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Ed Pastor |
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Do Nothing Ed Pastor
PHOENIX (By Jon Garrido,
The Jon Garrido Network) December 23, 2007 — Tip
O'Neill, former Speaker of the U.S.
House of Representatives and an extra ordinaire power broker, once declared — "All
politics is local."
O'Neill used the phrase
to attribute the key to longevity in
office is to remain in good graces of
home town constituents.
The converse of this
premise — a savvy congressman by
being the gatekeeper to funding federal
projects back home can leverage federal
assistance granted back home. This
leverage can be used to dictate local politics.
O'Neill expertly and
shrewdly exerted great influence back
home because he knew how to play the
game of leverage using federal
financial assistance for projects back
home, commonly known as "earmarks."
O'Neill by the power he
exerted in the
U.S. House of Representatives
bringing home pork (earmarks) to Boston
practiced what he preached and was a
prime mover with everything that
happened in Boston, Massachusetts.
There are many like
O'Neill back in Washington but Pastor is
not one. In fact, Pastor's modus
operandi is not to take a leadership
role either in Washington or Phoenix.
What should be an innate understanding
of what the issues are back home and
understanding leadership opens the door
to more opportunities are not
Pastor characteristics.
The prime example of this is the
primary issue in the
4th Congressional District of
Arizona — immigration and particularly
its impact on Hispanics residing in the
District.
Pastor lives in a "safe" district and
could be a very vocal advocate on
immigration in Washington as well as
Phoenix but Pastor evidently does not
choose to make immigration a priority
issue in his District.
He has never spoken out against the
confrontational antics directed toward
Hispanics by bully
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe
Arpaio.
To date, the extent of Pastor's
involvement in immigration is
citizenship classes conducted in
Phoenix. In contrast is
U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez, 4th
Congressional District of Illinois, who
is the sponsor of immigration reform in the
U.S. House of Representatives. Gutierrez has a leadership position in
Congress and is a strong advocate for
Chicago Hispanics besides actively involved in
Chicago politics. Gutierrez had
explored running for mayor of Chicago
against incumbent Richard M. Daley but
announced in November 2006 he would
remain in Congress. He is considered to
be a possible candidate in 2011.
It seems Pastor needs to be prompt for
action. This probably is the case with
earmarks for companies and the City of
Phoenix identified below.
Pastor used his
membership on the House Appropriations
Committee to provide earmarks for private
companies and the City of Phoenix but
reveals a lack of gamesmanship Pastor
could play as Phoenix power broker but
evidently, Pastor has no clue on how the
game could be played skillfully to provide advocacy for
Phoenix Hispanics, the Pastor constituency.
One call from Pastor to Gordon could end
Gordon's determination to change Phoenix
Police Order 1.4. Pastor would only have
to tell Gordon if the Phoenix Police
stop persons for no other reason than
having a brown face,
Phoenix and all the companies in Phoenix can say goodbye to earmarks.
If this was Chicago, the congressman
without hesitation would make the call
to the mayor. Better yet, the Chicago
mayor would never even consider
offending Chicago Hispanics but the
Phoenix mayor has no qualms in offending
Phoenix Hispanics.
This is not Chicago. This is Phoenix.
Pastor will not become involved in
Phoenix politics giving Gordon a green
light to do whatever he deems necessary.
As for Pastor, the same type earmarks he
made this year will continue as those
listed below rather than
programs and projects that will provide
for services for Hispanic
constituents.
Take a hard look at who Pastor
helped.
As a member of the House
Appropriations Committee, in the House Defense
Appropriations, FY2008, Pastor arranged
the following earmarks:
$2,000,000
to Armor
Holdings
Aerospace
and Defense
Group for
Cockpit Air
Bag System (CABS), Sponsor:
Rep. Pastor
(D-AZ)
$4,500,000
to Honeywell
Defense and
Space for
Versatile
Affordable
Advanced
Turbine
Engine (VAATE)
-- Small
Turbofan (STF),
Sponsor:
Rep. Pastor
(D-AZ)
$1,500,000
to
Translational
Genomics
Research
Institute
for Human
Genomics,
Molecular
Epidemiology
and Clinical
Diagnostics
for
Infectious
Diseases,
Sponsor:
Rep. Pastor
(D-AZ)
$3,000,000
to Talley
Defense
Systems for
Bunker
Defeat
Munition,
Sponsor:
Rep. Pastor
(D-AZ)
$4,500,000
to Multiple
Recipients
for Internal
Extended
Range Fuel
System,
Sponsor:
Rep. Pastor
(D-AZ)
If the above are impressive, the winner
is clearly the City of Phoenix:
House Transportation
earmark totaling
$90,000,000 for Rep. Pastor (D-AZ)
$90,000,000 to Central Phoenix/East
Valley Light Rail, Transportation FTA:
Capital Investment Grants, Sponsor: Rep.
Pastor (D-AZ)
The loser in all of this are Hispanic
constituents of Congressional District
4.
Pastor should now take
the following action: Since Phoenix Hispanic
constituents are being discriminated
upon, all earmarks and other funding
should be returned to the Federal
government.
The primary question for the constituents of Congressional District 4: Is the
congressman of Congressional District 4 representing the constituents of the
district?
If the
constituents
were solely:
Armor
Holdings
Aerospace
and Defense
Group,
Honeywell
Defense and
Space,
Translational
Genomics
Research
Institute,
Talley
Defense
Systems,
Multiple
Recipients
for Internal
Extended
Range Fuel
System and
the City of
Phoenix
Light Rail —
the answer
is Pastor is
doing a
superb job.
One look at daily newspaper headlines
or watching local nightly news
identifies the major divisive issue of
Congressional District 4 is immigration
and all its aspects.
Considering the Hispanic population
of Phoenix being upwards of 40% with the
Hispanic population primarily located
within the confines of Congressional
District 4, it is a safe conclusion,
upwards of 75% of the residents of
Congressional District 4 are Hispanic.
Clearly, Congressional District 4
is an Hispanic district.
An ideal representative in Washington
would be one who had the best interests
of his constituents as his mandate and
directed his efforts to serve the best
interests of his constituents.
What would be in the best interest of
District 4 constituents? A better
question: What are in the best interests
of Hispanics who comprise upwards of 75%
of the residents of District 4?
The number one issue of Congressional
District 4 is the possible police
profiling targeting 75% of the residents
of the District. This fact alone should
cause the congressional representative
from this district to make haste to protect and
safeguard the rights of his
constituents.
But he is not.
Presently
City of
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon proposes a change of
Police Operations Order 1.4 which will
authorize Phoenix police to detain and call
ICE whenever an Hispanic fails to
provide documentation on legal residency
status. If Gordon succeeds in changing
1.4, all persons in Phoenix with brown faces will be
suspect by a change in policy 1.4 that Gordon wants to implement. The change in
Operations Order 1.4 will have a drastic adverse impact on migrants and American
Hispanics. All Hispanics will be suspect and all will be required to show proof
of citizenship as they are stopped for no more than having a brown face. Racial
profiling will be rampant as Phoenix police begin stopping Hispanics who are
American citizens as well as migrants. Imagine being stopped by a racist Phoenix
police officer who will have the authority and endorsement of Gordon to make you
feel like a second class person. It will happen. It will happen each day — time
and time again.
Police racial profiling is a
federal violation. Ed Pastor should declare he will no longer
provide any further earmarks for the City of Phoenix if Phil
Gordon pushes through changing 1.4.
The next priority for the
constituents of District 4 is selective
police enforcement directed to Hispanics
resulting in greatly diminishing respect
for the Maricopa
Sheriff and his deputies.
It would be in the best
interest of
District 4 constituents if Congressman
Ed Pastor asked the U.S. Department of
Justice to investigate any wrong doing
by the Maricopa Sheriff Department and
specifically, the county jail for any
wrong doing.
Congressman Ed Pastor should also ask
the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee to impose
oversight and having hearings on the
conduct of the Maricopa County Sheriff
including all operations and take
appropriate action if wrong doing is
found.
The next chapter of this series is
misconduct of the Maricopa County
Sheriff and his operations. Tomorrow
a letter will be sent to the U.S.
Attorney for Arizona asking for a probe
of civil rights abuses of Maricopa
County Hispanics and others.
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