The Board of Supervisors today will consider a motion by Supervisors Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky to boycott the State of Arizona. In response to the motion, Supervisor Don Knabe issued the following statement.
While I agree with my colleagues on the Board that our national immigration system is broken and in desperate need of repair, I do not agree with their response to Arizona’s recent legislation (SB 1070), and I will not support their motion on Tuesday. To simply call for a boycott of an entire state is a rash and misguided reaction to what they view as a bad law.
Los Angeles County is currently facing tremendous fiscal challenges with our own dysfunctional State government, which we are attempting to work through. This motion takes away from these efforts, and will distract from what we are elected to do for the residents of this County. This motion will not put one more Sheriff’s Deputy or Firefighter on the street, or keep open one more library, park, or health clinic. That is our elected responsibility – not to tell Arizona or any other State how to run their government. I would not want them to tell us how to run Los Angeles County.
This motion will come and go, and we will still have a State with a $20 Billion hole, which they are trying to fill with dollars from Cities and Counties due to their inability to balance California’s budget.