hange Type Size Legislators see twist on threats
Mary Jo Pitzl
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 25, 2007 12:00 AM
Two lawmakers in as many months have gone public about threats they received over their stance on illegal-immigration bills.
It's a sign of the fevered sentiments about the issue, and, some fear, a breakdown of civility in the Legislature, where there is little consensus on what the state should do about the issue.
And it's a case study in the power of the Internet to quickly spread a message, as well as the unpredictable and often abusive caroms those messages can take. advertisement
Last week, Republican Rep. Bill Konopnicki told fellow members of the House of Representatives that he and his family had received threats because of his "no" vote on a bill that would have denied workers' compensation benefits to undocumented immigrants.
One of those threats came in a letter to his home in Safford, which shook him to the point that he decided to go public.
"I never thought that I would fear for my safety or for the safety of my family when I took my seat as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives," the three-term lawmaker said in an emotional floor speech.
His experience came several weeks after Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, was flooded with e-mail threats over her sponsorship of a bill that would have banned citizen patrol groups unaffiliated with law enforcement. The bill prompted an immediate, and sharp, response after the Minuteman Project issued a news release opposing the legislation.
Sinema publicly complained about e-mails that threatened her with physical harm and rape. She asked House leaders to postpone a hearing on her bill, citing security concerns. They didn't and the hearing proceeded peacefully.
The hostile and often profane comments in the e-mails go beyond the frustration many people feel about immigration, lawmakers say.
"They didn't say, 'We'll kill you,' but the threat was there," Konopnicki said of the messages he received.
Likewise, Sinema said she feared for her safety after the string of threats filled up her e-mail and voice-mail boxes.
Threats called common
Some lawmakers, including House Speaker Jim Weiers, said threats to lawmakers are common and that the two recent cases are simply the only lawmakers to go public about it.
Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Gilbert, said he received death threats after he sponsored legislation two years ago that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman. Unfamiliar vehicles with unknown occupants would park outside his home, he said. He also said he received pornographic videotapes in the mail in unmarked boxes, which his kids rushed to open, requiring lengthy explanations when he returned home at night.
Nichols said he kept the harassment quiet, sharing the threats with the state Department of Public Safety.
"I think when you put it out there, it escalates things," he said.
Word spreads fast on Net
But the Internet reaches farther and faster than any lawmaker's statements from the Capitol and can take a local issue and give it international resonance.
Sinema said that's what happened to her. Her bill on patrol groups caught fire once the Minuteman group issued a news release opposing the legislation, catching the attention of Web sites and bloggers nationwide and beyond.
"What happens when they do that is the crazies come out," Sinema said, adding that the Minutemen in no way advocated violent or profane responses.
John Craft, a professor at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said the impersonal nature of the Internet makes it easier for people to send abusive and insulting messages.
"You're not looking the person in the eye as you're calling them names, and I think that makes the difference," he said.
Couple the Internet with the combustible immigration issue, and one person's stand in one corner of Arizona can circle the globe.
Even the Catholic Church has not been immune from over-the-top criticism for its position in support of migrants' rights.
"I've had to call the police," said Ronald Johnson Jr., executive director of the Arizona Catholic Conference, explaining that a letter in 2005 drew threats.
Johnson said nothing in his experience compares with the passions immigration ignites. Sure, there some pushback for the church's position on abortion and gay rights, he said.
"We touch all the hot buttons, but immigration tops them all," Johnson said.
Maintaining civility
At the Legislature, Speaker Weiers is trying to maintain a civil tone as talk again turns to immigration issues, spokesman Barrett Marson said.
"The problem is, passions run high," Marson said.
Konopnicki said he had asked Weiers to talk to Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, whose e-mail alerts to constituents on immigration bills triggered the threatening messages. One of those e-mails highlighted Konopnicki's "no" vote on a bill that would have denied workers' compensation coverage to workers who are found to be in the country illegally.
Konopnicki, a business owner, said he voted against the bill because he believed it would open employers up to lawsuits, even if the employer had done everything in his power to determine a worker's legal status. The bill died on a tie vote.
Pearce did not want to talk about his fellow Republican's problems, other than to say that he and Konopnicki have long disagreed on how to resolve immigration issues.
An e-mail that Pearce sent to supporters portrayed the Safford Republican as working counter to immigration reform.
"Bill Konopnicki continues to fight any real immigration enforcement," the e-mail said. "He has fought me for the past 5 to 6 years on employer's (sic) sanctions or any real enforcement."
Konopnicki said he raised the issue publicly because he believes legislative discussion on immigration has devolved to an almost McCarthy-like tone.
"(W)e are losing focus on the merits of the issues and are instead relegated to bearing insults and accusations," he said in his floor speech. "I can't help but recall the now famous words of the attorney, Joe Welch, when he asked Senator McCarthy: 'Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of honor?' "
Pearce said his e-mails are a way to keep people up to date on issues.
"We always remind people of politeness and decorum," he said. "We don't ask them to attack anybody."
Rep. Pete Rios, a 22-year veteran of the Legislature, said the roiling emotions on immigration have not had a public parallel since the impeachment trial of then-Gov. Evan Mecham 20 years ago.
"When it comes to immigration, it brings out a fringe element that says you've got to deny everything," said Rios, a Hayden Democrat who is Latino. Anything short of total denial brands a lawmaker unpatriotic and worse.
Rios said he has heard it all, although like other lawmakers, he said the threats against family are a new twist. He said he is sympathetic with Konopnicki's plight.
"He probably hasn't experienced it as much as those of us because he's a Republican, and he's not a minority," he said.
2007-02-25 06:52:53 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Too much of a question.
2007-02-25 06:56:06 · answer #1 · answered by Topez 6 · 2⤊ 3⤋
Folks living in Border States have had enough. Time and time again the people have spoken about the need for an immediate change to our Illegal Immigration woes and yet there is no proposals out there that satisfy the need. And it's not going to get any better soon. Next week--Sen. Bill 1033 is expected to be debated. The Bill authored by Ted Kennedy (D) and McCain (R) is a White House pipedream, written by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with Amnesty clauses and clauses that allow illegals to "pay fines" to get green cards and after 6 years--citizenship!!
TOTALLY PROPOSTEROUS
Teddy Kennedy doesn't live in a Border State, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has jurisdiction--they're only objective is to maintain the availability of an illegal workforce to their member Co.'s. Any legislation that is Pro-illegal is Anti-American--there are acceptable proposals in the plan, but it must be re-wriiten to exclude the entitlements.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/GovernmentReform/em975.cfm
2007-02-25 07:15:59 · answer #2 · answered by scottyurb 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The law makers who have been in office for the past 10 years have no one to blame but themselves for letting the illegal immigration situation to get out of hand the way it has in the last 10 years. They knew illegals were living here, but nothing was being done about it. They have turned a blind eye to it, and now the ones who are in office are having to do the best they can to straighten out the mess the Clinton administration left behind. He knew this was going on, they all did. Now the ACLU is fighting the government to give the illegals amnesty. The ACLU needs to be stopped as they are behind the majority of the problems that are facing our nation concerning the illegal immigaration and other issues that are destroying our country. They do nothing but file one lawsuit after another costing the taxpayers millions of dollars with the awards that they win in courts all over this country.
2007-02-25 07:05:29 · answer #3 · answered by Sparkles 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Racism, pure and simple. I was born and raised in So. Cal and there have been latinos here since before English speaking whites. Mexican Indians call this land Astlan, the land where their ancestors came from. But with more white people moving here from places like the midwest and other areas where they have not lived with spanish speakers, they are changing the culture and trying to make it look as though Mexicans do not belong here, when it is actually the other way around.
Essentially these people who move here are afraid of Latinos because they do not understand the culture or speak the language...also, the majority of Latinos that move here are from the lower income brackets of Latin American countries and so tend to be uneducated and have a hard time learning the language and adapting to our culture, however their children are just as American as anyone else born here and get jobs as doctors and politicians, etc.
This is the same thing the Irish, Germans, and Chinese went through when they came to this country and it all has to do with fear and racism. What really irritates me is that this country is supposed to be about freedom and fairness but here we are, embracing and idolizing some peoples cultures and trashing and hating others. How hypocritical. I don't see anyone bitching about all of the Asian or Middle Eastern or East Indian or (other) people who move here, because that is not P.C. (politically correct) but it seems to be just fine to trash Mexican's. It makes me sick, especially since these are the guys who get out there and work in the blazing sun picking our fruit and vegetables and doing all the other work in this country that everyone else feels they are too good to do. And don't try to tell me that they are stealing jobs from people...I dont see and white or black people out there picking oranges. Some of these guys live under trees they make so little money, but they still came because this country symbolizes hope and freedom.
What does it say on the Statue of Liberty? oh yeah: Give us your tired, your poor, your downtrodden. Yeah...right. Oh, by the way, I'm white, blonde, blue eyed and I speak spanish.
2007-02-25 07:25:24 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
The democrats have to get votes somehow, they can win in the Ideal arena so threats are the next best thing, they have to import their votes and use the dead to vote because they are losing, and they hate it. their way of life is threatened and they will do anything to stop their loss of power and their belief that they are right,
2007-02-25 07:00:15 · answer #5 · answered by Right 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Get ready, it's only going to get worse. Of course it's wrong being threatened like that. Don't worry rule of law(our laws, not Mexico) will eventually prevail.
2007-02-25 07:00:03 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I hate nutrition via fact it haunts me. i won't be able to consume candy stuff in any different case my abdomen will harm like loopy and that i won't be able to have the means to consume for something of the day. i won't be able to consume too lots or i'm getting a abdomen soreness. i won't be able to consume too little or i'm getting a head soreness. i'm bored to death with ingesting.
2016-11-25 22:41:56 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋