Reactions to story from http://cbsnews.com

Reactions / posts that link to this article

  • Author unknown

    Why Arizona Dems Don't Want Napolitano at DHS

    http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/11/20/...
    47 days ago in The New Republic · Authority: 115

    Arizona governor Janet Napolitano looks likely to be secretary of Homeland Security (thank you, leaky transition team). Though many are applauding her candidacy, her pending appointment is raising anxiety among Arizona Democrats. "It's a dreadful step," Democrat Phil Lopes, minority leader in the state house, told TNR today. "There is very serious potential of us backsliding on things we Democrats and the residents of the state think are important. ... I do wish that she would [stay] because with us in the minority chambers, she's the only one who can put a stop to [the GOP]." Napolitano, a widely popular Democratic governor in a red state, has two years left in Phoenix's executive office. During her tenure, Napolitano has broken the Right's iron grip on both houses of the state legislature by vetoing several Republican-backed bills. Among other things, she nixed denying in-state tuition and day care to illegal aliens and allowing law enforcement greater latitude to enforce immigration law. "Our plan with her in office is one thing, but without her in office, we would have to change the strategy totally," Lopes said, affirming that several Democratic officials have even personally lobbied Napolitano to keep her post. "I'm horrified at the thought of Napolitano abandoning the state," Amy Silverman, managing editor of the Phoenix New-Times, told TNR today. "She has not been a perfect governor, but when it comes to the big picture--balancing out the incredibly far-right and often wing-nut state legislature--she's been a godsend." Not only will Democrats lose Napolitano as a crucial ally--they will also have to contend with her constitutionally mandated successor, Secretary of State Jan Brewer, a rank-and-file Republican elected in 2002. "The population needs to be more careful in whom they elect secretary of state," said Democrat Marsha Arzberger, minority leader in the state senate. "I do not think she's a leader, I do not think she's prepared for the task, and I don't think she has a vision in mind."

  • Photo of BradBlog

    Napalitono's Move to the Obama Administration Would be a Nightmare Come True for AZ Voters

    http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6684
    47 days ago in The BRAD BLOG · Authority: 966

    Nothing against Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D), but moving her to head of Homeland Security in the Obama Administration would be an enormous mistake, at least for the voters of Arizona who would be stuck with the horrible Sec. of State Jan Brewer (R) as Governor. AZ has no Lieutenant Governor, so the rightwing loon Brewer --- one of the worst Secretaries of State in the nation --- would take the helm and serve as Sarah Palin to the state's slim Republican majority in the legislature should Napolitano take over at DHS as has been reported. While turning the Governorship from Democratic to Republican before the important 2010 Congressional re-apportionment elections, in a battleground state like AZ --- and yes, it's a battleground state --- is bad enough, that's just one part of what makes installing Brewer as Governor such a horrible idea... For just a small idea of how poorly Brewer has served her voters, we'll note first that she had the responsible for overseeing a transparent, fair and accurate Presidential Election for all AZ citizens this year, yet she had no problem standing on the floor of the Republican Convention in St. Paul to proudly announce the state delegation's vote for John McCain, putting him "over the top" to be the party's nominee. That display of utter disregard for the importance of even the appearance of impartiality for a Sec. of State was an outrageous slap in the face to all of Arizona's voters. But it doesn't stop there. Brewer signed the contract (see an incredible video here) to bring unverifiable Diebold touch-screen voting systems into the state, long after they had been shown by computer scientists and security experts to be inaccurate, unreliable and easily tampered with. She has been aggressively opposed to virtually every move towards transparency and citizen oversight in her state's elections, in favor of purges and restrictions against legal voters at the polls, and even went as far as to publicly call her own citizens who spoke up against her embrace of the use of