It was refreshing to see this reporter doing a better job of reporting, instead of distorting Barry's positions.
Excerpts:
"Three candidates for governor. Three wildly different plans to address illegal immigration."
"Three candidates, three border plans. One big decision for voters."
No doubt in this article about how many candidates for Governor there are.
Let's hope this is the start of a trend in fair reporting and not a one time event.
Governor candidates differ on border solutions
Matthew Benson
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 22, 2006 12:00 AM
Three candidates for governor. Three wildly different plans to address illegal immigration.
There's Len Munsil, the GOP challenger with an ambitious plan to spend $515 million on border security during his first term. He'd deploy hundreds of additional Arizona National Guard soldiers to the border, form a new Arizona Border Patrol and build a radar fence running the state's length with Mexico.
Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano takes a more understated approach. She has gone after cross-border trafficking in humans and stolen vehicles and plans additional initiatives to expand state law enforcement and increase cooperation between border states and Mexico. More than anything, though, Napolitano has always stressed that border enforcement remains a federal responsibility to be supported by federal dollars.
While Munsil has a half-billion-dollar plan and Napolitano has an ongoing strategy, Libertarian Barry Hess has a deadline: 60 days. That's how long he'd give Congress, once sworn in early next year, to put forth an immigration package. If it failed, he'd assert state sovereignty.
"When they have so abdicated their responsibility on this issue, we have the right to self-help," Hess said. "This is a matter of self-preservation at this point."
Perhaps no issue looms larger in the Nov. 7 race for governor than illegal immigration. It's the kind of issue, especially in a border state, that can turn votes and conventional wisdom on its head.
But their diverging plans reflect candidates who view the border in different ways.
Munsil doesn't believe the state can afford to wait on Congress. In addition to the half-billion dollars in state resources he'd devote to the problem, Munsil has pledged to sign legislation reclassifying all undocumented immigrants in Arizona as trespassers and going after the employers who knowingly hire them.
Munsil calls it "the strongest approach taken by any state" and said, "The goal is to cut (the number of illegal border crossings) from 5,000 a day to a trickle."
Napolitano, meanwhile, touts her efforts to improve Arizona's ports of entry and intercept funding for human smugglers. She called this year for sanctions to penalize businesses that hire undocumented workers but vetoed a bill she said would have provided amnesty to such employers.
She notes that after she pressured the federal government to pay for more National Guard troops at the border, President Bush agreed to send troops there at federal expense. But critics have questioned whether enough soldiers have been deployed to make a difference.
In a second term, she hopes to expand the Guard's drug interdiction program and improve international communication between law enforcement along the entire Arizona-Mexico border. But, when it comes to securing the border, she believes in leaving the heaviest lifting to the federal government.
"We should not let Congress off the hook," she urged late last month. "They need to pass comprehensive immigration reform."
Not surprisingly, Munsil and Napolitano have exchanged political fire on the issue.
The governor's campaign says Munsil's immigration proposal outstrips both the state's jurisdiction on such matters as well as its finances. Napolitano spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer called it "voodoo budgeting" and said that it would amount to a double tax on Arizonans who already pay for federal border enforcement.
Munsil, who plans to simultaneously phase out the state income tax, said his plan would pay for itself with savings from reduced demand for state services.
For this year, he estimated that illegal immigration cost the state $1.3 billion, a figure he attributes to the Federation for American Immigration Reform "and other published reports."
Napolitano has taken criticism of her own on immigration.
Republicans have cast her as obstructionist in light of her vetoes of border bills, and Munsil said, "We have a governor who continues to have no plan to address illegal immigration other than to blame Washington, D.C."
Said Napolitano: "It's not about being tough. It's about being smart and taking real action on the ground."
Three candidates, three border plans. One big decision for voters.
There's Len Munsil, the GOP challenger with an ambitious plan to spend $515 million on border security during his first term. He'd deploy hundreds of additional Arizona National Guard soldiers to the border, form a new Arizona Border Patrol and build a radar fence running the state's length with Mexico.
Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano takes a more understated approach. She has gone after cross-border trafficking in humans and stolen vehicles and plans additional initiatives to expand state law enforcement and increase cooperation between border states and Mexico. More than anything, though, Napolitano has always stressed that border enforcement remains a federal responsibility to be supported by federal dollars.
While Munsil has a half-billion-dollar plan and Napolitano has an ongoing strategy, Libertarian Barry Hess has a deadline: 60 days. That's how long he'd give Congress, once sworn in early next year, to put forth an immigration package. If it failed, he'd assert state sovereignty.
"When they have so abdicated their responsibility on this issue, we have the right to self-help," Hess said. "This is a matter of self-preservation at this point."
Perhaps no issue looms larger in the Nov. 7 race for governor than illegal immigration. It's the kind of issue, especially in a border state, that can turn votes and conventional wisdom on its head.
But their diverging plans reflect candidates who view the border in different ways.
Munsil doesn't believe the state can afford to wait on Congress. In addition to the half-billion dollars in state resources he'd devote to the problem, Munsil has pledged to sign legislation reclassifying all undocumented immigrants in Arizona as trespassers and going after the employers who knowingly hire them.
Munsil calls it "the strongest approach taken by any state" and said, "The goal is to cut (the number of illegal border crossings) from 5,000 a day to a trickle."
Napolitano, meanwhile, touts her efforts to improve Arizona's ports of entry and intercept funding for human smugglers. She called this year for sanctions to penalize businesses that hire undocumented workers but vetoed a bill she said would have provided amnesty to such employers.
She notes that after she pressured the federal government to pay for more National Guard troops at the border, President Bush agreed to send troops there at federal expense. But critics have questioned whether enough soldiers have been deployed to make a difference.
In a second term, she hopes to expand the Guard's drug interdiction program and improve international communication between law enforcement along the entire Arizona-Mexico border. But, when it comes to securing the border, she believes in leaving the heaviest lifting to the federal government.
"We should not let Congress off the hook," she urged late last month. "They need to pass comprehensive immigration reform."
Not surprisingly, Munsil and Napolitano have exchanged political fire on the issue.
The governor's campaign says Munsil's immigration proposal outstrips both the state's jurisdiction on such matters as well as its finances. Napolitano spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer called it "voodoo budgeting" and said that it would amount to a double tax on Arizonans who already pay for federal border enforcement.
Munsil, who plans to simultaneously phase out the state income tax, said his plan would pay for itself with savings from reduced demand for state services.
For this year, he estimated that illegal immigration cost the state $1.3 billion, a figure he attributes to the Federation for American Immigration Reform "and other published reports."
Napolitano has taken criticism of her own on immigration.
Republicans have cast her as obstructionist in light of her vetoes of border bills, and Munsil said, "We have a governor who continues to have no plan to address illegal immigration other than to blame Washington, D.C."
Said Napolitano: "It's not about being tough. It's about being smart and taking real action on the ground."
Three candidates, three border plans. One big decision for voters.
