KJZZ’s Friday NewsCap revisits some of the biggest stories of the week from Arizona and beyond.
To talk about some new priorities for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, preview the legislative session which starts on Monday and more, The Show sat down with Lorna Romero-Ferguson of Elevate Strategies and former state lawmaker Reginald Bolding.
Conversation highlights
On Sen. Gallego and immigration
MARK BRODIE: So let's start with a new U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego. He and Sen. Mark Kelly have both come out in favor of what is called the Laken Riley Act, sort of the first big immigration-related bill that, that the U.S. Senate has come up with. So I'm specifically curious for Sen. Gallego, how are Democrats responding to his not only supporting it but co-sponsoring it in the Senate?
REGINALD BOLDING: Well, you know, I don't think it was a secret that, you know, immigration was going to be a topic of discussion, you know, during, you know, this session in Congress. You know, Donald Trump ran on it, you know, you started to see many Democrats move, you know, to be more border hawks during the election.
I, I think that there was, I think right now what you're seeing in Democratic Party’s, people are saying that it's OK to have a conversation around, you know, deportation and what that looks like, but it's not OK to eliminate due process rights, and that's what this actually act does.
And so when, when Sen. Gallego came out and you know, not only showing his support for it, but co-sponsoring it, I think a lot of people, especially those in the, you know, Latino community, they're taking a step back to say, hey, you know, “Senator, we, we, we fought for you. We believe in you. We know that there's going to be a conversation regarding deportations, but we can't erode our due process rights and, you know, allow Homeland Security to, you know, you know, hold people indefinitely if they're accused of crimes.”
BRODIE: Within Democratic circles, Reginald, is there a sense of like that this might be a sign of things to come, or is there a sense that maybe, OK, you know, obviously immigration is a big deal. The Senate is controlled by Republicans, you know, people are starting to maybe move to the right just a little bit. This is maybe just a one-off.
BOLDING: Well, I don't think Ruben has completely lost his base yet, right? I think people understand …
BRODIE: Yeah, he's been in office for like 10 minutes. [LAUGHS]
BOLDING: I don't think he's lost the base yet. But, but, but I do think that people are expecting him to, to really stand up and be on the front lines when it comes to some of the more aggressive, you know, border policies, right?
You know, you know, if you're talking about, you know, you know, deporting individuals who've … been convicted of crimes, you know, I, I think the generality of the public, they understand that. But once you start talking about, you know, you know, splitting, you know, apart families, you know, eliminating due process rights, going into communities, they are expecting Ruben Gallego as a border state senator to kind of, you know, fight for some of these fight against some of these things.
BRODIE: Well, so Lorna, this seems like kind of a fine line that Sen. Gallego has to walk. I mean, he said earlier that he's going to take a wait and see approach with some of President-elect Trump's immigration priorities. How, like how difficult a balancing act might this be for, for Sen. Gallego?
LORNA ROMERO-FERGUSON: Well, it's definitely a difficult balancing act, and you know, obviously you said he's only been in office for 10 days. I mean that was the shortest-lived honeymoon period amongst, you know, fellow Democrats I've ever witnessed. But I mean it makes sense.
He was elected to represent the state of Arizona. This was not a landslide victory for Democrats by any means. It was a small margin against not the best Republican candidate, let's be honest. So this wasn't some kind of, you know, vote of the public saying we want a progressive Democrat person representing Arizona. So I think he's taking that to heart.
When it comes to immigration policy, he is taking a smart approach, right? There's all of this, you know, hyperbole out there and angst about what Trump is going to do when it comes to immigration. We don't know, right? There hasn't been any specific policy proposals, so he's taking it step by step about what's being placed in front of him. And this is right now this current bill is what's been placed in front of him.
And I think for people to make these broad statements about just immigration in general versus what this act specifically does, which pertains to people committing crimes, theft and burglary and whatnot, I think there is a lot of even Democrat, you know, voters that support, you know.
Deporting or detaining individuals who have broken the law, and this is part of that conversation that needs to be had, and I think Ruben is kind of taking Democrats back to a time closer to 20 years ago where you could have these conversations and not be attacked for it, right?
Here in Arizona, it was a Democrat governor, you know, [Janet] Napolitano, who signed the employer sanctions law, mandatory, mandatory E-Verify in the state, and other Democrats at the Legislature used to co-sponsor immigration-related bills. And then since then it's been this shift where it's either you're, you're either with us or entirely against us, and I think Ruben is being very smart about this because again, he represents the state of Arizona, and voters made it very clear how they feel about immigration here and you know he's taking a wise approach by not going to the far left, and just voting for and supporting policies that he thinks are right for the state.
BRODIE: Do you, would you extrapolate that out, his whole like wait and see approach, does that politically, it seems like based on what you just said, that would also sort of be the smart approach not to come out and say, “everything Trump is going to do, I'm going to vote against or everything he's going to do is going to be terrible.” But to, as you say, wait and see what The legislation is in front of him and make a decision based on that.
ROMERO-FERGUSON: Yeah, definitely. I mean there could be some really extreme policies that come out of this administration. There could be some, you know, reasonable things that Democrats can get behind. So it doesn't make any sense for him to come out in opposition to what we don't know is coming before us, right?
And I know there's people that are trying to pressure him and take that stance, but one, it's, it's irresponsible, and two, it's not actually representing the people of Arizona that he was elected to represent.
On Gov. Hobbs' upcoming State of the State
BRODIE: On Monday, Gov. Katie Hobbs will deliver her State of the State address to officially kick off the legislative session. So Reginald, I want to start with you because that was something you used to go to as a, an elected official as a, a minority leader in the Legislature. There's been so much talk about things like water and housing, and the budget, of course. Like, is that kind of what you're expecting to be the, the biggies coming up?
BOLDING: I, I, I think so. You know, I think, you know, Gov. Hobbs, she's going to talk about, you know, big issues that particularly that can get, you know, buy in from Republicans and also some Democrats in the Legislature. So I don't think you're going to see too many or hear too many policies, you know, in the State of the State that Republicans are going to come out and say, you know, DOA on, right? As opposed to, you know, you know, when she first started, you know, they're tearing up the State of the States, and that's, that's dead on the arrival, that's dead on the arrival.
So I think she'll try to move more to the center. I think you'll hear more on border. We know, you know, Prop. 123 is the education component is going to be extremely important, so you'll hear some of that. But it's going to be, folks are going to be looking specifically to see how she talks about how she wants to work together with this Legislature, which is probably one of the most conservative that we've seen in decades.
BRODIE: Yeah, how do you think Gov. Hobbs should try to do that with a Legislature that is perhaps more conservative but certainly more Republican?
ROMERO-FERGUSON: Yeah, definitely. I mean how she sets the tone and the approach of her speech on Monday is really going to determine how, how easily or not easily she's going to be able to work with the leaders down there. I mean, you're coming off an election cycle that was very intense where Democrats who thought they were going to pick up more seats or even take over one chamber, right, that she was intimately involved in that effort.
They were not successful and there's some, and Republicans are not going to forget that, right? And so they're going into this session with a lot of the momentum in their caucus, and they have bold policies that are very in the similar topics that, you know, Reginald just mentioned that the governor is going to hit on when it comes to water, education funding, housing, and whatnot.
It's a difference in approach, right? And, and it's going to be incumbent on the governor when she speaks to the Legislature on Monday about working with both parties, right? And it's that's going to be difficult for her because as we've seen with the dynamics with Ruben Gallego right now, she has members of her caucus down there that want her to kind of be that firebrand, right, and fight against Republicans and fight against Trump and this that and the other. But as the governor she needs to lead and govern, right, and take a much more measured approach. And so when it comes to border security, immigration, Prop. 123, you know, education funding, you've got to work with the Republicans down there if you want to get anything done.
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