Arizona Threatens To Pull The Plug On LA

PHOENIX — An Arizona utility regulator suggests there could be payback for the Los Angeles City Council's vote to boycott Arizona businesses because of the state's new law targeting illegal immigration.

Arizona Corporation Commission member Gary Pierce responded to the council's vote by sending a letter Tuesday to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (vee-ah-reye-GOH'-sah). It cites the mayor's support for the boycott and says he would "be happy to encourage Arizona utilities" to renegotiate power agreements that now send electricity to the California city.

Pierce concludes his letter by saying that people of goodwill can disagree over the Arizona law's merits but that a boycott of Arizona "is not a message sent in goodwill."

___

Online:

Pierce's letter: http://www.cc.state.az.us/commissioners/Pierce/Documents/5-18-10.pdf

Comments

[flyn2hi]

11:55 PM on 06/15/2010

I would loved to know where all this "mock infuriation" has been for the last 60-70 years that the police in every state in every country have been doing against black people. I am a woman and have been pulled over several times for a headlight that was supposedly out that miraculously came back on after the cop ran my license for warrants, one even had the nerve to ask me what I did to have such a nice car! I didn't see anyone marching or screaming about it then. It's sad that it takes a law that will only incriminate people who are in the country illegally to get action when racial profiling has been the black mans plague for years. I feel that something must be done, and if the government wont do their job, the state has the right to do what they need to, especially in this economic climate. We need people to follow the laws, and if they break the law by coming here, they start off behind the curve. Come to the country legally, keep up with your work visas, stay compliant with your immigration status and you have nothing to worry about.

[Insanity rules]

11:00 AM on 05/21/2010

Has anyone compared this bill to the current Federal Law? I think Arizona did this as one way to bring attention to a problem no one wants to deal with especially in an election year. They not only copied the current Federal Law that is not being followed they put in a few restrictions that the person has to be stoppped for another reason (sort of like the seat belt law in some states). The federal law doesn't have that provision along with a Supreme Court decision that allowed police to stop and ask for residency papers (drivers license, etc.). It has peoples attention, instead of bashing Arizonia why don't you clamor for congress to start dealing with the issue?

[LaurieAnn]

12:47 PM on 05/21/2010

"...they [Arizona] put in a few restrictions that the person has to be stoppped for another reason.."

Are you referring to the "lawful contact" language or some other phrase in the Arizona law?

[benny55]

07:18 PM on 05/21/2010

ok insanity here it is... you know why America.... yes America does not enforce that law.. "cuz" its harsh buddy.. it feels for people.. families. did you not see the little girl asking the first lady if her " mother" was going to be deported????? meaning taken away from her??? do you not have any kids. I have a 9 year old daughter dude... Actually I have a 9 year old, a 14 year old and a 17 year old. you tell me which one I will not feel for? Next like you say....... yeah get rid of all the criminals. they are everywhere.. . but not the gardeners.... this is not the salem witch thing dude...

[Tresco]

10:15 AM on 05/21/2010

Don't you think that there are all kinds of people who would just love to video Arizona police mistreating latinos for any reason? The Arizona cops are going to under a microscope. Lawyers are standing by. This entire hysteria cooked by the left is a joke.

[benny55]

07:22 PM on 05/21/2010

you are doing it right now you iddiot... with a double "d" I dare you to tell me its not about race....???

[el sistema]

09:41 AM on 05/22/2010

You misspelled idiot. A strange bit of irony there.

The letter of the Arizona law is geared toward undocumented aliens and law enforcement's ability to detain them on looking suspiciously undocumented. That alone is based on discrimination of Hispanic origin.

See: http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf

[Tresco]

12:20 AM on 05/25/2010

Well...I hate to say it but, this not about "race" Race is a false concept based on old, unscientific and wrong thinking.

[hoho5973]

07:26 AM on 05/21/2010

I have an idea, why dont the dems run on opposition to this AZ law during the fall elections. Let's see how that works out for them.

[atexasdem]

09:05 AM on 05/21/2010

I'm sure it would turn out exactly the same as if you had run on a segregation platform in 1960's Alabama. Oppression of a minority by a majority has a long history and tends to be quite popular, for the majority. Oppression actually can be politically quite popular. George Wallace was overwhelmingly elected time after time. When he ran up against term limits his wife ran and was elected.
I can actually understand Arizona's frustration with our current immigration laws. They are a mess. The problem is that illegals refuse to have their forehead tattooed for easy recognition. The only way police can enforce this law is to put the burden of proof on the targeted group. In this case, "Mexicans".
Another negative effect of "profiling" any group is they don't cooperate with police. Crime then goes up and the circle expands and continues. When police "assume" and want proof that you are NOT a criminal your not going to invite them into your home.
Ghetto areas are the perfect example. Police complain they get no cooperation because they are feared as much or more than the criminals.
If you want to rape,rob and kill. don't go to an exclusive upscale neighborhood. You go to "the hood" where everyone is suspect and nobody cooperates with "the man".
Is this what you support? It is the effect and we see it every day.

[benny55]

07:24 PM on 05/21/2010

yeah lets see how it goes for them? you would be surprised dude

[republicanblues]

01:54 AM on 05/21/2010

Now that I actually read the bill and considered the tools the Arizona legislature had, I have now changed my view on the law. This is just a way to drive a wedge between the people, classic divide and conquer. I came across this article that proves that point, ROYALLY. Check this out, and like me I bet you will change your view on the whole thing.

http://apleblog.com/2010/05/21/arizona-immigration-law-lies-divides/

[benny55]

07:32 PM on 05/21/2010

Im with you!!! You know I am a reagan fan!!! and he is republican... and you know what he did.... Make legal residents of many.... make them be " Full" tax payers and law abiding citizens..." reaganomics" and then we have a child.... " just like mine 9 years old" what monsters we have become..... deporting gardenders... dont get me wrong... if the gardener is a drug dealer... lets get his A** out of her... or put him in jail... put do we want to have a salem witch hunt and every immigrant to this country be **** ???

[LeeCalif]

10:02 PM on 05/20/2010

Worth reposting the insults of a little man:
cyclejerk 6 minutes ago (9:49 PM)
17 Fans
Become a fan
It doesn't permit racial profiling. You @sswipe libs just make sh 1 t up.

The AZ bill encourages racial profiling because it does not have specific, stated rules. therefore it is open to individual interpretation where discrimination then can occur and does.

[atexasdem]

09:19 AM on 05/21/2010

It's already happening. My step son who is Hispanic just drove from California to Texas on I-10. Fourth generation Texan, no accent, normal looking car, 34 years old, hasn't gotten a ticket in years. He was pulled over. questioned, had his ID checked and had his car searched five times by various police before he hit the New Mexico border. He was carrying his work tools so he couldn't really speed either. Besides, after the first stop he became very cautious. This was on I-10, doing a straight through (almost) drive home. He didn't believe it was happening to him.
The profiling and random stops has already begun in Arizona.

[Tresco]

06:45 PM on 05/20/2010

The vast majority of the responses show no understanding of the issue at all. The AZ regulator did not, I REPEAT, NOT THREATEN TO TURN OUT THE LIGHTS ON CALIFORNIA! He said that if California did not want to buy Arizona's electricity to further the boycott it was alright with him. Arizona obviously can't cut off the power to California. That's a no brainer people! The LA city government is as dumb as a sack of hammers. They passed their resolution without thinking they might have to walk the walk. Spouting off is one thing but backing up words with deeds is another. A principle is not a principle unless you are willing to sacrifice something for it. Talk is cheap. Is the LA city government already deeply in debt going to make their own citizens pay more for electricity so they can posture and preen in front of the microphones. I live in LA county and I am sick of these phonies. Are they going to put up or are they just going to talk trash?

[fromdnorth]

11:02 PM on 05/20/2010

You sound as strong as a bull but are dumb as a tractor...

[Tresco]

10:12 AM on 05/21/2010

So...in other words, you don't agree with me but, ya got nothin'.

[Scott1560]

05:05 PM on 05/20/2010

By the way.........

Gee, by golly, there really are a few of us who filed applications, got "green" cards (they did go to pink), lived as upstanding citizens, filed more papers, took tests, had references, and were sworn in as U.S. citizens. Yup.....We earned it and were quite proud to have done so! It meant something!

Do radicals believe that we wasted our time, that I wasted my time? Do radicals not understand the pride of citizenship? If not......Why?

There's a deep emotional reason why I became an American citizen and why, no matter the opportunities that keep emerging, that I remain here. I've got a choice thanks to dual citizenship, but I'm still here and I don't wave the flag of the country I was born in just to tick off my neighbors.

Funny thing is.........the radical left has a real problem w/folks such as myself and won't recognize what it took to get here.........

[ChiKevin]

05:51 PM on 05/20/2010

We recognize what it took to get her. We just dont want a bill that permits racial profiling. You're defensiveness appears to be your lack of understanding of our opposition to the bill.

[cyclejerk]

09:49 PM on 05/20/2010

It doesn't permit racial profiling. You @sswipe libs just make sh 1 t up.

[Scott1560]

05:06 PM on 05/21/2010

Why don't your read the bill, the law? Where's the ref to racial profiling?

All you can do is claim that it might lead to profiling, but think about it, what law doesn't?

[frankg3400]

11:04 PM on 05/20/2010

Congratulations on becoming a citizen!!

[Scott1560]

05:26 PM on 05/21/2010

It used to be important, used to mean something, but I guess not.........

Obtaining my citizenship was one of the proudest days of my life, something that actually had a value, something worth working towards..............And now both parties just want to trash the entire concept..............

[Scott1560]

04:38 PM on 05/20/2010

Here's something for all of you to discuss.......I'm leaving so have fun........

There is this belief by many members of the radical left that our borders should be open, that we stole this land from native Americans........and......a belief that wealth should be redistributed, that there must be more balance between the haves & have nots.............So riddle me this.......

Land, being the greatest measure of wealth, was what the native Americans roamed. Had we not moved here, had not taken control, they would be the wealthiest people on the planet. How would that be fair? And, of course, if you don't believe in borders and knowing that Indian tribes did not establish a coast-to-coast "nation" nor did they establish legal borders, well.........I think a few of you get the drift.......

Thoughts?

Oh, and, uh.........There's a tad more than just coincidence that folks in Spain speak the very same language as Mexicans. Is that stuff still in the history books?

[Miketou]

04:20 PM on 05/20/2010

It's my understanding the California owns some of the power plants in Arizona. Therefore, Arizona cannot legally pull the plug.

[frankg3400]

11:08 PM on 05/20/2010

Arizona didn't say they were pulling the plug. They suggested since California was boycotting and ending contracts with Arizona did they want to end the electric contract also. Just like all the misinformation about our Arizona law from people who never read it. The same scenario is going on with the California electric story.

[atexasdem]

09:32 AM on 05/21/2010

Personally I'd advocate for a wall around Arizona. The people of Arizona might feel safer but I know the rest of us would feel safer from them.

[bdaved]

12:12 AM on 05/22/2010

Arizona didn't say anything. It was just a put-up-or-shut-up by one member of the Corporation Commission. Nothing more.

[Tresco]

04:07 PM on 05/20/2010

So most of you are willing to screw over other Americans (most of whom had nothing to do with this law) for the sake of illegal immigrants? If you think the law is unconstitutional why not wait for it to be overturned in Federal court? It will be a slam dunk and nobody has to suffer, right? Or do you not really believe this law is unconstitutional at all? Do you care? Don't you get the fact that if Arizona's economy tanks, other states' economies will hurt too? Don't you get the fact if your boycotts work that immigrants, being on the low rungs of the socio-economic ladder, will be among the worst affected? Doesn't that mean anything to you? I don't think very much thought has gone into the "Boycott Arizona" plan.

[binxterdoodles]

04:12 PM on 05/20/2010

Good thoughts

[DawnLA]

04:57 PM on 05/20/2010

It worked to get MLK day.

[Sandman33]

09:45 PM on 05/20/2010

My recollection was that MLK day polling showed that a large majority were going to approve the holiday. However, right before the election the NFL threatened to pull the Super Bowl if Arizona didn't pass the law. So Arizona didn't pass the law out of spite. It came back a few years later and they did pass it. They were wiling to lose the Super Bowl just because they didn't like being told what to do. I predict that any boycotts will have similar results.

[dcrinaz]

02:33 PM on 05/20/2010

Headline on the Phoenix Fox News affialiate's website: Immigration Law Loophole May Keep More Illegals Here! (http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/immigration/immigration-law-loophole-5-19-2010)

This is precious! It shows you not only how racist and stupid (the two go together) the supporters of the new Arizona anti-immigrant law are, but also how sloppy they are with the law! Not only did they do a sloppy job in the first place, requiring an amendment to the newly passed law within just a few days of passage, they seemed to have missed something very important:

The new law may actually help undocumented aliens arrested under the law stay here longer and legally work! Man, talk about a bunch of Krazy Keystone Kops! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! This is a riot. And a Fox News afffiliate reported it! I am laughing so hard! What a bunch of anti-immigrant losers! They are their own worst enemies! It shows you that racists are the burned out light bulbs in the string of Christmas lights!

[frankg3400]

11:11 PM on 05/20/2010

No one is anti-immigrant, we are anti- illegal immigrant. You know there is a difference.

[atexasdem]

10:02 AM on 05/21/2010

Nobody is accusing you of that. We are accusing you of lumping all Hispanics together because of illegals. The argument is not on the issue, it's how you are handling the issue. My sons recent trip across Arizona is the perfect case. Pulled over, searched and ID'd FIVE times on I-10 for "traveling while brown" in Arizona.
Once he left Arizona it never happened again.

[Scott Zwartz]

02:24 PM on 05/20/2010

My family has been here since 1654. The first thing Peter Stuyvesant did was throw us in jail. We soon got out as family and friends were owners of the company for whom the bigot worked. Some thing never change. Stupid mean people still do stupid mean things.

I lost my social security card in 1963 and without a driver's license, I better not go to AZ. Being here for 350 years means nothing if I have a sun tan and no ID.

[dcrinaz]

02:49 PM on 05/20/2010

And your name is derived from the German word for "black" or dark (swarthy in English is related). You would probably be racially profiled here. But when they hear your NY accent, they'll probably throw the book at you. They hate NYCers as much as us Mexicans!

[belyeu]

05:37 PM on 05/20/2010

"I lost my social security card in 1963 and without a driver's license,"

Then go to the SS office and get another card, or after 40 plus years are you still to lazy?

"Being here for 350 years means nothing if I have a sun tan and no ID."

You were not here for 350 years.

[MARYHOBE]

01:48 PM on 05/20/2010

The regulator is blowing smoke up everyone's behind. The power contracts he speaks of cannot be renegotiated without some very precise actions by both sides of the contract. And Arizona, if it could opt out of the contract would just free up power from other sources that California could then buy up on the grid. These energy contracts are very complicated, and their use as means of pressure, not very efficient. I think this minor functionary was just venting...

[dcrinaz]

02:53 PM on 05/20/2010

No, the guy really is as stupid and uninformed as he sounds. All you have to do to be elected in most places in Arizona is be: 1) Republican, 2) a racist, 3) hate immigrants, 4) be anti-intellectual, the less educated the better, 5) speak crappy English, but demand everyone only speak that, 6) be white but not liberal, 7) belong to an extremist Church that pretends to be Christian, but actually doesn't preach anything that Jesus Christ taught, 8) be anti-tax, 9) be against government (as you get your paycheck from same), 10) destroy public schools 11) be against all taxes, and 12) believe that all government activities are socialist. That will make you a viable candidate for public office.

[1Woman4Obama]

05:28 PM on 05/20/2010

My thoughts exactly -- this guy is trying to be cute and just sounds like an idiot.

[jasev01]

01:09 PM on 05/20/2010

haha this would be amazing, I'm pretty sure cutting off a utility across state lines would be a federal crime and result in the federal government taking over so quick it would make their head spin.

[had-enough]

01:46 PM on 05/20/2010

What will Arizona do when all the states follow and BOYCOTT ARIZONA? No more baseball spring training, no more golf tournaments, no conventions, no tourism. Arizona is cutting it's own throat and the blonde & blue squad of police are a prime example of a problem. I have olive skin and tan easily OH NO...am I next???? Family have cancelled wedding plans in Arizona b/c of the law and racial profiling civil rights???what are they??? OBAMA you can turn this around! You stomped on Caliifornia state laws now go for it in Arizona.