Immigration bill reaction

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The Senate failed to pass an immigration bill last week. The failure of the bill occurred during the annual conference for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Horizon was there, and reports on reaction from Hispanic leaders on the failure of the bill.

>>Richard Ruelas:
Tonight on "Horizon" -- it's an annual gathering of Latino political leaders. This year, it was held in Florida, and "Horizon" was there. Tonight, what was being said about immigration. A mosquito-borne disease that can prove to be deadly, and a woman who survived it. Two political types go head to head on issues that affect Arizona in our regular Monday feature "One-On-One" next on "Horizon."

>>Announcer:
"Horizon" is made possible by contributions from the Friends of Eight, members of your Arizona PBS Station. Thank you.

>>Richard Ruelas:
Good evening, and thank you for joining us tonight on "Horizon." I'm Richard Ruelas. Governor Janet Napolitano has cleared her desk of all legislation this session, signing 29 of the 34 bills waiting for her attention. She vetoed five. She signed into law the Employer Sanctions Bill that will take action against employers who knowingly or intentionally hire undocumented workers. Failure to verify an employee's legal status will result in the suspension of the employer's business license. Napolitano says there are flaws in the bill, and she says she is willing to call for a special session to fine tune employer sanctions. She also signed into law a measure that would strengthen air quality regulations and would establish new measures. the state will lose Federal funding if it does not comply with EPA regulations by the end of the year. Also tonight, Arizona Senator and presidential candidate John McCain is cutting staff amid low fundraising totals. the campaign is reportedly letting go at least 50, and as many as 100 staffers. McCain's campaign announced today it raised $11.2 million in the last three months and has only $2 million in hand.

>>Richard Ruelas:
A major Latino political organization held its annual meeting last week just as the Senate was voting on comprehensive immigration reform. The failure of the bill set the tone for the annual convention of the "National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials", held in Orlando, Florida. Our producer Mike Sauceda was at the conference and reports on the reaction to the failure of the bill.

[Music plays]

>>Mike Sauceda:
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials kicked off the conference with a big party. Some 1,000 Hispanic officials, ranging from US Senators, Congressmen, State Lawmakers and school board members from both political parties gathered at the Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida for some food, fun and dancing with Disney characters.

[Fireworks]

>>Mike Sauceda:
They also got to see Disney's famous fireworks show.

>>Woman:
...Kind of interesting. but just in closing...

>>Mike Sauceda:
But at meetings the next day, the tone was much more serious. That was the day after the US Senate failed to pass the immigration bill. Florida Republican Senator Mel Martinez was in the Senate for the vote.

>>Mel Martinez:
I cannot tell you anything other than the fact that I was deeply disappointed by the failure of the Senate yesterday to do what we should have done. I went to the Congress of the United States to do good for this country, a country that I love so much, that has done so much for me in my life. I also believe in democracy and I can count, and I know we didn't win yesterday. I can accept that. I know, though, that the people of Florida and many across this nation, many of whom I know share my background as an immigrant of this nation, were disappointed by the failure of us to reach a conclusion to this very important effort. but I also believe that the onus shifted a bit to those who found fault with the bill, to those who would not understand what we had done, to those who only nitpicked from both sides of the aisle, and only could find either a pandering of special interest or ways which we could divide ourselves rather than unite ourselves. To those, the burden has now shifted. What will you do? How will you fix the broken borders? How will you improve the situation to make people's lives better? How will you continue to grow the economy? How will we bring people out of the shadows for the national security and for the sake of being a country that is just?

>>Mike Sauceda:
Martinez said that the immigration issue would now be taken up more by states because of the failure of the Senate to act. Arizona State Representative Steve Gallardo was a speaker at a breakfast, and he spoke about how immigration was used as a wedge issue, and also talked about the bill's failure.

>>Steve Gallardo:
A big blow. It was a huge blow to the Latino community. What they are saying, the message that the US Senate has sent to not only Arizona, but this entire country, was that the status quo is acceptable, and it's not. We need immigration reform, and we need it now. What the US Senate did is they not only let down the State of Arizona again, but they let down this country. We need the US Senate to get their act together and deal with this immigration issue. This is a Federal issue. it is their responsibility to secure our borders. It is their responsibility to control our immigration process, and what we have right now currently is a broken immigration process. The current status quo is unacceptable, and the message that they sent out to everybody in the whole entire State of Arizona, and to the entire country, was the current status quo was acceptable, and it's not.

>>Mike Sauceda
The conference had feature speakers during meals and breakout sessions with topics ranging from education to healthcare to immigration.

>>Eliseo Medina:
Let me say how disappointed and angry that we are at yesterday's Senate vote. I believe that the US Senate had an opportunity to fix a system that everyone agrees is broken, and they failed. History looked them in the eye and they blinked. They were -- they bent to political expediency.

>>Mike Sauceda:
The conference was held in Disney World's Contemporary Hotel, with all the meetings held in the Fantasia Rooms.

>>Fred Neihaus:
As sad as it is, I think it is appropriate that we are in the fantasia room because the last month was about, a lot of fantasy, a lot of denial, and a lot of bad, bad things happening. I was preparing for this a few days ago, and I thought I would be coming here to talk about the beginning of changing a system and it has changed. It has changed profoundly so and -- but now it is in a more negative and very divisive way. We talked about to the politicians through the policymakers and all that status quo is not acceptable. Well, I think I can assure you that going forward, a lot of people think this is going to be status quo, but it's not going to be. There will be a lot of ramifications in what occurred this week and I think it will be anything but status quo.

>>Mike Sauceda:
In between meetings, conference participants got to visit Disney World. Hopes of a comprehensive immigration bill, at least for the moment, remain in fantasy land.

>>Richard Ruelas:
Tomorrow night on "Horizon," we will see what the presidential candidates were saying at NALEO. Now, on to mosquitoes. The first human in Arizona to contract West Nile Virus this year is a 60-year-old West Valley man. State health officials reported the case last month. Officials say about 80% of people who are infected with the Virus show no symptoms. Larry Lemmons introduces us to a Phoenix woman who contracted the disease in 2004, and is still feeling the consequences.

>>Leona Thrower:
Did you get enough to eat?

>>Larry Lemmons:
Leona Thrower and her husband, Harold, have been married 48 years. The retired teacher doesn't take for granted the fact that she can do something as simple as standing in the kitchen.

>>Leona Thrower:
It was daily getting up and learning how to walk, navigate. Learning to use things in the kitchen again. Being able to stand at the counter. Two weeks of being in a wheelchair and a walker. Now, allowed to walk without somebody with me. And then when I came home, I had to have somebody here with me at all times, and then Physical Therapists had to come to the house and help me to regain my strength and use of my limbs.

>>Larry Lemmons:
She's describing the physical therapy she required during her recovery after contracting West Nile Virus with Encephalitis. These days, Thrower wants to know everything she can about the disease, but when she first felt the symptoms in 2004, she didn't know what she had.

>>Leona Thrower:
We had been traveling, and I got extremely tired. And then, I was getting nauseous, and I knew something was wrong. We had been driving, and I had to turn the car over to the others. I had been doing most of the driving. And I crawled in the backseat and went to sleep, Didn't know anything until we got home. And the next day, went to a doctor and they misdiagnosed it. Came home, slept all day, all night. Got up the next morning and told my husband take me to the hospital, there is something drastically wrong.

>>Larry Lemmons:
But Thrower doesn't actually remember Harold taking her to the hospital. She slipped into a coma and remained there for three and a half weeks. When she awoke, she was confused.

>>Leona Thrower:
I was in a hospital room, and I can still vividly see that room. I thought, "What am I doing here? What has gone on?" My husband was sitting there with my sister, and I asked them what happened, tell me what is going on. I was bewildered with this all.

>>Larry Lemmons:
What did they tell you?

>>Leona Thrower:
They said you had West Nile and that you have been almost near death, that the family had to be called in because they didn't think you were going to make it.

>>Larry Lemmons:
What did you think?

>>Leona Thrower:
Shocked is the best word I can think of. Just totally bewildered with the whole thing.

>>Larry Lemmons:
And physically, how were you feeling at that point? Were you --

>>Leona Thrower:
Weak, very weak. Just wanted to lay and not move. I just felt still that tiredness because -- and I had lost all strength. I lost 30-pounds in that period of time, and a lot of that is muscle mass that you have to rebuild.

>>Larry Lemmons:
Now, three years later, she is still suffering the effects of the experience.

>>Leona Thrower:
It's affecting my joints and muscles. I can walk, but going down on my knees, it takes me a time to get down, and then I can hardly get back up. My shoulders are tight. I can't lift my arms like I used to. Be involved in the sports and yardwork, I can't do that any more.

>>Larry Lemmons:
Thrower says she knows she must have been bitten by a mosquito, but she doesn't remember it, and says the most important thing people can do is to be aware.

>>Leona Thrower:
Please, clean up the pool. Make sure there is no stagnant water. Empty them out. Make sure you put put insect repellent on when you go outdoors. Protect yourself at all costs. I think that we should be doing more fogging. I think we need to supervise and look over at pools to make sure that they are taken care of. I understand the County is doing something about that now, and I applaud them for it.

>>Larry Lemmons:
West Nile doesn't affect everyone the same way. Some people are much less affected than Thrower, some more. But Thrower discovered she was far from the only person who suffered from the disease.

>>Leona Thrower:
Well, we started a support group through Banner Health, and we met several times. and there was a great number of us that got together. I think we need to do more of it because this happens to you, and you don't understand what is going on. You think that "Am I the only one, am I the odd person that has got this disease?" And to be able to share experiences with each other helps you better understand and be there for each other's support.

>>Richard Ruelas:
Larry Lemmons, thanks for that report. Joining me now to talk more about the dangers of West Nile Virus, Dr. Bob England, the Director of Maricopa County Public Health. and John Townsend is the Division Manager for the Environmental Services Vector Control Office. And Dr. England, obviously "Horizon" sometimes -- we sensationalize the stories, the woman had a very serious reaction. How unusual is that?

>>Bob England:
You know, when you talk about numbers of cases of West Nile, people often think this is no big deal, we had 75 cases last year, and only six deaths. The thing that they don't remember is that many of the survivors can have prolonged, really severe consequences from it.

>>Richard Ruelas:
Who is most susceptible to falling into the serious illness or death category?

>>Bob England:
In general, the older you are, the more likely you are to be among the only about 1% of people infected who get serious disease, such as was described in the piece you just did. About one in five people will feel like they have the Flu. Aches, pains, fever, headache. Sometimes nausea and vomiting.

>>Richard Ruelas:
John Townsend, this problem cropped up into Maricopa County about 2003, and you have been on Mosquito Patrol since, I take it. What has the County been doing?

>>John Townsend:
It's a big push to get people to clean up backyards, keep those swimming pools blue and clear instead of green and nasty, and just to get rid of standing water anywhere around your house.

>>Richard Ruelas:
How many green pool complaints have there been, and how many pools have you guys gone to?

>>John Townsend:
Just last year, we had over 7,000 green swimming pool complaints and ended up having to have almost 400 court cases.

>>Richard Ruelas:
Wow. People can still make the complaints at "westnileaz.org"?

>>John Townsend:
Yes.

>>Richard Ruelas:
And real quick, Dr. England, a history of the disease, where is came from and why it is here?

>>Bob England:
Oh, gee. unanswerable question [laughs]. It first appeared in the United States back in '99 on the East Coast. I know well because I was working in Connecticut when it hit. It worked its way across the country. Our first year was 2003, our first big year was 2004. It's tapered off since then, but hey, it is here to stay. It is a fact of life. We don't think about bugs much in Arizona, thankfully, but if you are getting bit by mosquitoes, put that repellent on or get the heck out of where you are getting bit.

>>Richard Ruelas:
Are some of the measures we have taken, green pools, fogging, are these having an effect on decreasing the number of cases the last two years?

>>John Townsend:
Well, we like to think every little bit helps. And definitely, if you can get rid of these pools, you are removing a source from a neighborhood which could potentially be a source for West Nile.

>>Bob England:
If you and your neighbors do a good job of dumping the little pools of water around your house. Even little things, saucers left out, sprinklers, any little thing can breed mosquitoes, then you can go a long way to protecting your neighborhood.

>>Richard Ruelas:
And real briefly, we got Fourth of July coming up, a lot of people outdoors.

>>Bob England:
Don't forget, it is not just mosquitoes. It is hot out there. We are expecting a heat warning on Wednesday. So whether you are outside working in the yard or enjoying yourself, be careful and drink lots of fluids and take breaks and get out of the heat from time to time to let your body recover.

>>Richard Ruelas:
Dr. Bob England, John Townsend, thanks for joining us tonight.

>>Bob England:
Thank you.

>>Richard Ruelas:
Every Monday evening, we feature two political experts going "One-On-One" on issues that affect the State. Tonight, Chuck Coughlin, the President of Arizona High Ground, a political consulting firm, and Barry Dill of Hamilton, Gullett, Davis and Roman, another political consulting firm.

>>Barry Dill:
Well, Chuck, Governor Napolitano today signed HB-2729, the so-called "Employer Sanctions Bill". It had been waited, today was the last day before it would have automatically gone in. I think she sent some pretty important messages in her statement about why she signed the bill. And more importantly, I think she also sent some important messages about some of the inherent flaws in bill. For example: in the bill, there is no protection of needed infrastructure, and the example I would use is if -- and just to use an example of a large Arizona company -- Arizona Public Service Company (APS), if they were to possibly fall through the crack twice, would be shut down, the entire electricity system and, you know, say this were to happen next August, shut off 75% of the public's, you know, public's power in the middle of the Summer? Would we bring National Guardsmen home from Iraq to run the power plants to keep it going? Many unintended consequences.

>>Chuck Coughlin:
I agree. and that is why I was a little surprised that she actually did sign it. I think the more courageous move would have been to veto the piece of legislation, follow her historic pattern for standing up for what she felt were inappropriate laws, where she felt the laws were poorly written. In this instance, she said that specifically, that this was a flawed legislation. You know, over the course of the last five years, she has vetoed several pieces of immigration legislation, including English as the official language, illegal immigrants denial of services, secure ID for secure verifiable identification, and trespassing by illegal aliens. Five pieces of legislations. curious now that on -- just after the eve of this immigration debate in Washington that she feels the pressure, political pressure, if you will, to sign it. Doesn't surprise me in the sense that she is a fairly political governor, and she tacked in the wind carefully, but it is a bad bill, it should have been vetoed and should have given the voters a chance to express themselves this Fall. I know some people in business communities, as you said, were very nervous about its outcome. It's been characterized as the most onerous piece of legislation to date passed in the country, and I think we will regret the day this went into law.

>>Barry Dill:
I don't know why you would be surprised because she was even back last week lobbying on behalf of passing a more comprehensive bill.

>>Chuck Coughlin:
Immigration bill --

>>Barry Dill:
OK, but now, what she is saying is that our hand is being forced, and the States have to deal with it, and it could almost put us into an uncompetitive disadvantage with other states that--

>>Chuck Coughlin:
It will, no question.

>>Barry Dill:
It could very well do that, and that is why I think the wisdom of her doing this today, as she did, is the bill does not go into effect until January 1st.

>>Chuck Coughlin:
Right.

>>Barry Dill:
It's still going to allow for a little bit of time to have a little bit of community communication and also in hopes that in the end, Congress can actually get itself together and pass a more comprehensive immigration bill.

>>Chuck Coughlin:
Let's talk about that this week. That's an interesting thing, we will agree to disagree. You think she should have signed it. I think she should have vetoed it. But I think we both agree that we wish Congress would have passed legislation.

>>Barry Dill:
Indeed.

>>Chuck Coughlin:
It was curious to see, I don't know if you saw this or not. There was an e-mail out from Congressman Shadegg's office, touting the House Caucus' role in defeating the immigration proposal. According to the e-mail that Shadegg's office sent out, they indicated that the Republican Conference passed a resolution on the eve of the Senate vote, which essentially told those Senators sitting on the fence in the Senate that the Republican Conference was no way near going to pass this piece of immigration legislation. Let me tell you, when I read that, I was upset. Because this is an issue that has been hanging around well before John Shadegg went to Congress in 1994. Since that period of time in 1994, they have failed to act, and again, this would have been a good place for the Governor to make her stand. this is a Federal issue, and the Federal Government has failed to respond, has failed to articulate a piece of legislation. And I think it's absolute lunacy to think that this Congress, as Congressman Shadegg indicated at the conclusion of the debate, is going take up the issue again before the '08 cycle. So what do we have here in Arizona? we have here in Arizona another two years of a disastrous immigration program thanks in large part to the efforts of John Shadegg.

>>Barry Dill:
Sounds like Congressman Shadegg decided to join the bumper sticker campaign rather than the bigger, larger role of reasonable debate, comprehensive debate --

>>Chuck Coughlin:
Solving problems.

>>Barry Dill:
-- putting a bill up and solving a problem. You know, it's interesting, I believe that this bill failed for two particular reasons. Number one, it is too big, it was too complicated to get your hands around how you can qualify, ultimately, for citizenship, and then get back into the country. It was confusing to those who might have participated. It was confusing to other -- the other thing I think is that what the public is outraged about is not so much that we would possibly have a system for a pathway to citizenship, what I think the outrage became so high was because the public doesn't trust the National Legislature to do their job, and come up with a plan on how to fix it.

>>Chuck Coughlin:
Yeah. And I would say on the immigration side, you know, we have bolstered the border defenses, the budgets of those agencies on Homeland Security have gone through the roof. I read an interesting stat the other day. It used to be that an illegal immigrant's stay in this country was about a year and a half. That is now transitioned to the point where they don't go back any more because of the difficulty of getting back into the country.

>>Barry Dill:
Right. You know, Chuck, another thing I wanted to discuss today is something that almost disgusts me is how quickly and early we are into the Presidential Election cycle already. Barack Obama has reported $32.5 million raised over a 90-day period of the last three months. That is incredible math, I think, even for you and I do think about and where all this thing goes in the future. I know you are close to, you know, Senator McCain. I do not agree that what some -- many pundits are suggesting that Senator McCain's campaign is on a dead track. I tend to think Senator McCain is possibly getting bad advice from advisors, the higher ups in the campaign, and they are trying to make an unconventional, non-conventional candidate run a conventional campaign, and I would hope that Senator McCain would get back to his insurgency style of 2000.

>>Chuck Coughlin:
I agree. I would agree it is remarkable how much Obama has raised, it's remarkable how much Clinton has raised, the amount of money going into this. It is way too early in any process to put RIP on anybody's campaign, and the reason I say that is, you know, how much money can one actually spend in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina? I think in the last cycle, the Presidential cycle, McCain said that he could -- that he spent less than $5 million in New Hampshire prior to the time that he won New Hampshire. Well, he is already at $22 million to $23 million in this campaign cycle. Those three states will determine who the winner is, depending on whether or not Florida jumps South Carolina.

>>Merry Lucero: Shopping at locally owned businesses means 5 cents of every dollar stays in the State, versus 13 cents of a dollar spent at a national chain. Plus, crews building the Arizona Canal in the 1880's left a ridge of granite and created Arizona Falls. Now this piece of history is a place of beauty and power, Tuesday at 7:00 on "Horizon."

>>Richard Ruelas:
We won't be here Wednesday so we can show you "A Capitol Fourth", but Thursday, the Governor will join us for her monthly conversation. Friday, don't forget to join us for the "Journalists' Roundtable". And thanks for joining us tonight. I'm Richard Ruelas. for everyone here at "Horizon," have a good night.

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