Posted on 07/07/2003 3:39:59 PM PDT by JackelopeBreeder
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kathy McKee JULY 4, 2003 PHONE: 623.225.7122
NEWS RELEASE . NEWS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCING BIGGEST POLITICAL NEWS IN ARIZONA FOR 2003 PROPOSITION 187-TYPE INITIATIVE HEADING FOR AZ BALLOT 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 8, 2003 State Capitol . 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ . House Hearing Room 4-5
The Protect Arizona NOW Committee has filed application with the Arizona Secretary of State to begin collecting signatures for a citizens' initiative similar to California's Proposition 187 for the 2004 ballot in Arizona. The Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act would ban the use of taxpayer funds for all state and local programs, services, and benefits for illegal aliens, except those mandated by federal law.
Committee Director Kathy McKee states, "The original Prop 187 in California passed with about a 2/3 majority and in all counties except eight in and around San Francisco. State and local officials-especially the current Governor, Phoenix City Council, and Tucson City Council, seem determined to tax citizens to death and run our entire state into perpetual bankruptcy supporting people who legally should be deported.
So we, the citizens of this state, have no other choice but to pursue and pass this initiative. We have been organizing for months and have the early stages of a great network and system in place to anticipate a greater margin of victory here than in California."
Committee Treasurer, local businessman Rusty Childress, adds, "The people of Arizona have heard more than enough of state and local officials' lame excuse that illegal immigration is a federal problem. Clearly, the federal government is endangering the whole country by not putting the military on our own borders-like the vast majority of Americans want done, but a lot of the underlying problem is that state and local governments have created a mammoth welfare state-illegally, with taxpayers' money-that attracts illegals here. These traitorous bureaucrats thumb their noses at their legal constituents and blatantly violate laws, even U.S. Supreme Court decisions. If elected leaders don't have the courage or integrity to stop this nonsense right now, the citizens of this state do have it and will stop it. "
McKee contends, "The real villain in the illegal immigration crisis is every level of 'our' own government (and I use the word "our" very loosely). However, I dare say every person coming across that border illegally knows they are breaking our laws. Even for those who say they are coming here to try to improve their lives, poverty is no excuse to break laws-and we surely can't take in the 4-5 billion people on this planet who are poorer than Central Americans. I love Arizona, and I am furious how government officials are just giving it away-and using taxpayers' money to do it. Why? Why? Why? The average Arizonan has no idea how many hundreds of millions of their tax dollars go to support programs and benefits for illegal aliens."
Senior Advisors to the Committee, Arizona House Majority Whip Randy Graf and House Appropriations Chairman Russell Pearce, will be on the news conference panel to better explain the fiscal impact and irresponsibility of spending public funds on people illegally in this country.
McKee concludes, "Instead of Emailing back and forth and griping to each other, it's truly now or never for the citizens of Arizona to demand accountability and enforcement of our laws by government officials. It's hard to believe America has become a place where citizens have to force their own government to obey laws."
RSVP to Spiff or to SEARClub@hotmail.com if you wish to attend. Dinner is $12.00 for non-members, $11.00 for members. Annual Membership Dues are $20.00 if you wish to join.
They delivered 1,000,000 votes for Democrats that hadn't existed prior to Proposition 187. It's called "taking care of your constituents."
If the major groups opposing illegal immigration could deliver Gray Davis more votes and donations than the pro-illegal immigration groups, he'd flip in a heartbeat--especially with the recall fiasco he's looking at.
FYI:
SECTION 10. Amendment and Severability.The statutory provisions contained in this measure may not be amended by the Legislature except to further its purposes by statute passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring, or by a statute that becomes effective only when approved by the voters.
In the event that any portion of this act or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of the act, which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to that end the provisions of this act are severable.
Prop 187 was, in part, a deliberate attempt to force a rehearing of Plyler v. Doe. Appellate courts are loathe to overturn Supreme Court rulings. Any decision on Plyler was only going to be resolved in the Supreme Court. The authors of the initiative should have known this.
There was no severability clause in Proposition 187. Without a severability clause, all that the opponents needed to do was get ONE very small piece of the initiative overturned, and the entire thing went with it. And it was 99% certain that some parts of the initiative were going to get shot down. The guys who wrote the initiative didn't think ahead, and the thing died right there.
Yeah, it was badly written. The opponents used that to get the whole thing thrown out. Tough s**t.
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