Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

There’s been so much stuff to post lately; a few things have fallen through the cracks.

I missed out on presenting y’all with Raúl Grijalva’s interview with Esquire magazine over the SB1070 decision. Spoiler alert: he expands on his assertion that la Cervecera is delusional.

You can also catch the shorter version of his arguments in a op-ed he wrote in the Yuma Daily Sun.

One of his primary opponents also weighed in. Here is former State Senator Amanda Aguirre:

“This is a welcome first step in reversing draconian laws against immigrant communities in Arizona. America needs immigrants and immigrant workers. The current mess for both immigrants and citizens is a direct consequence of worthless and unclear federal policies regarding immigration. Establishing clear policies for immigrants, immigrant workers, and naturalization is desperately needed, long overdue, and will be one of my highest priorities once elected. We Arizonans should not be forced to turn against ourselves because Washington D.C. can’t pull their heads out of their asses long enough to do their job,” remarked former Senator Aguirre who voted against SB1070.

Good to hear that she supports the decision, but her assertion that she voted against SB1070 is not the full truth.

Aguirre voted against SB1070 when it first came to the State Senate early in the 2010 session. The bill was decidedly lower profile at the time, but it had been amended to include the infamous “reasonable suspicion” language by Russell Pearce.

It moved to the State House, where it took on more amendments, including one so broad that it was classified a “strike everything” amendment. The SB1070 bill that came out of the House was the bill that we now know as SB1070, and it only then included many of the provisions that were struck down by the Supreme Court.

Because of the amendments, it returned to the Senate. At that point, the controversy over the bill was decidedly more high profile. Aguirre had a chance to re-affirm her opposition to the bill in the face of the politics now surrounding it. She did an interesting thing: nothing.

There’s a thing legislators do on controversial bills called “taking a walk.” Voting either way will leave one side or the other angry, so the legislator chooses not to vote at all. I don’t know how this is supposed to fool anyone, but then again, as I was reminded yesterday, I lost two primaries.

Aguirre was one of several Democrats in both the House and Senate to take a walk on SB1070. It’s even worse than that. A capitol observer I spoke with told me that she had to be talked out of a yes vote by her colleagues.

Whatever happened, it’s a far cry from opposition, or leadership for that matter.