Apparently Los Angeles City Council members and Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa believe their type of governance is a model by which other states should follow – if last week’s vote to ban LA from doing business with Arizona is any indication.
What an arrogant move considering the council and mayor’s woeful neglect of LA’s immigration problems.
Specifically, LA leaders embrace a sanctuary policy known as “Special Order 40,” which prohibits LA peace officers from questioning suspects about their immigration status. It’s the same policy that slain teenager Jamiel Shaw’s parents tried to have overturned a few years ago.
When Shaw, a 17-year-old LA-area high school football star, was murdered by an illegal alien gang member in 2008, questions arose about the city’s sanctuary policy and the opportunities law enforcement had to deport the killer. Sadly, the grieving parents were blocked by the Left Wing contingency that is the LA City Council, and Special Order 40 stands as the law of the land, making life in LA easy for illegal aliens; unfair for legal immigrants and in some cases, dangerous for LA families like the Shaw’s.
LA’s abominable immigration law makes the city council and mayor’s ban of Arizona a complete sham.
But it is not altogether clear if LA’s boycott is simply political posturing or an earnest attempt to bully the State of Arizona. If the boycott moves forward we will find out whether the mayor and city council can inflict economic harm upon Arizona with impunity.
On the other hand, sometimes victims fight back.
As LA city council members excitedly contemplate terminating city contracts with the Arizona companies that provide LA with “tasers,” waste management and other services, Arizona officials have observed that boycotts are a two-way street.
In a letter to Mayor Villaraigosa, Gary Pierce, of the Arizona Corporate Commission (the body that oversees Arizona’s electric and water utilities) observed that “approximately 25 percent of the electricity consumed in Los Angeles is generated by power plants in Arizona.”
The commission offers to cooperate in the boycott by encouraging Arizona utilities to terminate agreements “so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona based generation.”
Additionally, LA’s boycott might be in violation of the United States Constitution by undermining interstate commerce. Time will tell, as the Arizona immigration law will be challenged by those who have a right to sue. If the law suffers the constitutional flaws alleged by opponents, it will be overturned by the courts.
Meanwhile, as financially strapped LA struggles to meet its payroll and provide essential services to its residents, Mayor Villaraigosa and the council are occupied throwing stones at Arizona in a gratuitous war that might leave electricity-deprived Los Angelenos sweating in the dark.
City residents deserve better.
May 22nd, 2010 at 12:00 am
What a misdirect……this immigration flare up has made the electorate forget about Death Panels, ripping off seniors, killing unborn babies, spending us into fiscal destruction as well as letting no face government workers decide your health and well being..
There is not conviction by the national politicans to solve exploitation of cheap labor or reducing customers for the social welfare industrial complex…