Posted on 05/20/2010 7:25:39 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Yesterday, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Gary Pierce challenged the city of Los Angeles and its mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, to put their money where their mouths are by ending their purchases of electrical power generated in Arizona. In a letter exclusively provided to Hot Air, Pierce questioned how a city-wide boycott of Arizona would work while LA continues to light the city with Arizona electrons. In response, Villaraigosa bravely … ducked the question entirely:
Mayor Villaraigosa is in Washington D.C., meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, but his deputy chief of staff issued the following statement: “The mayor stands strongly behind the city council and he will not respond to threats from the state that has isolated itself from an America that values freedom, liberty and basic civil rights.”
But Pierce wasn’t threatening anything. The ACC doesn’t have the authority to cut Los Angeles off from Arizona power, although it has enough influence with utilities in the state to have them rethinking their sales policy. Let’s remind everyone exactly what Pierce said:
I received your message; please receive mine. As a state-wide elected member of the Arizona Corporation Commission overseeing Arizona’s electric and water utilities, I too am keenly aware of the “resources and ties” we share with the City of Los Angeles. In fact, approximately twenty-five percent of the electricity consumed in Los Angeles is generated by power plants in Arizona.
If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation. I am confident that Arizona’s utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands. If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona’s economy.
In other words, if LA wants to make a big PR splash with a “boycott,” then make it a real boycott. Don’t just talk tough, Mayor Villaraigosa — act tough, or be quiet. When the going gets tough in LA, apparently the tough … cry about getting threatened.
Andrew Malcolm also has some fun with the story:
So, the choice is clear. If L.A.’s Democrat pols follow through and stop buying turquoise jewelry and bolo ties from Arizona, the next-door Republican neighbors will arrange some uncomfortable brownouts during the coming warm days.
Yeah, it’s starting to look like the collective courage of LA’s political leadership amounts to little more than the bolo-tie and turquoise jewelry variety.
Let’s take a poll. What will LA do to actually boycott Arizona?
Addendum: My thanks to Andrew and NBC Los Angeles for actually crediting Hot Air with the story. Not every news outlet was as careful.
Wouldn’t an “accidental” surge of electrons to LA from Arizona be a better response to a boycott?
Hell...AZ is sending electrical power INTO Mexico.
YES!
Well, so much for Obama being a symbol of unifying this country.
Instead of enforcing the Federal law on the books, which he has sworn to do so, he stalks ethnic enmity which is now pitting one state against the other never before seen since the civil war.
What we are seeing here is but a foretaste of what is to come if we split this country up into ethnic enclaves.
Welcome to the balkanization of these dis-united states.
CAPS: To Boycott Arizona, Mayor Villaraigosa Orders All Los Angeles Residents to Cut Electricity Consumption By 25 Percent... (Just Kidding)
“This just shows how ridiculous and hypocritical it is for Los Angeles and other cities to call for a boycott of Arizona,” said Marilyn DeYoung, Chairman of the Board of Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS).
The Arizona legislation incorporates current federal law into state law. The requirement for foreigners to carry identification has been part of federal law for 70 years, and the “reasonable suspicion” standard is the same as that used by federal officers.
“Since the Arizona law incorporates federal standards, Los Angeles should boycott the United States. Mayor Villaraigosa should be consistent and refuse to accept any federal dollars,” said DeYoung.
I love Arizona!!
The mayor should make the Lakers boycott the next two games in Phoenix. Maybe then Los Suns can win a game and things will be more fair...
Los Angeles. A city filled with blacks and illegals having brown-outs/black-outs during the nice summer nights! So what could possibly go wrong?
LA has part ownership in some of the power plants.
That's been the Progressive strategy for the past 40 years. What do you think all this "multiculturalism," "bilingualism" and pitting of young against, old, women against men, everyone against white males, gays against straights, etc., has been about? They've exploited nearly every conceivable method of dividing us against ourselves as a nation.
Can we go Patrick Henry instead?
... sort of like when seemingly all the idiot newscasters in the country convinced themselves (and others) that the small, saucer-shaped, foil helium balloon they were tracking could contain enough gas to lift a 75 lb child off the ground?
I live in L.A. and I hope they turn the lights out!
California is like the Titanic. The water is sloshing over the bow and the lifeboats are running out. Those who are choosing to still cling onto the ship should not expect any outside help.
Yep. Except I have to give Neil Cavuto loads of credit on that one — he nailed it from the git-go.
Turn out the lights......
the party's over
Yes, yes, and yes.
Yes. You are absolutley correct.
Neil was expressing doubts as to the veracity of the story very early in the incident. If I remember correctly, he even got an aeronautical engineer (or similar expert) on the phone who verified that there was no way the amount of helium in the balloon would be able to lift even a VERY small person.
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