Jan Brewer flees from the media post-debate to avoid questions

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Terry Goddard asked Jan Brewer to renounce her false claim of headless corpses in the Arizona desert during the debate last night. Rather than respond to the challenge, Brewer responded with her talking point du jour about "union cartels" harming Arizona's economy by supporting a boycott of Arizona.

The Phoenix media was hot on her trail after the debate. A KNXV-TV reporter asked Brewer why she would not renounce her false claim of headless corpses in the desert. Brewer refused to answer the question and then fled from reporters. The local media ganged up on her for her refusal to admit that her alarmist story about beheadings in the Arizona desert is bullshit:

There's now blood in the water and the sharks are circling. It's about damn time the Arizona media does its job. Do you think this newfound enthusiasm has something to do with Chuck Coughlin retaliating against KPHO-TV for reporting on the Pimps for Private Prisons and Profit scandal in the governor's office? The Arizona media may be ready to close ranks and go after Brewer.

Debunking a Smear

Jan Brewer's attempt to smear unions with the "cartel" label serves two purposes. First, it is to distract voters from the anger expressed by Arizona Tourism officials several weeks ago at a meeting in Tucson that Jan Brewer's false claims about headless corpses in the desert and an out-of-control crime wave in Arizona was damaging their business. Brewer is the problem. She is trying to shift blame to someone else. Brewer paints unattractive picture of Arizona for tourism industry | Fox 11:

The threat of the boycott aside, much has also been made of comments the governor made recently about body parts being found in the desert, "Well I believe there has been findings of body parts in the desert. And certainly we know that in Mexico there have been beheadings."

Tourism officials acknowledge that's not the most positive image the governor could paint of Arizona, "We have been in communication with the governor's office. They've been very understanding of our issues about communicating from a visitor point of view and they're communicating from a political point of view, and so we're just trying to merge those two together."

Secondly, Jan Brewer is trying to compress the job losses in Arizona resulting from the Bush Great Recession, which officially began in December 2007 (the housing bubble in Arizona began bursting in 2006), to the shorter time frame after she signed SB 1070 in late April 2010. Again, Brewer is trying to shift blame to someone else for failed GOP economic policies and job losses in Arizona.

The Arizona Guardian (subscription required) reported earlier this week on Gov. Brewer's latest campaign gimmick, calling upon Democrats to renounce labor unions that supported a boycott of Arizona "despite the fact her own political handlers said the boycott has left the state 'largely unharmed.'" Brewer walks line between immigration and economy. In other words, Brewer's campaign doesn't even believe what she is saying. It is a smear campaign, pure and simple.

The Arizona Republic reported at the end of July that Arizona's immigration law has little impact on Arizona's tourism:

Despite the threat of widespread travel boycotts tied to the state's strict new immigration law, early results for hotels and resorts in metropolitan Phoenix show little evidence of any short-term impact.

Hotel occupancy was up 6.5 percent in May and 10.6 percent in June from a year earlier, outpacing national gains, according to Smith Travel Research. Average room rates were flat on an above-average increase in rooms. Revenue per available room, the most closely watched measure, rose 6.2 percent and 11 percent in May and June, respectively.

There is not enough July data out yet to get a good read, though occupancy and room rates fell in the first two full weeks of the month. [It's July. In Phoenix. You figure it out.]

* * *

[T]he true tourism impact of the immigration law likely won't show up in hotel-industry statistics until next year and beyond.

That's because the biggest fallout has been from large associations canceling conventions or taking Arizona off their list of meeting sites in protest. Many associations have broad membership bases and emphasize diversity.

Such meetings are generally booked at least two years in advance and can't be canceled at the last minute without large penalties and the logistical nightmare of relocating.

Most of the groups had no choice but to come this summer and fall because the last-minute cancellation fees "would have probably put a lot of these associations in a very difficult situation," said Leo Percopo, general manager of the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel.

* * *

The 1,000-room Sheraton, opened two years ago by the city of Phoenix to attract large conventions, has seen just two groups cancel meetings booked for this year, with an estimated loss of nearly $1.6 million in revenue.

The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity moved its 5,000-attendee July convention to Bally's hotel in Las Vegas, and the National Minority Suppliers Development Council shifted its planned 7,000-attendee convention in October to Miami.

That is small change compared with the loss of business for future years that was tentatively booked and canceled after the law passed, Percopo said.

For 2011, the Sheraton's lost business currently stands at just under $2.5 million, he said. From 2012-14, the total is between $4 million and $5 million. All had been on the verge of signing contracts.

"You're not going to start to see the impact, in my opinion, until the mid- to late first quarter of 2011," Percopo said.

* * *

"The issue is that we're creating this hole in the future," said David Krietor, a deputy Phoenix city manager who oversees convention center issues.

In other words the union boycotts, which only began in May 2010, have played no part in Arizona's economic condition since the Bush Great Recession began in December 2007. Any impact will be in future years, well after Election Day. Jan Brewer's fear mongering on immigration and her gross incompetence since becoming governor has had a far greater impact on Arizona's economy.