When Arizona passed the now-infamous SB 1070 in April, I responded by asking groups not to hold their conventions or conferences in the state as a sign of protest. This was not the first time Arizona had ignited national political controversy: In 1987, Governor Evan Mecham rescinded state recognition of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which led to a widespread entertainment and convention boycott and cost the state its 1993 Super Bowl bid. In those days, even ideologically driven conservatives recognized the economic damage their policies were doing to the people they were elected to represent. After sustained pressure, the state joined the modern era and recognized the holiday in 1993 thanks to a voter initiative. Three years later, the Super Bowl came to town.
Based on that lesson from recent Arizona history, I hoped economic sanctions could once again have a positive effect. Unfortunately, today's conservatives are even more ideological -- and even less concerned with the consequences of their actions -- than Evan Mecham was. Our current governor, Jan Brewer, has used SB 1070 as a weapon to divide voters, garner attention and catapult herself into a likely primary victory in a few days. She signed the bill not because she thought it was good public policy -- Judge Susan Bolton's ruling clearly stated that large parts of it are unconstitutional -- but because she wanted to whip up an angry tide of support from her base. An Aug. 8 Huffington Post story documents the transition:
As the year began, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer faced a competitive field of fellow Republicans who wanted her job, with some GOP critics sensing she was particularly vulnerable as she sought voter approval of a sales tax increase she'd proposed to shore up the state budget.
All of that began to change in April, when she signed a tough new state law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which soon put Arizona at the heart of a rabid national debate on immigration. Now, with Arizona's Aug. 24 GOP primary just two weeks away, not only she is riding high, but she can confidently boast of an enviable reputation among conservatives across the country.
"She essentially flipped the whole election," said Matthew Jette, the only candidate still actively campaigning against Brewer. "She was pretty much dead last[.]"
Unfortunately, Blue Dogs are helping her do it. My call for action is now being used against me in an ad buy potentially totaling $350,000 in a district adjacent to my own in Southern Arizona. The incumbent Blue Dog Democrat, Gabrielle Giffords, says in the ad that she "holds those groups personally responsible for damaging the economy of Arizona" -- not the governor who signed the law for political purposes, not the legislature that introduced and approved it, but the people who took a stand when it counted most.
I am asking for your support. Please join me in continuing to say no to divisive politics, in and out of the Democratic Party. Nothing you contribute at my ActBlue page will be used to weaken the progressive agenda or undermine the Democratic majority in Congress. It's time Democrats focused more on the needs of the people they represent and less on the next twelve hours of the news cycle.
