Gov. Janet Napolitano signs order to deploy Arizona National Guard!
Posted on Wednesday, March 08 @ 16:39:40 EST
Topic: Democrat Democrats illegal immigration
|
 PHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano is deploying more National Guard troops along the border today even as she vetoes a bill to force her to do it.
Topics: Arizona, AZ, National guard, illegal immigration, gangs, drugs, crimes, anarchy, Border Disaster Areas
3-8-2006
By Howard Fischer
CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES
Her order, announced this morning, comes less thasn 24 hours after the Senate voted to direct the governor to expand the presence of the Guard in Southern Arizona and gave her $10 million to do it. Napolitano said she intends to veto that bill when it gets to her desk later today, calling the mandate an unconstitutional infringement on her power as commander-in-chief of the Guard.
But the governor's order is contingent on lawmakers recrafting that legislation to give her the money - but without what she said is the unconstitutional directive. That move puts the political hot potato back in the hands of the Republican-controlled Legislature: If they don't approve the bill the way she wants it, there's no money - and she can blame them for failure to deploy the troops.
But Rep. John Allen, R-Scottsdale, who crafted the measure, said he does not believe it is unconstitutional.
Napolitano insisted this morning she was not pressured into action by the Legislature and that she had always intended to expand the presence of the Guard in Southern Arizona.
"I've been saying since State of the State (speech) we're sending the Guard down there,'' she said.
But that isn't exactly true: In her January speech, the governor said only that she was asking Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to use a provision of federal law "which allows the federal government to pay for us to station the National Guard at our border.'' She said those federal funds "would allow the Guard to expand its presence and become even more involved in enforcing the rule of law at the border.''
"I'm not playing semantics with you,'' she shot back Wednesday when pressed about the differences.
So why did she wait until now - with the Legislature sending her a mandate to put the Guard on the border - to issue her order, as opposed to doing it months ago?
"I was waiting to see if Secretary Rumsfeld would fund the Guard,'' she responded. Napolitano said she had not had a chance to meet with him until she was in Washington last week.
There are fewer than 200 Guard troops along the border now, doing what Napolitano has described as "support'' functions.
She said while troop levels will change, the mission will not.
"They are not there to militarize the border,'' she said. "We are not at war with Mexico.''
Napolitano said she wants troops doing things like helping to staff border checkpoints and conducting cargo, vehicle and electronic identification checks, assisting local law enforcement and working with the Department of Public Safety in their campaign to keep stolen vehicles from entering Mexico. The governor's decision comes in what promises to be a tough reelection year for her, with Republican foes saying she has been slow to protect the state from illegal immigration.
In approving the mandate Tuesday, Sen. Dean Martin, R-Phoenix, chided Napolitano for saying in her January speech she would expand the role of the Guard on the border -- with federal dollars.
"If she's going to ask for troops on the border and she wants the money to pay for it, the Legislature is the right body to appropriate those monies and give her the authority,'' Martin said.
"But you can't play it both ways,'' he continued. "You can't pretend to want it one day and then say you don't the next.''
Napolitano, in turn, accused Allen of being the one who is playing games. She said Allen was shown a copy of the draft executive order Tuesday night but still refused to back off the wording that would require her to use Guard troops.
"I told her to her face I didn't trust her,'' said Allen. He said the governor has had credibility issues since she went back on a budget deal at the end of the 2005 legislative session.
Discuss this article in our Discussion Groups and meet CITIZEN ACTIVISTS!
PLEASE sign up for our e-mail alerts on breaking news, events, lobbying efforts, and ALIPAC efforts using the BOX IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER
|
|
| |
| Article Rating | Average Score: 5
Votes: 9
| |
|
Contribute/Join
