Why Jan Brewer Vetoed Arizona's 'Anti-Gay' Bill

Just like the Democrats in 1984, today's Republicans are shifting power toward party leaders and away from grassroots activists. It didn't work then, and it won't work now. 

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s veto Wednesday night of a law allowing businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians reveals something important about the divide inside today’s GOP. It’s not only ideological; it’s also vertical.

Brewer faced pressure to sign the bill from below: from the local legislators and activists who passed it. But she ultimately succumbed to pressure from above: from national Republican leaders and their corporate allies, who fear looking complicit with homophobia at a time when homophobia is rapidly becoming a political and economic loser.

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There’s been a lot of this kind of vertical wrangling in recent months. In Congress, House Majority Leader John Boehner has tried to push rank-and-file Republican members of congress to unconditionally raise the debt ceiling and support a path to legalization for illegal immigrants. Republican bigwigs have tried to prevent local Tea Partiers from mounting primary challenges that undermine the GOP’s chances of taking the senate. The Republican National Committee has published an “autopsy” of the 2012 presidential race that proposes giving the national party more control of the 2016 primary calendar and debate schedule so as to avoid another lengthy, nasty nomination fight that leaves the eventual nominee drained of cash and far out on an ideological limb.

Via: The Atlantic

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Gov. Jan Brewer vetoes Arizona’s religious freedom bill: ‘Creates more problems than it purports to solve’

Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer announced she would veto a bill allowing those with religious objections to refuse service to gay people, saying the proposed law “creates more problems than it purports to solve.”

Brewer held a late afternoon news conference on Wednesday to reveal her decision, which was broadcast on Fox News. (RELATED: When ‘leave us alone’ became ‘bake us a cake!’)

The governor expressed her disappointment that despite the problems facing her state, “this was the first policy bill that crossed my desk.” She claimed the bill “does not address a specific of present concern related to religious liberty in Arizona. I’ve not heard one example in Arizona where business owners’ religious liberty has been violated.”

“The bill is broadly-worded and could result in unintended and negative consequences,” she continued. “After weighing all of the arguments, I have vetoed Senate Bill 1062 moments ago.”

She held out an olive branch to those disappointed by her ruling. “I understand that long-held norms about marriage and family are being challenged as never before,” she noted. “Our society is undergoing many dramatic changes. However, I sincerely believe that Senate Bill 1062 has the potential to create more problems than it purports to solve.”

“Religious liberty is a core American and Arizona value,” she concluded. “So is non-discrimination.”

The governor had been under tremendous pressure — including by many in the business community and within her own party — to veto the law.

Via: Daily Caller

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AZ Gov. Brewer Prevaricates on ‘Anti-LGBT’ Bill: ‘I’ll Do the Right Thing for Arizona’

CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Monday night as to her plans for SB 1062, a bill that would allow businesses to refuse service to members of the LGBT community, and one that many, including the state’s two Republicans senators and some of the lawmakers who voted for the bill, have urged the governor to veto.

“We have been following it,” Brewer said. “I will make my decision in the near future. I have until Friday or Saturday morning to determine that.”

Bash asked if the pressure from Arizona’s business community, concerned about the economic impact of the bill, would have any effect on her decision.

“I have a history of deliberating and having open dialogue on bills that are controversial, to listen to both sides of those issues,” Brewer said. “I welcome the input and information that they can provide to me. And certainly I am pro-business. That is what’s turning our economy around. So I appreciate their input, as I appreciate the other side.”

RELATED: Anderson Cooper Tears into AZ Pol over ‘Anti-Gay’ Law: ‘You’re Seriously Blaming the Media?!’

Bash tried another tack, asking if Brewer had any gut feeling, not as a governor but “as a person, as a woman,” what she would do about the bill.

“You know, I am a woman,” Brewer said. “I don’t rely a whole lot on my gut. I have to look at what it says and what the law says and take that information and do the right thing. I can assure you as always I will do the right thing for the state of Arizona.”

Via: Mediaite.com

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ARIZ. GOV. JAN BREWER SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER PROHIBITING PUBLIC BENEFITS TO YOUNG ILLEGAL ALIENS

(TheBlaze/AP) — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Wednesday ordered state agencies to deny driver’s licenses and other public benefits to young illegal immigrants who obtain work authorizations under a new Obama administration policy.

In an executive order, Brewer said she was reaffirming the intent of current Arizona law denying taxpayer-funded public benefits and state identification to illegal immigrants.

Young illegal immigrants around the nation on Wednesday began the process of applying for federal work permits under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The federal policy defers deportations for that group if they meet certain criteria, including arrival in the United States before they turned 16 and no convictions for certain crimes.

After President Barack Obama announced the policy change in June, Brewer labeled it “backdoor amnesty” and political pandering by the Democratic president.

Arizona has been in the vanguard of states enacting laws against illegal immigration.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned parts of the Arizona enforcement law known as SB1070 but ruled that a key provision on requiring police to ask people about their immigration status under certain circumstances can be implemented.

The Obama administration challenged that law in 2010 after Brewer signed it into law.

Via: The Blaze

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