Women wearing burkas. (Photo Credit: Second City Style.)

No longer just a punchline from Blazing Saddles– “Where are all the women at?” became a rallying cry for feminists across the country when a male-dominated Congressional committee refused to allow women to testify about insurance coverage for birth control.

Two Congresswomen– Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Eleanor Holmes (D-DC)–walked out of the committee hearings because no women were included in the list of wittnesses dominated by male religious leaders. Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif) made the now-infamous decision to block Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke from testifying and labeled her an “inappropriate” wittness.

That fateful day in February, the Republican Party’s latest barrage in the War on Women unfolded.

What began as political grandstanding on contraception coverage in the Affordable Care Act, snowballed into dozens of invasive, crackpot bills proposed by Republican Legislatures across the country. Requiring women to submit to (and pay for) vaginal ultrasound examinations prior to having an abortion, requiring women to watch an abortion before having one, giving employers the right to deny insurance coverage for contraception based upon any vague “moral” grounds, giving employers the right to question female employees about their contraception usage, defunding Planned Parenthood and other organizations that perform abortions… the list goes on.

Couple these bills with the Bible-thumping piety from all of the Republican Presidential candidates, most notably Rick Santorum, and you have a bare-knuckle fist fight over women’s health, contraception, and choice.

Two months into this latest round in the War on Women, the Republican attack on the country’s largest voting block has resulted in an 18-point lead by President Obama among women voters. Obama leads R2publican challenger Mitt Romney 2:1 with women under 50. In this MoveOn.org video, women quote the nonsense the Republicans have been spouting.

On the local level, Republican candidates for CD8 (former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ district) have all jumped on the anti-woman bandwagon–ironically, even Martha McSally. In a recent Arizona Public Media televised debate, candidates Frank Antenori, Jesse Kelly, Dave Sitton, and McSally all agreed that contraception should not be covered by insurance, that a fetus’ life sacred (unlike the lives of people they would bomb), and that women don’t have the right to choose. Senatorial candidate, right-to-lifer, and current Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake–a hardened Teapublican–voted for the Blunt Ammendment which would have vastly expanded conscience exemptions to birth control coverage.

As for the Democrats, Senatorial candidate and former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona has been the most outspoken critic of the Republcan’s wrongheaded fight against women’s health. In a commentary on the Huffington Post, Carmona wrote, “A recent push to block women from getting access to contraception shows the Arizona legislature is not operating from an evidence-based or reality-based point of view.”

Congressman Raul Grijalva and Phoenix-area State Senator and Congressional candidate Kyrsten Sinema also have made strong statements, attacking the Republicans’ War on Women.

In my opinion, the political upshot of the War on Women will be a rebirth of the feminist movement. You can see it on facebook and Twitter; social media has fueled the outrage. Prime examples are the backlash against Rush Limbaugh for his slutty comments about Fluke (and resultant loss of advertisers) and the flood of bad publicity targeting the Komen Foundation when it tried to defund Planned Parenthood (and the resultant fundraising loss to Koman and boon to PP).

You can also see it in the nationwide Unite Against the War on Women movement, which is organizing women and protest marches across the country on April 28– including a march in Phoenix. Although the Republicans wanted to frame the anti-abortion and anti-contraception debate as a fight for religious freedom, it is all too obvious a continuation of their long-standing War on Women. They can’t put this genie back in the bottle.

Republican Mayoral Candidate Rick Grinnell (Image credit: Grinnell facebook page)

For a city with the highest rate of poverty in the Sunbelt, you’d think there would be a few candidates talking about poverty, homelessness, unemployment/underemployment, and related issues in their campaigns.

As I listened to the KXCI rebroadcast of the recent candidate forum, I was stunned by the issues that occupied most of the candidates– particularly the Republican candidates (Mayoral Candidate Rick Grinnell and City Council Candidates Jennifer Rawson and Tyler Vogt).

Apparently, the biggest issues facing our city are not poverty, home foreclosures or unemployment; they’re burdensome development fees, over-regulation of businesses (particularly developers), and an oppressive anti-business city government.

I guess it is understandable that the Republicans would be running pro-business camgaigns, but Grinnell goes beyond business-friendly. Grinnell is the mayoral candidate for the 1% class. Here are some facts to back up this statement.

• Grinnell is a lobbyist, and the largest client for Grinnell’s lobbying firm is Rosemont Copper– two facts that are not mentioned on his campaign website. The online description of Grinnell’s SUBS (Smart United Business Strategies) doesn’t even mention that it is a lobbying firm. SUBS is described as: “a for-profit venture that fosters political interaction between State and Local government and the entrepreneurial community.”
• Grinnell’s campaign manager is big-time developer John Wesley Miller. (No wonder Grinnell is lobbying…er… campaigning so hard against development fees and for streamlining development processes.)
• In a recent Arizona Daily Star article entitled Mayoral Candidates: Jobs are No. 1 but… , Reporter Rhonda Botfield writes, “Grinnell, a consultant for Rosemont Mine and for restaurant owner Bob McMahon, said his longtime work on business issues will give him an edge in helping support economic development by eliminating barriers to growth and providing the necessary infrastructure. ‘If we don’t get some wealth-generating opportunities, we will collapse,’ he said. He said not only does the city need an attitude adjustment – such as strengthening its customer service approach – but also needs a more coordinated effort in recruiting new businesses.” Again, business, business, business. [Emphasis added.]
• Grinnell’s campaign ads– along with those of  Rawson and Vogt– have been produced by the same agency that produced the now infamous Swift Boat ads against John Kerry.
• Grinnell is on the current Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District Board. (You know– the board that is suing the City of Tucson for $47 million.) He was appointed to the Rio Nuevo Board by Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce.
• Grinnell also served on the old Rio Nuevo Citizens’ Advisory Committee, beginning in 2007; he was appointed by then Councilman Rodney Glassman. (You’ll remember that those folks helped the City Council bungle taxpayer monies in failed land deals and plans that never were implemented.) His service on the first RN board has been conveniently omitted from his bio on his campaign website.
• In addition to Grinnell’s position on the Rio Nuevo Board, he has been a member of the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority since 2008. This is another one of those local boondoggle boards that chases fickle national sports teams and spring training contracts. Check out this report from the Brookings Institute and the Brookings’ book Sports, Jobs, and Taxes, if you don’t believe me. National sports teams pit cities against each other by encouraging hapless local politicians to waste taxpayer money on stadiums. (Remember Tucson Electric Park?) In the candidate forum, Grinnell even had a frustrated outburst when he said, Rio Nuevo was supposed to be an arena district! (Personally, I’m glad that arena football idea died.) Building stadiums makes money for developers and sports teams but not necessarily for cities.
• There are alleged improprieties in Grinnell’s campaign finance reports. Looking at his reports dated Oct. 25 online, the largest donations are from business owners, particularly construction companies, developers, and donors with ties to Jim Click. (Checking past campaign finance reports on the Arizona Secretary of State reveals that Jim Click has been a long-term donor to various Grinnell campaigns. He has run for several offices– also not on his resume.)

Seriously, how can you trust someone who has left major facts off of his resume?

On Grinnell’s website, he does list creating jobs and careers as a priority, but his 100 day plan is all about business.

I will host an economic strategy session with the business and social communities in order to identify who’s doing what, strengths and resources, and share a unified approach to regional economic stability.

Identify 100 local employers that want to expand and help them accomplish this. Identify and recruit another 100 new employers that are compatible and will complement existing local businesses. And we can do this keeping in mind the integrity of our neighborhoods and appreciation of our environment.

Help struggling businesses retain their employees, stay in business, with initiatives beginning with reducing utility tax to the pre-2010 budget.

Identify, reduce or remove the overburdening regulations that impede the process of expanding or starting new businesses. Remove duplication of services and shorten timeline involved in launching new enterprises.

Work with Rio Nuevo to restore the TCC to a first class Convention Center that will attract other large-scale events like the Gem Show. [NOTE: Grinnell is on the Rio Nuevo Board which is suing the city $47 million.]

Work with the tourism industry to expand our efforts in securing more group and personal tourism to our region. This could include the Southern Arizona Golf Trail.

Develop further communications with the State Legislature in Phoenix to strengthen positive relationship with our city. [Let's make nice with Republicans to the north.]

Identify local businesses that can utilize resources available to us through the Arizona Commerce Department’s that can help us provide additional support for employer and business expansions.

Strengthen relationships with our neighbors in Sonora, Mexico who bring in $1.3 Billion a year in revenue to Southern Arizona.

Maximize and leverage long-term resources in the region through annexation by first making the City of Tucson a successful and attractive model for neighboring communities. [Emphasis added.]

One last question for Grinnell: If you want to reduce or eliminate fees for developers and other businesses, how would you pay for that? Since the city is strapped for cash and since Republicans like to have “revenue neutral” policies, f you want to cut that revenue stream, you need to tell us how you would make up your proposed tax cut for the rich. Here’s a hint: If your answer is “raise bus fares”, you are truly the candidate for the 1%.

So, if you are lucky enough to be among America’s richest 1%, Grinnell’s your candidate for Tucson Mayor. If you’re among the 99%, I suggest you check out the websites of the other two candidates Democrat Jonathan Rothschild and Green Mary DeCamp. (Stay tuned for more on them.)

I am beginning a series of first-hand accounts from the Occupation of Tucson. These very personal and highly descriptive accounts are written by Green Party Mayoral Candate Mary DeCamp who has been camping out at Armory Park since Day 1 of the Occupation. [Emphasis added.]

Oct 23: Notes from the Occupation

By Mary DeCamp

Green Party Mayoral Candidate Mary DeCamp

Yesterday [Saturday, Oct. 22] I was invited to a local Tea Party candidate forum in Presidio Park, just outside the Tucson City Council building.  I eagerly accepted the invitation to present my mayoral platform to this group who typically do not embrace any candidate who suggests widening the dialog beyond the supremecy of Individual Rights.  Since I am part of Occupy Tucson, a group the Tea Party derisively refers to as “Flea Baggers” to balance out their tag as “Tea Baggers”, I figured I’d encounter a hostile crowd.  I was correct.

About 100 folks, mostly gray-haired, white, and clad in red shirts, gathered to hear from local notaries like the new right-wing talk radio host JT Harris, a failed Republican mayoral candidate (too few nominating signatures on his filing petition) Shaun McCluskey,  a token female Tea Party official (Jennifer, but didn’t catch last name), and a trio of Republican candidates.  I strode in with Dave Croteau, my past primary opponent cum current campaign manager, and took my place in the crowd.  Dave set out my quarter page fliers on the literature table.  We stood and listened.

Talk show host Mr. Harris stressed the need to keep love in one’s heart and a smile on one’s face when met with jeers from the uninformed left wing spokespeople who would attack them.  Mr. McCluskey condemned the Occupy Tucson movement as dirty law-breaking hippies who were just out for a fun time and who should be arrested for breaking the law by not acquiring a park permit to occupy the space.  Ms. Jennifer recounted the difficulties she had in getting her business established in the face of bureaucratic obstacles.  Mr. Studwell decried the run-up in city staff numbers and salaries.  And the Republican mayoral candidate, Rick Grinnell, recounted his experience with a local steak house (promotional agent) and the need for service-oriented city officials.

The microphone and public address system went down during the speeches.  They were at a loss.  Ms. Jennifer complained that they’d paid their permit fee to access the electrical outlet and now it wasn’t working.  Luckily there was a strapping young fellow in the crowd wearing an “Occupy Tucson” t-shirt who could step forward, fix their electrical problems, and restore the functioning capacity of the system.

Then it was my turn to speak.  I took the now working microphone, complimented Phil for his technical expertise and willingness to help fix the problem and commended him for his service to the 99% occupying Armory Park.  I was meet with jeers and heckling.  I smiled, as the raido host had earlier instructed me to do, kept love in my heart, and pointed out to the assembled crowd how grateful I was for the earlier instruction.  I pointed out that Mr. McCluskey was picking and choosing which laws to follow, since the Occupiers were following constitutional rights to free assembly, to petition our government, and to free speech.  I asked why Arizona was willing to comply with federal laws against marijuana when our state voters supported medical marijuana dispensary clinics but they favored a city ordinance prohibitting peaceable assembly.  I also invited anyone who wanted more information on my campaign to ask Dave Croteau for it, since the fliers I set out on the table had been taken by someone in the crowd.  I pointed out that Dave had been at their very first Tea Party formation rally at that very same park a couple of years ago.

I went on to outline my platform about setting up Community Conservation Centers in each of our 131 registered neighborhood associations that would take advantage of existing dormant resources to lead the nation in microbusiness development at no cost to big government or to big business.  I introduced the idea of Solari Circles to fund the start-up businesses – affinity groups of 6, 8, 10 friends with investment funds to commit who were scared off by the volatility of the stock market.

They listened.  They were more respectful.  Unconvinced, probably, but nonetheless attentive.

I applauded a new start-up newspaper that had been introduced that day, especially since the current mainstream media were so intent on ignoring my candidacy and my common sense platform.

The organizers said that was enough, and thanked me for coming, and moved on to the other Republican candidates running for City Council and the lone Democratic candidate, Paul Cunninghmam, who was brave enough to show up in his own red shirt.

Thanks everyone, for your interest in the M4M campaign.  Please vote and encourage your friends to vote.

Love,
Mary
www.DeCampForMayor.org

 Last week’s Tucson Mayor and City Council meeting was variously described as “raucous,” and “inspiring.”

Protesters from Occupy Tucson packed the meeting and testified for hours. They pleaded with the Mayor and Council to intervene with the Tucson Police Department to stop against the $1000/night fines against the Occupiers and to intervene with the Parks and Recreation Department to end the $150/night camping permits (the biggest camping permit I know of) and the requirement for insurance.

No decisions on these items could be made last week because these issues were not officially on the agenda.

These issues are still not on the agenda for tonight’s Mayor and Council meeting. Instead, they are flagged as an executive session item on the  study session agenda. In addition to not dealing with the Occupation in public today– unless, of course, Occupiers speak at the call to audience again– the Mayor and Council are not scheduled to have another open meeting until Wednesday, November 9 (after the election).

Also of interest to the 99% and also on today’s study session agenda is a follow-up to a 2007 report on Poverty and Urban Stress in Tucson. This is an excellent report conducted by former Councilman Steve Leal; unfortunately, after he retired, the report was shelved– until a few of us rabble-rousers (including Leal) started making noise about it. Watch for more on this.

Poverty, homelessness, and unemployment are out of control in our city, but if you listen to the Democratic and Republican mayoral and city council candidates, you’d think the biggest issues facing our city were development-related fees and the self-perceived hassles developers have when dealing with the city’s bureaucracy. (Give me a break.)

It’s time for our elected officials to open their eyes and look around. Maybe they should be talking with the 99%– instead of holed up behind closed doors with attorneys, current and former law enforcement (ie, our new city manager), and other bureaucrats.

UPDATE: The Occupiers are going to march from Armory Park to the City Council Meeting later today. The march begins at 4:30 p.m. The City Council Meeting begins at 5:30.

According to Occupy Tucson’s facebook page, 259 citations have been issued in the 10 days since the Occupation began. There are 50 tents at Armory Park, but that number should swell this weekend with the planned Family and Friends Campout on Friday, October 28.

UPDATE 2: For moving Occupy Tucson testimony from the 2 City Council meetings were no action was taken by the Council on the issue of park permits and citations, check out these links. Particularly moving is the homeless man at the beginning of part 2 of the October 25 meeting.

October 18, 2011 Tucson Mayor and Council Meeting

October 25, 2011 Tucson Mayor and Council Meeting

Mad Men cast. (Photo Credit: publicity photo.)

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, you have heard of the hit TV drama Mad Men.

Set in the late 1950s to early 1960s, Mad Men is AMC’s  award-winning, mini-series about a fictional group of Madison Avenue advertising executives. It features superb script-writing and acting, as well as impeccable period costumes and scenery. In addition, Mad Men gives us glimpses of office life before equal rights for people of color, women, or the disabled… and a sense of history.

By season 4, it’s 1964 in the world of Mad Men. 1964 is the year a newly sworn-in President Lyndon B. Johnson took Republican challenger and Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater and the entire Republican Party to the cleaners. In a landslide victory (61% of the popular vote), Johnson won every state except Arizona.

Television commercials played an important role in the 1964 election, and the extra features on the Mad Men Season 4, Disc 3 include a round-up of speeches and commercials by both the Johnson and Goldwater during their presidential campaigns. (OK, only a political media nerd would watch a show totally comprised of old campaign speeches and commercials… twice… but the footage was fascinating.)

What struck me as most amazing was the complete consistency in the Republican Party’s messaging from 1964 through to the current presidential campaign.

A little background, in the summer of 1964 Congress passed and Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – do you believe it: during a campaign year, they worked?– and language which would create other social safety net programs (including, Medicare and Medicaid) was being crafted.

Small government Goldwater took on Johnson who was in the process of creating War on Poverty and related programs: Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment insurance, Head Start and other social programs that current Republicans are still fighting against.

Check out these Goldwater commercials to view the Republican Party’s age-old message.

Goldwater on small government

Goldwater on morality

And here are a few familiar Democratic Party messages. Obviously, the Democratic Party’s messaging has changed, as evidence in the War on Poverty commercial. No one– not even our Black president– would run a commercial like that today. Heavy sigh…

Johnson’s ‘Goldwater is scary dangerous’ ad [paraphrasing, of course]

Johnson’s War on Poverty (I wish Obama would run an ad like this.)

Also, on the same DVD is Johnson’s January 1965 inaugural speech. Today’s media critics would chastise Johnson for his halting delivery, but the words are inspirational. I particularly like it when he says as a country we need justice, liberty, and union to survive. Think about that statement. Do we have those things today?

Informational tents erected by Connect the Dots, Progressive Democrats of America, Jobs with Justice, and political campaigns drew in many interested people.

Labor Day 2011 in Tucson was a blend of old fashioned games and old fashioned politics.

As a volunteer with the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) booth, my job was to work the crowd and attach as many “Healthcare not Warfare” stickers to as many people as possible. This task afforded me the opportunity to engage in multiple conversations about universal healthcare, ending US military adventurism, and other political issues with dozens of people during the course of the day.

Two of the more extended and spirited discussions I had on Labor Day were with  Republican City Council candidate Jennifer Rawson and Republican Mayoral candidate Rick Grinnell. (I’m not sure if they were tag-teaming at the Labor Day event, but they passed by the PDA and Connect the Dots booths one right after another. Little did they know what they were stepping into.)

Rawson wandered by first, then Grinnell. They both accepted my “Healthcare not Warfare” stickers, and began to tell me who they were; but, of course, I already knew. I started my conversations with both of them with the same question:

If you are elected as a City Council person [or Mayor], how would you reduce the poverty rate in Tucson?

“Create jobs!” Rawson responded enthusiastically.

“How?” I asked.

At this juncture, Rawson shifted the topic from jobs and poverty to a story about a small business owner who received a bill for $5000 from the city for a light pole erected on her property. Boo hoo for the business owner was Rawson’s message. Of course, she didn’t offer anybackground information on this story– such as whether or not the small business owner has asked the city to erect the light pole on her property. Details, details. Instead she went off on the city and the fees…yada, yada, yada.

“Fix city government. It’s full of corruption. We really need to clean house!” was Grinnel’s answer to the poverty problem. (Well that didn’t answer my question at all. Ironically, when I checked Grinnell’s website today, I realized that he is on the Rio Nuevo Board… hmmm… city corruption… pot calling the kettle black?)

“So, do you want to know my ideas for creating jobs in Pima County?” I asked them both. Not allowing either of them to answer my rhetorical question, I launched into my ideas. I told them both that the Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities (better known as TREO) and the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau (MTCVB) were a waste of money because they have been ineffective in their strategies to boost the Tucson economy or create jobs. Here is what I told them…

TREO’s tactic– also employed by economic development groups in dozens of cities– is to chase large corporations and sports teams with tax breaks, free land, and taxpayer-funded facilities (ie, ball parks, industrial parks, convention centers, etc.) This strategy benefits businesses, for sure, but it is was not producing long-term, good jobs in Tucson (remember IBM? remember Wiser Lock? remember spring training?)– or anywhere else– because these companies and sports teams are not loyal to the location. They are just looking for the best deal, and the cities and politicians are so desperate to look successful at job creation that they break the bank with the deals they offer. (I didn’t realize when I was dissing chasing sports teams that Grinnell used to do just that!)

The way to grow jobs– and help small businesses– in Tucson isn’t to give tax breaks to relocating corporations or to excuse fees levied on existing business; it’s to invest in businesses that are “born and raised” in Tucson — like Gadabout, Bohemia, Patio Pools, Technicians for Sustainability, Nimbus Brewery, Thunder Canyon Brewery, eegees, etc. Instead of spending $1 million to bring in another call center or baseball team, why not offer 50 – 100 individual $10-20,000 low-cost loans or grants to different local businesses with innovative ideas or well-crafted business expansion plans? (I’m talking real plans– not just “Hey, if we give you a $5000 tax credit, could you maybe hire someone someday?”)

With a $20,000 investment, would Gadabout start a skin care line? Would Nimbus or Thunder Canyon improve expand distribution to other states or start a spin-off business? Would Technicians for Sustainability start manufacturing their own line of solar shingles? Would Bohemia start marketing local art on the Internet or open another store or reduce their consignment fee (thus helping local artists make more money)? Who knows? At any rate, investment– not giveaways– will grow businesses (and jobs) because it fosters innovation and expansion– not just increased profits for the business owner.

After promoting Local First and trashing TREO’s ineffective strategies, I moved on to MTCVB. Tucson has a vibrant arts and music scene. Our musicians and artists are every bit as talented as Austin’s or New Orleans’. Tucson also has great musical events– the blues festival, the folk festival, Club Crawl, HoCo Fest, just to name a few– and local music in clubs nightly, but you won’t learn about any of these attractions on the MTCVB website. It’s all mariachis, golf, swanky resorts, rodeo, baseball(?), the Gem Show, cacti, and sunsets. On the MTCVB website, the only art represented is David Dominguez Gallery, Tohono Chul Park, the Tucson Museum of Art, and the Open Studio Tour. Huh? No mention of Dinnerware, Raices, the warehouse district galleries, or the Central Tucson Gallery Association. MCTVB is promoting business– not Tucson and Tucson’s cultural, artistic, and musical assets.

TREO and MTCVB should be de-funded, and their missions and tactics re-tooled. Their strategies are not working; it’s time to think forward.

What is our shared vision for Tucson and how do we realize it? Grinnell and Rawson offered me canned Republican answers to my sincere question about jobs and poverty. Is continued Democratic Party rule the answer? I’m not so sure about that; the Democrats have perpetuated the inept policies of TREO/MTCVB. Stay tuned for more…

Teams representing different labor unions prepare to push a giant ball back and forth across the field. Is this game an analogy for the political struggle between local Democrats and Republicans?

‘Nuff said.

On August 31, 2011, join Progressive Democrats of America Tucson Chapter, local MoveOn activists, and local nurses at Jon Kyl’s Tucson office (yes, he has one) at 6840 N. Oracle Rd., Suite 150, 6 p.m. Click here for a map. Click here to RSVP.

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl is a member of the new Super Congress which will decide our future and the future of our children and grandchildren. Tell Kyl to “have a heart”– not an ideology.

The US-Mexico border fence between has been ballyhoo’d by the right as necessary to border security, denegrated human rights advocates as a contributing factor in border deaths, and repeated breached by Mexicans with ladders, hack saws, torches, catapults, tunnels, and memorials.

The most recent news is that right-wing Republican Legislators have started a fundraising to build more sections of the fence, since the federal government and the state government are strapped for cash. (Yeah, that’s the ticket ask us workers to pay for it, since we have so much extra cash on our hands.)

The latest assault against the border fence has been at the hands of Mother Nature, who knocked down a 40-foot section of the border fence using flood waters. Apparently, the multi-million-dollar border fence has a design flaw. [doh] Environmentalists and officials with the Organ Pipe National Monument officials warned the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security of the potential for flood damage before the fence was built, but these warning were ignored.

From the Arizona Daily Star…

The design does not allow for the free flow of water in natural washes intersecting the border, he said. In washes, the fence has grate openings at the bottom that are 6 inches high and 24 inches wide with 1-by-3-inch bars.

“The fence acts as a dam and forms a gradual waterfall,” [Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Superintendent Lee] Baiza said. “It starts to pile up on the bottom as the grass, the leaves, the limbs start plugging up. The water starts backing up and going higher. The higher it gets, the more force it has behind it.”

Sunday’s storm dumped 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain in the area upslope from the area where the fence failed, according to the National Weather Service.

Bursts of strong rain are common at the park, meaning that other parts of the fence that are in the natural washes could be at risk of being knocked over, too, Baiza said.

The problems were anticipated by Organ Pipe officials.

In October 2007, before the fence was built by Kiewit Western Co. for $21.3 million, Organ Pipe officials told the U.S. Department of Homeland Security they were worried that the design would impede the movement of floodwater across the border; that debris would get trapped in the fence; that water would pool; and that the lateral flow of water would cause damage to the environment and patrol roads, according to a report issued by Organ Pipe in August 2008 about flooding that summer.

In response, the Border Patrol issued a final environmental assessment with a finding of no significant impact. It also said the fence would not impede the natural flow of water or cause flooding.
The agency said it would remove debris from the fence within the washes immediately after rains to ensure that no flooding occurred.

At a December 2007 meeting, Kiewit officials stated in a handout that the fence design “would permit water and debris to flow freely and not allow ponding of water on either side of the border” because the drainage crossing grates “met hydraulic modeling requirements.”

“Now we know who’s right,” said Matt Clark, Southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife. “Period. End of story.”
The situation is an example of how Homeland Security ignored expert advice from people within the federal government to ram through border-fencing projects, Clark said.

The first sign of problems occurred on July 12, 2008, when the 15-foot-high wire-mesh fence halted the natural flow of floodwater during a storm that dumped 1 to 2 inches of rain in 90 minutes around the border towns of Lukeville, and Sonoyta, Sonora.

Water pooled behind the fence and flooded into the Lukeville Port of Entry and private businesses, causing damage.
At the Gringo Pass convenience store, merchandise was damaged and the store was closed for cleanup, according to a lawsuit filed by the company against the U.S. government in 2009. The lawsuit says the flooding diminished property value by $6 million.

On Sunday, the storm also caused flooding in several buildings in Lukeville owned by Gringo Pass, Inc. after water pooled against the border fence and seeped into the structures. Those buildings now include a restaurant, post office, shuttle company and a duty-free store that had just received a new shipment of goods, said a store spokesperson. The convenience store is now out of business.

After the July 2008 flooding, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument officials issued a 17-page report detailing how it happened. Baiza said then he wanted government officials to revisit the design to prevent future problems.
To remedy the problem, the Army Corps of Engineers installed 50 to 60 liftable gates in 11 drainage systems as part of a 2010 drainage-improvement project. The system calls for the gates to be raised by a hoisting apparatus during storms so water can freely flow.

On Sunday, though, the gates were down, Baiza said.

Questions about the fence, the design and gates were not answered Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security or the Army Corps of Engineers.

The recent events show that there should be no border barriers in water crossings, Clark said. Officials should use alternative security measures such as ground sensors in those areas, which would not only allow floodwater to move freely but n-progressive/tag/john-mccain/" rel="tag">John McCain, Jon Kyl, Tucson
Posted in Arizona, Arizona Legislature, Congress, Drugs, environment, Immigration, John McCain, Jon Kyl, Republican Party | 9 Comments »