The Los Angeles city council thought it would be big and tough and economically bully Arizona around for daring to protect their borders and enforce the state equivalence of existing federal law. What they didn’t count on however was the Arizona Corporations Commissioner who decided that he would be more than happy to oblige Los Angeles in boycotting Arizona. That Commissioner, Gary Pierce, sent Los Angeles Mayor Antonio this letter:
Dear Mayor Villaraigosa,
I was dismayed to learn that the Los Angeles City Council voted to boycott Arizona and Arizona-based companies — a vote you strongly supported — to show opposition to SB 1070 (Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act).
You explained your support of the boycott as follows: “While we recognize that as neighbors, we share resources and ties with the State of Arizona that may be difficult to sever, our goal is not to hurt the local economy of Los Angeles, but to impact the economy of Arizona. Our intent is to use our dollars — or the withholding of our dollars — to send a message.” (emphasis added)
I received your message; please receive mine. As a state-wide elected member of the Arizona Corporation Commission overseeing Arizona’s electric and water utilities, I too am keenly aware of the “resources and ties” we share with the City of Los Angeles. In fact, approximately twenty-five percent of the electricity consumed in Los Angeles is generated by power plants in Arizona.
If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation. I am confident that Arizona’s utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands. If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona’s economy.
People of goodwill can disagree over the merits of SB 1070. A state-wide economic boycott of Arizona is not a message sent in goodwill.
Sincerely,
Commissioner Gary Pierce
What a brilliantly written letter. With just the right amount of sarcasm and using the Mayor’s own quotes to show the absurdity of his claim. Too bad they can’t just shut the electricity off for a few minutes to rub salt in the wounds.
A pdf of the letter is available via Hot Air here: http://hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/letter-azcc-villaraigosa.pdf.pdf
Moe Lane
PG DeFreese
Victoria Coates
Daniel Horowitz
Dan Spencer
Bravo AZ! A few of these reality checks and the left will think about thinking before they flap their gums.
Common_Cents (Diary) Tuesday, May 18th at 5:26PM EST (link)AZ should also drop a few hundred illegals off at SanFran city hall since Gavin Newsome says SF is a sanctuary city.
He’d shut up in a hurry.
Obama=Golfer in Chief, Leading from,
behind, the Back Nine.Leaders don’t create movements. Movements create leaders. Get involved. Your future depends on it.
Govt “invests” YOUR tax money for POLITICAL return rather than economic return.
Good for Arizona standing up for themselves...
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Tuesday, May 18th at 6:39PM EST (link)and not letting the idiot left have the last word!
Unified Patriots – How-To:
Activists Taking Action
If my life wasn't so firmly rooted in Ga,
qixlqatl (Diary) Tuesday, May 18th at 6:53PM EST (link)I’d up and move to Arizona.
“Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying,
Streams like the thunderstorm against the wind.”
George Gordon Noel Byron
I wanted to go to school there...
stephaniet Tuesday, May 18th at 9:02PM EST (link)…at the University of Arizona. My best friend will be attending in the fall, and I wanted to go with her. Couldn’t afford it, though. Bummer!
“*They* say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I *prefer* the weapon you only have to fire *once*. That’s how Dad did it; that’s how America does it… and it’s worked out pretty well so far.”
Having gone through this before,
Flagstaff (Diary) Friday, June 4th at 5:14PM EST (link)I suppose you’ve checked into financial aid. If not, it usually requires a part-time job, but college aid is almost completely need-based. Forget about AZ U. Look into Hillsdale College.
Good luck.
“The press is so powerful in its image-making role that it can make a criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”– Malcolm X, Audubon Ballroom, December 13, 1964
AWESOME!
Gigi Tuesday, May 18th at 7:17PM EST (link)Kudos to the Commissioner and to all of the legal citizens of Arizona.
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”
- Alexis de Tocqueville
Made my day!
grandma Wednesday, May 19th at 2:25AM EST (link)The only thing Pierce left out of the letter was “Do you feel lucky, punk?”
Water Wars II
Repair_Man_Jack (Diary) Wednesday, May 19th at 12:46PM EST (link)California seems to feel remarkably entitled to suck resources out of all the “Little People” who live in surrounding fiefdoms such as Nevada, Oregon and Arizona. It’s time that they got given the opportunity to live more within their means.
Mr. Obama is pretending that an economic “recovery” is underway when he knows damn well that the banking system is just blowing smoke up the shredded *** of what’s left of that economy – James Howard Kunstler
I doubt AZ gets much CA government business
Achance (Diary) Wednesday, May 19th at 1:03PM EST (link)like conventions, training meetings, etc. AZ is a right to work state and union-owned Blue State governments usually won’t let government employees travel to discretionary events in RTW states. Some hotels in the big cities in RTW states will voluntarily unionize just so they can say they’re a union house to try to get some of that business. A government executives association I was a member of considered holding our annual meeting in New Orleans just to throw a little business there in the aftermath of Katrina. Several of our members from deep Blue states said they couldn’t go t a discretionary meeting in a RTW state even if the meeting was held in a union house.
In Vino Veritas
Lets not get all worked up about Mr. Pierce's letter.
mbecker908 (Diary) Wednesday, May 19th at 1:32PM EST (link)It’s just metal masturbation folks.
He, and the Corporation Commission, have no real power to do anything but write feel-good letters. APS & SRP will not be renegotiating anything with CA anytime soon.
As I noted in another diary on this subject I would much rather see state officials take illegal aliens and bus them to LA or SD or SF. The water/power threat is nothing more than bluster.