Thread: AZ: Goldwater leaps back into illegal immigration fray

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Kimble: Goldwater leaps back into illegal immigration fray
MARK KIMBLE
June 14, 2007

Tucson Citizen
When he ran for governor last fall, Don Goldwater didn't have the chance to go toe to toe with Janet Napolitano.
Goldwater lost in the GOP primary and was unable to club incumbent Napolitano with his strong anti-illegal-immigration platform.
But Goldwater may soon have the chance he wanted last fall. By circulating petitions for an immigration-related ballot initiative, Goldwater is about to paint Napolitano into a no-win political corner.
It's a role Goldwater seems to relish.
He is the nephew of Republican icon former U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater. And although Don Goldwater's gubernatorial effort fell short, he's determined to have a say on immigration.
So he is heading Support Legal Arizona Workers, which hopes to place on next year's general election ballot an initiative targeting employers who hire illegal immigrants.
The initiative would permanently revoke the business license of any employer who knowingly hires a single illegal immigrant.
There are other provisions in the initiative. But it is that one threat - the death penalty with no second chance for businesses that hire only one illegal immigrant - that sends chills up the spines of business owners.
So the Legislature is trying to head off the initiative with a bill of its own. That bill - HB 2779 - is only slightly less draconian.
The first time an employer knowingly hires an illegal immigrant, it would suspend the business license briefly until the owner signs a promise not to do it again.
The business license would be revoked on the second violation.
That bill has passed both the state House and Senate by wide margins. Minor differences will be ironed out by a conference committee, and then the bill will be sent to the governor for her signature.
And that's when Napolitano will face a Hobson's choice.
Ordinarily, this would be an easy decision for her: Veto the bill, make businesses happy and point out this is the responsibility of the federal government.
But if Napolitano does that, Goldwater's worse initiative is waiting in the wings. And even if the governor signs the bill, Goldwater is not saying if he will withdraw the initiative drive.
Legislators and businesses like the bill slightly better than they like the initiative. One reason is that it could easily be changed. A majority of the Legislature can change a bill. It takes a vote of the people to change an initiative.
Goldwater worries that if he withdraws his initiative, the Legislature will turn around and emasculate the bill next year. So if Napolitano signs the bill, Goldwater says, he will talk with other organizers and volunteers before deciding how to proceed.
Glenn Hamer, president and chief executive of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, is leading the charge against both the initiative and the bill. He says this should remain a federal issue.
"Our concern is that if we create state sanctions that are duplicative and difficult to comply with, it will hurt Arizona's competition for jobs," Hamer said. "It would have a very negative impact on the Arizona economy."
Any law - whether by bill or initiative - that forces closure of a business is a problem, he said, explaining, "I'm not sure most Arizonans want to be in a position that if a single error occurs, they lose their jobs."
Hamer calls the Goldwater ballot initiative "the single greatest threat facing the state."
Goldwater discounts that, saying his initiative is pro- business. Employers would be required to run a potential worker's identity through a federal data base, he said. If the worker is cleared, the employer is off the hook.
Well, it's not that simple. The federal database is far from perfect, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The program can verify if identification documents are real but not whether the documents belong to the employee who supplies them.
So some people here illegally are cleared and some here legally are denied the right to work, the center reports.
Goldwater says he has collected 20 percent of the 153,365 valid signatures needed - and he has until July 3 to collect the rest.
That forces the Legislature and Napolitano to take him seriously. And that's something that didn't happen when he ran for governor.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/opinion/54540.php

The initiative would permanently revoke the business license of any employer who knowingly hires a single illegal immigrant.

We need this nationwide, and we need it yesterday.

americans have realized that illegals and the democrats are aiding bush in the destruction of America.