Thread: Poll..should Garcia be removed

Should Isabel Garcia be removed from her position as Pima County legal defender?

Yes 72 %
No 26 %
Not sure - need more info 2 %

Total number of votes 1087

Please Vote again...this poll lets you vote twice.....
need to pound it with "Yes"

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/251604

YOUR VIEW
Should Isabel Garcia be removed from her position as Pima County legal defender?
Yes
No
Not sure - need more info



Garcia, her foes have same rights to speak freely

Our view: Pima County legal defender's error in judgment doesn't warrant ouster, which some activists are demanding

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.07.2008

The controversy over Pima County Legal Defender Isabel Garcia's participation in a protest is really all about the U.S. Constitution. It's also about Congress' failure to enact comprehensive immigration reforms, but more about that later.

In this case, the constitutional right in question is freedom of speech, which we emphatically favor.

We favor it for Garcia, the county employee who is also a human-rights activist and who is under attack for participating in a protest.
We support it for a hate-mongering talk-show host. While we deplore the way he delivers his message, we defend his right to criticize Garcia's actions.

We back it for the demagogic Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose visit here prompted the protest, though we believe his taxpaying constituents deserve a better public servant.

Controversial sheriff

By now you probably know the background:

Arpaio came to Tucson a few weeks ago to promote his new book — "Joe's Law: America's Toughest Sheriff Takes on Illegal Immigration, Drugs and Everything Else that Threatens America."

Arpaio, who created a special immigration unit to arrest illegal immigrants under a state smuggling law, has been running immigration sweeps in heavily Hispanic sections of the Phoenix area.

The sweeps have fueled a backlash from officials in towns and cities within Maricopa County as an unwanted intrusion into their communities and prompted news stories about reduced Sheriff's Department response times and investigations on other crimes.

Arpaio's visit drew protesters from several immigrant- and human-rights groups, including the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, or The Human Rights Coalition.

"That he would come to Tucson to promote a book filled with lies, fear and ignorant perspectives about immigrants was especially appalling to us," longtime coalition activist Garcia said in a statement.
Protesters handed out leaflets, chanted — and someone brought a large piñata with Arpaio's face glued on the head.

The piñata as an object of protest is nothing new, and you can see on YouTube how several teenage protesters sent this piñata the way of its forebears. It was broken into pieces.

You also can watch on YouTube as Garcia picks up the head and carries it around the bookstore parking lot.

Next, a 104.1-FM talk-show host who calls himself Jon Justice, though that is not his actual name, picked up on the story and launched a campaign for Garcia to be fired by the county.

The second piñata

He also posted two videos of himself with his station's new "mascot," an Isabel Garcia piñata, about which he joked, "She's not heavy because chorizo is not that fattening."

Pretending the piñata was speaking to him, Justice said, "You make me feel warm, like the inside of a freshly cooked chimichanga."
The videos are no longer posted on the host's Web site, though copies are available online (see box).

Justice said in a July 22 video that he took them down because he didn't want to distract from the central issue, Garcia's actions during the protest.
In a letter from Deputy Chief John MacIntyre, Arpaio's office also complained to County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, asserting that Garcia's "vicious attack on Sheriff Arpaio at an otherwise peaceful book signing event" violated various rules and codes of conduct.

Meanwhile a couple dozen pro- and anti-Garcia citizens waited more than four hours to address Pima County supervisors about her future on Tuesday night.

The Star's Erica Meltzer reported that some considered "Garcia's actions an assault on all law-enforcement officers everywhere. They . . . said it was disgraceful for a top county employee to encourage lawbreaking in the form of illegal immigration."

Avalanche of e-mails

Meltzer wrote that "Another dozen people praised Garcia for her years of work for immigrant rights and said there is a long history of using piñatas as political symbols."

Huckelberry told us Wednesday that he has received an avalanche of e-mails.

"Ultimately I will respond to all of these people," he said, adding that his investigation "will take some time."

Huckelberry said he's asked the State Bar of Arizona to investigate whether Garcia violated its code of conduct. He's also investigating the county's code of conduct, which he said "is kind of silent" on the question of the employer's expectation of an employee's actions when off duty.

"Is her involvement in Derechos Humanos different than an employee being active in the National Rifle Association?" Huckelberry asked. "I don't know."

The pressure that's built up around the issue of illegal immigration is at the root of this controversy.

All sides — Arpaio, Justice, Garcia — in this debacle thrive on the publicity and attention these spectacles create. And that allows vitriol and rhetoric to stand in for substantive action by policy-makers.

If Congress had taken action on comprehensive immigration reform — addressing the issues of border security, guest-worker programs and avenues for the 12 million illegal immigrants already in this country to achieve legal status — much of this xenophobic, demagogic, fear-driven controversy would never have raised its toxic head.

In this case, we hope and expect that the First Amendment will prevail.
Arpaio has a right to write a book that Garcia and others find offensive and misleading. Garcia and her fellow activists have a right to lawfully protest against Arpaio and his policies. And radio jocks have a right to air their often-racist, divisive views.

Garcia serves at the pleasure of the county administrator, and her fate lies in his hands.

Garcia should have used better judgment. Carrying the piñata head in front of the cameras played right into her critics' hands. However, we don't believe she did anything illegal or so substantially egregious that she should lose her job.

We believe the Constitution protects her right to freedom of speech, and we don't think county employees should be expected to relinquish their constitutional protections in exchange for their jobs.

Should Isabel Garcia be removed from her position as Pima County legal defender?
Yes 72 %
No 26 %
Not sure - need more info 2 %

Total number of votes 1093

Poll results aren't scientific. Percentages may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding off.

Close This Wind

If Congress had taken action on comprehensive immigration reform — addressing the issues of border security, guest-worker programs and avenues for the 12 million illegal immigrants already in this country to achieve legal status — much of this xenophobic, demagogic, fear-driven controversy would never have raised its toxic head.

Never mind "comprehensive" aka amnesty reform, no gonna happen. If Congress had DELIVERED on the ENFORCEMENT promised in the '86, '92 AND '96 "reforms" , there would not be 12-30 million illegal aliens PLUS millions more of their spawn here now! THAT'S the issue. Much of these racist, ethnocentric, hate-mongering by "activists" would never have profited from exploiting illegal aliens.

Put THAT in your pike and smoke it!

According to these racists "free speech" only applies to them. Proof? Look at the threats and harassment LaRaza spewed at Kansas City because a VOLUNTEER on parks board was a member of the Minutemen!
She was publicly humiliated for her membership to an organization they did not like.

Garcia is a PAID employee of the county, a LAWYER. She was actively and publicly protesting in a racist, violence-inciting manner.
But that's ok because if SHE does it, it's called "free speech"?


I DON'T THINK SO!

Should Isabel Garcia be removed from her position as Pima County legal defender?

Yes 72 %
No 26 %
Not sure - need more info 2 %

Total number of votes 1095

YES! I would remove anyone from a public office that has no respect for the law. Pulling that pinata crap showed a total disrespect for the Sheriffs department and any other lawmaker.

Good point Miguelina

Garcia is a PAID employee of the county, a LAWYER. She was actively and publicly protesting in a racist, violence-inciting manner.
But that's ok because if SHE does it, it's called "free speech"?

Should Isabel Garcia be removed from her position as Pima County legal defender?

Yes 72 %
No 26 %
Not sure - need more info 2 %

Total number of votes 1098

Yes 73%

No 25%

Not sure 2%

Votes cast 1135

Should Isabel Garcia be removed from her position as Pima County legal defender?

Yes 73 %
No 25 %
Not sure - need more info 2 %

Total number of votes 1140

Should Isabel Garcia be removed from her position as Pima County legal defender?
Yes 73 %
No 25 %
Not sure - need more info 2 %

Total number of votes 1144