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Is Boycott Arizona Effective? 15,000 Room Reservations Cancelled in First Week!

Posted May 1, 2010 by Patrick Young, Esq.
Categories: Hate Watch

The Arizona Republic reports that in the first week of the Boycott Arizona movement:

The Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association said Friday that 19 meetings representing 15,000 room nights have been canceled because of the immigration law. The law makes it a state crime to be in Arizona illegally and requires police and other law-enforcement agents to check documents of people they reasonably suspect to be illegal. It also has led to calls for the relocation of the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game and the college Bowl Championship Series title game, as well as other big conventions and conferences.

The Arizona law has put the state’s bid to hold several national conventions in question:

On Friday, David Krietor, Phoenix deputy city manager, said that city officials had conversations with both national parties within the previous 24 hours but that the topic of immigration didn’t come up with him. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said he tried to point out that the city is the epicenter of a new civil-rights movement and encouraged them not to see the city in a negative light.

“I’ve got to think that’s going to be a challenging issue to overcome with (the Democrats),” Krietor said.

The Republican National Committee is further along in its consideration. Phoenix is one of three finalist cities, along with Salt Lake City and Tampa. A decision is expected sometime around May 12 or 14, Krietor said.

The RNC didn’t bring up any concerns about the new immigration law in its most recent discussions with the city, officials said. Most of the questions focused on technical logistics of the city’s bid, including transportation and parking issues.

But other political observers predicted that the parties won’t be able ignore the fallout from the heated immigration debate.

“Unless the current law is substantially changed or dropped, there’s no chance of a Democratic convention there, and my guess is the Republicans will avoid that controversy, too,” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “It probably puts the kibosh on both party conventions.”

The 2008 political convention where Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president generated $266 million in economic spending in the Denver region.

The two biggest pieces of business headed to Phoenix next year are the All-Star Game and the National League of Cities Conference, Krietor said. So far, neither organization has signaled an interest in discussing the immigration bill, he said.

However, the city is in imminent danger of losing “tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars” in business and has created a short list of roughly half-a-dozen booked conventions that they deem “vulnerable,” Krietor said.

The conventions include three large events booked at the Phoenix Convention Center and two events at the city-owned Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel. All are scheduled to be held between 2011 and 2015, but the city has received calls from representatives of the groups, suggesting that they may pull out because their members don’t want to come to Phoenix, Krietor said.

“This is really an economic-development nightmare for us,” Krietor said. “We are getting trashed in the national media. The problem is the perception that people outside of Arizona have.”

On Friday, the National Urban League issued a scathing rebuke of the city, saying it was immediately suspending consideration of Phoenix’s bid to host its 2012 annual conference.

Marc H. Morial, the league’s president and CEO, called the immigration law “repugnant” and compared it to South Africa’s apartheid-era “pass card” law.

“We will not consider holding our conference anywhere in the state as long as this unfortunate law remains in effect,” he said.

In an interview Friday morning with Channel 12 News (KPNX), Brewer again called the boycott threats “unfortunate” and criticized bill opponents for encouraging “hysteria.”

“I think they should call for boycotting drugs, from all the drugs that are coming into Arizona,” Brewer said, referring to the state’s porous border with Mexico, adding that the people calling for boycotts are only going to hurt the legal residents who live and work here.