Posted on 05/12/2003 8:00:31 AM PDT by madfly
PHOENIX -- State lawmakers are moving to give members of boards and commissions the same protections they have against unfair outside pressure.Sen. Dean Martin, R-Phoenix, is introducing legislation today to make it a crime for anyone to improperly seek to influence the vote of any board member by contacting that person's regular employer. Violators would be guilty of a misdemeanor, facing six months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Martin admits his legislation is in direct response to the actions of Mario Diaz, a top aide to Gov. Janet Napolitano.
Diaz, seeking to get the state Board on Geographic and Historic Names to approve renaming Squaw Peak, was pressuring board Chairman Tim Norton to put the measure on the board's agenda or resign from the unpaid position if he would not.
But Diaz did more than that. Diaz also called Sil Ontiveros, an assistant Phoenix police chief to whom Norton reports in his regular paying day job.
"Mario wanted us to encourage Tim to change his position," confirmed Andy Anderson, who heads the police department's public information unit. Anderson said the department refused to get involved.
Martin said he would have thought it unnecessary to tell people not to try to pressure board members by going to their employer.
"But now we have to make it perfectly obvious this is improper behavior," he said.
"Why would anybody give up their time to serve on mostly unpaid boards and commissions when you could possibly have your own employment, your livelihood threatened?" he asked. "Our whole system starts breaking if this type of activity persists."
Martin's legislation is patterned after existing law which makes it a crime to pressure legislators to vote a certain way by contacting their private employers. That law was enacted in 1974 after lawmakers, most of whom hold outside jobs, complained about the practice.
Napolitano won't try to block the bill.
"If the Legislature decrees this measure appropriate, the governor will not stand in the way," said Kris Mayes, the governor's press aide.
Because any law would be prospective only Diaz could not be prosecuted for his actions last month.
Mayes said Napolitano has acknowledged that what Diaz did was "a mistake" and that the governor "has accepted responsibility for it." But the governor has refused to say how she intended to discipline him, if at all.
You keep asking for the proof... can't you see it for yourself? California was Reagan territory, it is now completely controlled by democrats and 35 billion dollars in debt. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.
And NY isn't much better either. We're loaded with illegal aliens too.
The immigrant vote is up for grabs, especially in Arizona. If it becomes us vs them, we lose. They will gravitate toward existing splits in American society as they increase in prosperity. If we can paint a better picture of the future as a free society they will follow. If we can't, we deserve to lose.
I am more afraid of a New York socialist than a Mexican one.
Oh I see, the illegals in California are bad, the ones in Arizona are good.
How long do you think it's going to be before the Republicans cave and give an amnesty to all these lawbreakers? And they will vote democratic, and so will their relatives when they come here. Now I can easily google a chart that shows Hispanic voting trends and their party of choice, but why bother, you won't read it anyway?
Only until they're outnumbered. I lived 8 years in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood in NJ. Other than the Cubanos...they ain't votin pubbin any time soon sister. Ain't gonna happen. I got harassed at my polling place for merely *registering* as a pubbie. Illegal? heck yeah. Do something about it? Ya wanna wear concrete shoes?
Proof please, you got a chart, statistics? I'd like to see that information for myself.
I haved lived around both. There's not a bugs behind difference in their bottom line. None. Punish the successful. Gun control. Etc. A Marxist is a Marxist is a Marxist. Only the color of their skin is different. BOHICA taxpayers! (Mexico is screwed up for a reason...you can't blame the guys on the top exclusively. They only do what the peasants allow them...There are elections down there)
Worth repeating.
The republicans in the state legislature have needed to get their acts together for a long time. I'm afraid they're losing their grips, if they ever had one, that is.
lol, there is the problem, it's your comment. When do illegal aliens actually follow the law? I'd reword your statement.
If the only Mexicans an Arizona Republican sees is by peering through the fence at his gated community we are in big trouble. Freedom is big, rough and friendly. It comes in all skin colors and languages. A "buenos dias" and a handshake is worth more to a Mexican because it signifies acceptance. We can't run around calling them vermin and expect their vote.
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