Phoenix doesn't get the 2012 GOP Convention (Congress: hotels, taxes, cost of)

[ibarrio]

Los Angeles finalized their boycott of Arizona today. That includes millions of dollars that went to Taser. And I hate the fact that we might lose the MLB All star game. While we are at it we might as well withdraw the bid for the Superbowl...

[tolovefromANFIELD]

I listened to your Governor speak, and boy she makes Bush sound like a Harvard Law Professor.

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

I think this is the smartest move by the Republican Party so far.

I think they thought about it better and just used the boycott as an excuse. They want Florida to go back to RED. The convention will help gain a lot of votes. People will get exicited. Florida is turning Bluer day by day and the Republicans cannot afford this!

Florida is KEY for presidential election, the biggest and most important swing state. It helped Bush, it helped Obama. Republicans didn't stand a chance in the last election but now with this economy and anti-Obama sentiment that has been growing lately, winning Florida could be the deciding factor. It only takes a few votes for this state to turn RED again.

I do hope Republicans choose wisely and don't choose some conservative lunatic for presidential candidate.

[Pancho Zarape]

Phoenix doesn't get the 2012 GOP Convention

Whatever the reason for anything that happens regarding Arizona at this time, it keeps SB 1070 at the forefront of everyone's thoughts. That keeps the illegal immigration issue where it needs to be: on the front burner.

Any particular camp can blame whoever and whatever they want. It keeps a previously localized situation burning white-hot all over.

[Howard Roark]

I don't care whether or not Phoenix got the RP convention. Did you notice that the AZ Republic published that 63% of all Americans agree with Arizona's stance on immigration?

Originally Posted by TomB90

The location for the 2012 convention will be Tampa so Phoenix will lose out on over 200 million from the convention. Do you think the new law has anything to do with this not being in Phoenix? Read the article on azcentral.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

The Republicans are playing it both ways. They are telling Arizona that 1070 had nothing to do with their decision so they can keep the Arizona politicians happy yet they didn't pick Arizona because they didn't want to lose voters particularly Hispanic voters. 300 million in lost investment and counting.....nice job Brewer! Let's lose some more jobs and investment...all for a law that isn't going to make a dent in illegal immigration!

I'm just as disappointed as you that Phoenix lost the 2012 GOP convention. As I stated in another thread about this: it doesn't matter which political party one belongs to, or what side of the liberal/conservative scale one falls on in this case. Phoenix deserves to host a major convention, whether it's Democrat or Republican.

I don't really share your views on SB 1070 ... I know you're against it, and I'm moderately in favor of it. Something has to be done about the illegal alien problem ... and since the Feds have been unwilling or unable to do much about it for many years, that's when the states need to take over and take serious action. These migrants have been allowed to stay in this country illegally, and the problem simply became too out of control, so a tough law like this was (unfortunately) needed.

Now, having said that, it would be absolutely horrible if Phoenix or Arizona in general loses major business or events over this controversy. I honestly believe that too many outsiders (especially those in the entertainment & sports industries) have turned this into a racial issue, and it's not about race at all. On one hand, I certainly don't want Arizona to lose these opportunities, or be labeled a fascist state ... but on the other hand I don't think it's right that these outsiders who know very little about our border problems should get away with telling us how to do things. They, after all, do not run this city or this state.

[Grannysroost]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

I'm just as disappointed as you that Phoenix lost the 2012 GOP convention. As I stated in another thread about this: it doesn't matter which political party one belongs to, or what side of the liberal/conservative scale one falls on in this case. Phoenix deserves to host a major convention, whether it's Democrat or Republican.

I don't really share your views on SB 1070 ... I know you're against it, and I'm moderately in favor of it. Something has to be done about the illegal alien problem ... and since the Feds have been unwilling or unable to do much about it for many years, that's when the states need to take over and take serious action. These migrants have been allowed to stay in this country illegally, and the problem simply became too out of control, so a tough law like this was (unfortunately) needed.

Now, having said that, it would be absolutely horrible if Phoenix or Arizona in general loses major business or events over this controversy. I honestly believe that too many outsiders (especially those in the entertainment & sports industries) have turned this into a racial issue, and it's not about race at all. On one hand, I certainly don't want Arizona to lose these opportunities, or be labeled a fascist state ... but on the other hand I don't think it's right that these outsiders who know very little about our border problems should get away with telling us how to do things. They, after all, do not run this city or this state.

Good post! The other side goes to it does come down to race, who are the illlegals, and then the legals that have come the right way. We have a lot of them here. This will hopefully put the "ball in the court of the Feds" where the job belongs to protect our country's borders and they choose to put 'blinders' on this issue. How much money has been spent outside our borders to protect us? The US has rarely taken care of it's own first before spending outside the borders. It costs the US a lot of money to enforce this, they play on other more 'important' and easy issues and the states are left to defend themselves, but somewhere something happens. The 911 terrorists and others have come through the northern borders, there are issues there. Enacting the passport laws they figured would change that....obviously not an answer to the problem. Because AZ and neighboring southwest states have this problem, our broken state is going to pay in bad publicity through the media, and in racial issues that were decided a while back, and we regress even further from standing out to be a place to be and change our economy. Why? Because the federal government can't hold up their end... I doubt anyone is against illegals being sent back, but it should not be individual states to have to deal with it.

[Howard Roark]

You hit upon a theme that pinpoints the issue: The US has rarely taken care of its own before first spending outside the borders.

At the state level, AZ is certainly spending outside of its borders by the millions of dollars spent on illegals.

At the federal level it's well past time to make "defense" the way it should be "defense," instead of the world's policeman. At the state level, Jan Brewer is doing the politically difficult thing by pushing for higher taxes and less spending. I don't like taxes, but I certainly do not like spending on illegals.

All I want is to stop spending taxpayer money on illegals. I do not want a national ID card. Can't the politicians get it in their thick heads? I welcome having foreignors in the U.S. Just don't tax me to pay for their illnesses, their children's education, and their incarceration.

Originally Posted by Grannysroost

Good post! The other side goes to it does come down to race, who are the illlegals, and then the legals that have come the right way. We have a lot of them here. This will hopefully put the "ball in the court of the Feds" where the job belongs to protect our country's borders and they choose to put 'blinders' on this issue. How much money has been spent outside our borders to protect us? The US has rarely taken care of it's own first before spending outside the borders. It costs the US a lot of money to enforce this, they play on other more 'important' and easy issues and the states are left to defend themselves, but somewhere something happens. The 911 terrorists and others have come through the northern borders, there are issues there. Enacting the passport laws they figured would change that....obviously not an answer to the problem. Because AZ and neighboring southwest states have this problem, our broken state is going to pay in bad publicity through the media, and in racial issues that were decided a while back, and we regress even further from standing out to be a place to be and change our economy. Why? Because the federal government can't hold up their end... I doubt anyone is against illegals being sent back, but it should not be individual states to have to deal with it.

[xwideopenskyx]

People keep saying that Phoenix lost the convention. How can a city loose something it didn't have to begin with? The 3 choices were Salt Lake City, Phoenix or Tampa. They chose Tampa.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by xwideopenskyx

People keep saying that Phoenix lost the convention. How can a city loose something it didn't have to begin with? The 3 choices were Salt Lake City, Phoenix or Tampa. They chose Tampa.

Well, Phoenix lost the COMPETITION for the 2012 convention. I think that's what meant by "lost". But I agree with the poster who said that it boiled down to the positive political impact the RNC sees from having the convention in Florida.