Arizona political candidates quickly turned last Saturday's murder of a Cochise County rancher into a border-security litmus test.

Most agreed, in a flurry of statements and interviews after the killing of Robert Krentz, that U.S. troops should be sent to the Arizona-Mexico border.

Rather than debating the need for troops, some have moved on to discussing whether they should be National Guard or active-duty military.

U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth and incumbent John McCain attacked each other over the issue this week, as did Republican candidates and the Republican Party, who went after U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat.

New Arizona Attorney General candidate Andrew Thomas, the former Maricopa County attorney, also weighed in. He announced his candidacy Thursday through a video of a conversation, taped at an Arizona-Mexico border fence, in which he spoke with Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever about the Krentz murder.

Hayworth said at a community meeting in Cochise County Wednesday night: "Rob has become a martyr for this cause, a symbol."

McCain's and Giffords' campaigns both referred to their opponents' use of the Krentz murder as "despicable." And certain candidates have issued only limited statements of condolence to the victim's family.

But the Krentz family itself issued a statement calling on President Obama to send active-duty military units to the border.

What hardliners say

Border-security hardliners pointed to the Krentz slaying as showing the need for troops on the border and to vote down anyone supporting less-aggressive border policy.

After McCain sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security about the killing Monday, Hayworth put out a statement saying "McCain's recent call for troops on the border is yet another election year conversion which only came after the shooting death of Rob Krentz."

In his Monday letter McCain had said he had been calling for troops to be sent to the border "for years." But in responding to Hayworth Wednesday, his campaign tweaked the timeline, saying he first called for the National Guard to be sent to the border on March 26, 2009, just over a year ago.

On Tuesday, the Pima County Republican Party and Republican candidate for Congress Jesse Kelly struck out at Giffords, the incumbent, over what they view as her weak support of border security. In a fundraising e-mail, Kelly said, "I was especially disappointed that Rep. Giffords offered up more empty rhetoric in wake of this senseless crime."

Giffords' communications director, C.J. Karamargin, called the attacks on her a despicable effort to "exploit the murder of Robert Krentz to score political points."

But certain candidates, including some who favor troops on the border, stayed out of the fray. Republican Jonathan Paton, who is also hoping to run against Giffords in the general election, issued a short statement of condolence without criticizing her.

"I don't know what happened," Paton said Thursday. "What I don't like is when politicians presume to know everything."

U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva , a Democrat, also issued a short statement of condolence but warned: "Mr. Krentz's death should move us to solve our border security problems, not exploit them for extreme political agendas."

Key assumption

Much of the discussion of Krentz's killing has rested on the assumption that it was carried out by someone who crossed the border from Mexico illegally. But that's not known.

The Cochise County Sheriff's Department clarified Friday that it has almost no information about the shooter, other than the fact that footprints showed the killer apparently walked almost 20 miles to Mexico after the shooting.

That didn't stop Attorney General Terry Goddard, a candidate for governor, from giving a Phoenix TV station details about the killer Friday. In an interview with KPNX Channel 12, posted online, Goddard said:

"The person who apparently committed this murder was a trained professional. ... These are commandos, these are paramilitary professionals who unfortunately are throughout the high desert in Southern Arizona. They provide the intelligence that the cartels use to move drugs and people illegally across the border."

When interviewer Brahm Resnik asked how that is known, Goddard said, "We suppose that much."

Asked if he would send the National Guard to the border, Goddard said, "I probably would."

Brewer renews call

On Monday, Gov. Jan Brewer resumed a year-old call for the Defense Department to send at least 250 National Guard troops to the Arizona-Mexico border, in addition to the 140 already there.

Brewer initially made her request in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on March 11, 2009, asking that the federal government pay for the deployment. Her office said this week that she has not received an answer.

The governor can order troops to the border herself, but if she does, the state will have to foot the bill. Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico ordered the National Guard to deploy troops to his state's Mexican border on Wednesday in response to the Krentz murder. But how big or longstanding the deployment will be is unclear.

For reasons beyond mere expense, it is preferable for the federal government to make the deployment, said Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman.

"A federal response would be much more significant, larger and sustainable," he said.

But even with all the calls for military deployments on the Arizona-Mexico border, some still disagree.

Brian Miller, a Republican seeking the nomination to challenge Giffords, said, "I'm leery of it."

And Jesse Kelly's spokesman, John Ellinwood, said the candidate wants a two-layer fence built but would consider troops only as a "stopgap measure" before the fence is built.

Contact report Tim Steller at 807-8427 or at tsteller@azstarnet.com
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