during the Civil Rights era.
The state is perilously close to sealing a reputation as a bastion of intolerance. Phoenix "risks becoming the next Birmingham," says Robert Lang of Brookings Mountain West, a think tank based in Las Vegas. Noting that Arizona is trying to diversify into the solar-energy and biotech industries, he adds, the state is "playing with fire...Who is in solar? Not the kind of people who are listening to Rush [Limbaugh]."
Brewer is starting some damage control. She's pledged $250,000 to launch a PR campaign, and as I mentioned last week is open to revising the law. At the same time, she's still sticking her foot in her mouth on occasion--for instance, she once claimed that decapitated bodies have been found in the desert, a claim that has been largely debunked.