Kimble: They’re not always on the same page
by Mark Kimble on Jul. 26, 2007, under OpinionGrijalva press info catches Giffords unaware
Grijalva has been there 4 1/2 years; Giffords has been there six months. They're both Democrats, but they are different personally and philosophically. And the adjustment period has been a little bumpy.
It’s probably not much different than a lot of new relationships in which something one person does really bugs the other.
He won’t surrender the remote control. She has an annoying laugh. He’ll never ask for directions. She is a bad driver.
Eventually these things work themselves out. But the adjustment period can be difficult.
So it is with Raúl Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords – the two southern Arizonans in the U.S. House.
Grijalva has been there 4 1/2 years; Giffords has been there six months. They’re both Democrats, but they are different personally and philosophically. And the adjustment period has been a little bumpy.
That has been evident twice in the past couple of weeks. The first time involved “earmarks.”
Earmarks are spending requests from individual members of Congress added to spending bills without going through the lengthy appropriations process.
They have become notorious in recent years as members sought money for costly projects, such as the well-known “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska.
Until now, members have not revealed earmark requests, usually waiting until funding was approved to disclose “winning” projects. Before the July 4 recess, Grijalva told Giffords and other Arizona colleagues that he had no plans to change that.
But on July 5, Grijalva released his complete list. On his Web site, he posted a list of 42 projects for which he is seeking $327 million.
Giffords immediately was asked for her list, and she demurred. After a spate of negative newspaper articles and accusations of secrecy, she posted her list on her Web site a week later.
The impression was that she was forced to do something she didn’t want to do.
Grijalva said he made a mistake. He didn’t intend to release his earmark requests, but was repeatedly asked about them during meetings around his district. So “I changed my mind,” he said this week.
Grijalva said Giffords told him she wished she had known he was going to release his list. “I apologized to her,” Grijalva said. “I accept that. I got criticism from all my Democratic colleagues.”
Asked if Grijalva had put her in a difficult position, Giffords said, “I get put in difficult positions every single day.”
The more recent bump came Friday, when Grijalva issued a news release with a copy of his letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff saying he opposes permanent Border Patrol checkpoints.
This has been a red-hot issue for Giffords and her constituents living along Interstate 19. Tubac-area residents fear that a permanent checkpoint will induce illegal immigrants to go through their neighborhoods to avoid Border Patrol agents.
Giffords has held numerous meetings and hearings on the matter and traveled to Texas to look at a permanent checkpoint. She has pointed out that Arizona is the only border area without permanent checkpoints – a legacy of her predecessor, Rep. Jim Kolbe, who opposed them.
Giffords has made this her issue and touted the benefits of permanent checkpoints.
Then came Grijalva’s news release in which he said “the effectiveness of a permanent internal checkpoint is not measurable, and its impact is not conclusive; it does not necessarily deter human or drug smuggling.”
His news release added: “As most of the proposed permanent checkpoints are in (the) 7th Congressional District . . . Rep. Grijalva has many concerns including the privacy of the community and the lack of consulting with local officials and the surrounding communities.”
Actually, the location of a checkpoint on I-19 – the one that has drawn most of Giffords’ attention – has not been determined. If it is in Tubac or north, it’s in Giffords district. South of that is Grijalva’s district.
Grijalva said he has been opposed to permanent checkpoints “since the get-go” – although I could find no article in which he was quoted as saying he opposed permanent checkpoints.
Grijalva said he delayed releasing his letter to Chertoff “in deference to my colleague. She was having community meetings, which is her prerogative.”
Giffords said she and Grijalva haven’t talked about permanent checkpoints and she didn’t know about his letter until she received the news release at the same time the media did.
Despite their differences, the two have high praise for each other.
“I think we’re getting along really good,” Grijalva said.
“We get along very well,” Giffords said.
“She’s really one of the brightest people I know,” Grijalva said.
“I consider him a friend and I’m honored to have him as a colleague,” Giffords said.
It’s just those first few bumps in the road.
Mark Kimble appears at 6:30 p.m. and midnight Fridays on the Roundtable segment of “Arizona Illustrated” on KUAT-TV, Channel 6. He may be reached at mkimble@tucsoncitizen.com and 573-4662.
