Thread: AZ: Still doubting Thomas on immigration?

Still doubting Thomas on immigration?

by E. J. Montini - Jun. 18, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The origin of SB 1070 and Arizona's emergence as the focal point of our national immigration debate can be traced to the summer of 2004 when an obscure 37-year-old candidate in a six-person Republican primary for Maricopa County attorney posted campaign signs with what seemed like a laughably naive slogan: "Stop Illegal Immigration."

His name is Andrew Thomas.

In those days, he was known primarily for having had a brief, quiet career as a deputy county attorney followed by a failed attempt to become state attorney general.

News reports from a candidates' debate in August 2004 said that Thomas "drew strong hisses for his stance on illegal immigration."

He was undeterred.

"I felt strongly enough about stopping illegal immigration that I put it on my campaign signs, even though not everybody liked it," Thomas said at the time. "I took a stand for principle, and I will continue to do that as county attorney whether anybody likes it or not."

He won the primary election and then the general. And with the help of the Legislature, the initiative process and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, he made enforcing immigration law a local concern.

Thomas was re-elected in 2008 but since leaving office to run again for attorney general, he hasn't received nearly the national attention that has fallen to state Sen. Russell Pearce or Arpaio. In addition to running a campaign, he's also fighting ethics charges filed against him with the state Bar. Still, Thomas told me that the folks he meets around the state recognize his role in the immigration fight.

"I have a line in my stock campaign speech," Thomas said. "I say that I trust if Sheriff Arpaio and I have done nothing else, we have at least answered the question, 'What can county officials do about illegal immigration?' It's been a gradual process. We had to get the laws in place to help us deal with the problem. We had to bring the cases. And we had to win in court."

Thomas advised Pearce on SB 1070 and said that he is "surprised by the national blowback" the law has received.

"Arizona is now experiencing what Sheriff Arpaio and I have experienced for years," he said. "Which is the name calling. The false accusations. The mean-spiritedness. The mischaracterization of motives and the reality of what the law would do."

Thomas, who is squaring off in the primary against the state superintendent of public instruction, Tom Horne, said that he will bring the same zeal for immigration enforcement to the Attorney General's Office.

"The attorney general has different powers than the county attorney does," he said. "However, one thing he can do under current law is to offer to provide all 15 counties with assistant attorneys general to prosecute immigration cases."

But only if those counties are willing to prosecute smugglers and the immigrants who conspired to be smuggled, Thomas said. Something that only he did as county attorney.

"I'll be outlining more proposed reforms and initiatives as the campaign goes along," he said.

Thomas supports in theory a legislative proposal that would deny birth certificates to children born to illegal immigrants, and one that would charge tuition for illegal-immigrant children attending public schools. If such laws were passed and challenged in court the new state attorney general would have to defend them.

"I think it was Justice (Louis) Brandeis who said that states are laboratories of democracy," Thomas said.

"Certainly that's true with Arizona in regards to the fight against illegal immigration. I suspect that we will continue to be, and I expect to play a significant role."

www.azcentral.com

Thanks for posting Jean. Just because I live here does not mean that I have been able to keep up with everything all the time every year - no, working parents miss a lot sometimes.

The Clock is ticking...

http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks15.htm