Thread: No. 1 issue: All talk, little action

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No. 1 issue: All talk, little action

Matthew Benson
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 23, 2006 12:00 AM

Rarely has so much talk come to so little.

The thought was unavoidable Thursday as state lawmakers and Capitol watchers took stock of the Arizona Legislature's achievements on illegal immigration.

The list isn't long: a couple of ballot measures to limit the rights of undocumented immigrants to sue or access state services and another declaring English the state's official language.

That for an issue that was center stage from the governor's State of the State address in January until the waning moments of the session late Wednesday.

That for an issue routinely called the No.1 concern of Arizonans and considered crucial to the campaigns for governor and 90 legislative seats up for grabs in the Nov. 7 election.

The immigration measures, which voters also will decide in November, are all that remain from dozens upon dozens that surfaced and sank at various times during the 5 1/2-month legislative session that ended late Wednesday. Roughly $20 million in additional funding also was included in the budget for border-related crime and prosecution through the state's GITEM (Gang Intelligence and Team Enforcement Mission) program.

Proposals declaring undocumented immigrants guilty of trespassing, penalizing the companies that knowingly employ them, doling out millions of dollars to construct a radar-based "smart fence" on the border all fell by the wayside.

Elias Bermudez, a Republican and president of local Latino advocacy group Immigrants Without Borders, characterized the session's immigration debate as "a lot of hot air and a lot of ill-intent." He was relieved that all but a few of the measures were rejected.

But disappointment was palpable in the voice of one of the Legislature's leading proponents of border enforcement.

Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, saw most of his efforts come to nothing. In the final hours of the session, GOP leadership even prevented his bid to penalize employers of undocumented immigrants from getting an up or down vote.

"We're in charge. We could have sent it to the ballot," Pearce said Thursday, as if still trying to understand the turn of events. "We missed such a great opportunity.

"The Number 1 issue is illegal immigration. The governor ignores it. This Legislature, I believe, failed miserably in this effort."

Just as they have all session, both parties placed blame for the dearth of action at the feet of the other.

Republicans noted that Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed every immigration bill of substance that they sent, including state funding to deploy National Guard to the border and criminalize undocumented immigrants.

"We didn't have a partner on this issue," said Rep. John Allen, R-Scottsdale. "We had a person we were dragging along, that being the governor."

For its part, the Governor's Office accused Republicans of sending Napolitano veto bait, especially with a package bill that they delivered even after she promised to reject it.

But, in light of recent federal movement on immigration, Napolitano spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer said the governor isn't measuring success on the issue this year strictly in terms of state legislation.

President Bush's call for Guard members on the border and an ensuing $1.9 billion appropriation for border states such as Arizona helped signal "a level of responsiveness we haven't seen before" from the feds on border issues, L'Ecuyer said.

In fact, House Minority Leader Rep. Phil Lopes, D-Tucson, credited the Republican Bush administration with helping Arizona Democrats fend off some of the GOP's border legislation. Talk of National Guard, guest-worker programs and other federal border reform "took the pressure off us" at a state level, he said.

Still unknown is how Arizona voters will view and vote the immigration issue in November.

GOP candidates for governor have staked out get-tough territory in the border debate, casting Napolitano as weak on the issue.

By fall, the immigration proposals could be little more than a sidelight to a different kind of immigration referendum.

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Republicans noted that Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed every immigration bill of substance that they sent, including state funding to deploy National Guard to the border and criminalize undocumented immigrants.

Send Governor Mexicano packing.