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Chandler official's fiery comments lead to disclaimer policy
12 commentsby Edythe Jensen - Dec. 9, 2008 09:19 AM
The Arizona Republic

Members of the Chandler Human Relations Commission who make their opinions public will have to include a disclaimer from now on.

The new policy came after commission member and former City Council candidate Tracy Buelna drew criticism for a Sept. 10 guest column in The Chandler Republic in which she called for a tougher stand on illegal immigration and an end to the community's "sanctuary city" status.

Resident Carmen Cornejo, an advocate for undocumented students and member of the Chandler Education Foundation, called the column "immigrant bashing . . . a member of the Human Relations Commission shouldn't be writing that type of article, fanning the flames of hatred."
Buelna, a barber who works with Councilman Lowell Huggins, lost her bid for a council seat Nov. 4 and did not return phone messages. Buelna has not attended the last two Human Relations Commission meetings, city diversity administrator Leah Powell said.

In a letter to the commission, Cornejo said she was once verbally abused by neighbors who "shouted 'go back to your country' in front of my then young kids who were terrified by the possibility that the verbal violence will turn physical." An immigrant and a U.S. citizen, Cornejo took issue with Buelna's claim in the column that her own grandparents settled in the area "legally" in the early 1900s.

"What Ms. Buelna chooses to ignore is that, back then, there was no wall at the border, virtual, electronic etc., there where not INS, or ICE and there where very few laws in place to curtail illegal immigration."

Cornejo voiced her objections to the commission at an earlier meeting but Powell said the issue couldn't be discussed at the time because it wasn't on the agenda. Last week the commission approved the disclaimer policy as a response. From now on, members who speak or write for publication must state: "The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of the Chandler Human Relations Commission."

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