Arizona's First Political Blog

E-mail Anonymous Mike at zonitics4-at-yahoo.com

By Anonymous Mike, pseudonymously.

 
The Unbearable Lightness of Linda Valdez

From the AZ Republic:

Thanks to Mayor Phil Gordon for putting the blame where it belongs and sending an invoice to D.C. for what illegal immigration costs Phoenix. Gov. Janet Napolitano did the same. Until there is immigration reform, members of Congress should donate their salaries and benefits to help reimburse the states.

I learned that there is no such thing as free in life and that includes snarkiness. If someone in a debate or negotiation is going to jab to make an annoying point, you can pick it up and make some hay with it. Ms. Valdez has written copiously on the subject on illegal immigration and let's just say that she is as far from an enforcement position as you can get. If she wants to invoice the feds for failing to enforce a policy that she doesn't support well then....

There's a number of ways I could go with but let's deal with the invoicing issue. Earlier in the week, Gordon decided to invoice the federal government in order tor recoup costs incurred by the city in fighting illegal immigration. As Gordon said:

"If they're making local government doing their work, then we ought to be paid for it," Gordon said. "Our taxpayers have been paying them to do it."

This is of course political theater and everyone knows it and the fact that Gordon is trying to deflect criticism for his policy regarding city police and illegal immigrants just makes the whole scheme that much more transparent. However there is no reason politicians like Gordon and Napolitano can have all the fun of "invoicing" one level of government for failure to adequately enforce laws that both Arizona politicians despise. Let's open the floodgates...

1) When the umemployed are without proper job skills and must turn to the state for help, have Arizona invoice the K-12 districts where these people went to school for failure to adequately prepare them. I am sure this could also apply to the convicted felons who "had" to turn to a life of crime because they couldn't get a job.

2) When the federal government imprisons people who break federal law after they had been released early from sentences in state prisons, let the feds invoice Arizona.

3) When communities next to federal land suffer from catastrophic wild fires caused in part by inadequate land management policies, let the local governments invoice the feds for full financial relief - none of this generous aid bit as with a natural disaster like a hurricane, the feds should be exposed for their incompetence and forced to pay.

I am sure we could draft some invoices that could be sent to the City of Phoenix as well.

This all between various levels of government stuff, nothing on the level of private citizen vs. the government but that would be an interesting (yet futile) exercise would it not?

Ms. Valdez and Mayor Gordon, let the games begin.....
posted by Anonymous Mike at 9:42 PM