Jan Brewer's Lies Destroying Arizona's Economy, (but creating profits for CCA)

Could Jan Brewer be purposely exaggerating crimes and fear mongering because of her connections to an Arizona private corrections corporation? Let's see.

From CBS 5 Investigates, Phoenix, AZ.

Between the economy and boycotts related to Arizona’s tough new immigration law, SB 1070, tourism in the state is down 10 percent.

Every day on cable news, anchors and reporters are discussing an invasion at the border, headless bodies in the desert or a rash of kidnappings.

During this election cycle, Arizona politicians are touting the potential dangers of illegal immigration. Gov. Jan Brewer is one of the loudest voices.

She has made several statements to the national media, the validity of which CBS 5 Investigates could not confirm. The governor told one media outlet that almost all illegal immigrants are bringing drugs across the border. U.S. Border Patrol officials said that statement is false.

Brewer also said law enforcement officials have found decapitated bodies in the desert. Calls to all of Arizona’s border county medical examiners revealed no decapitated bodies have been reported to them.

A look at data from the FBI shows crime in Arizona is actually down. Murders in Phoenix have dropped by 50 percent since 2003. The violent crime rate across the state has dropped 15% between 2004 through 2008. Even the number of illegal border crossers is down 49% since 2004. Border Patrol numbers show they are arresting half as many illegal immigrants as they did in 2004.

U.S. Attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke, told CBS 5 Investigates, “If you’re not into drug trafficking and you’re not into human smuggling, you’re going to be safe. This is a safe place to live.”

But that message is not getting out, and at the state capitol, there is a real concern that Arizona’s new reputation might be hard to shake.

State Sen. Leah Landrum Taylor, D-Phoenix, told CBS 5 Investigates, “If you’re hearing about beheadings and you’re hearing about things that drastic, would you want to bring your friends and family to Arizona?”

Taylor said a drop in tourism dollars from all of the bad publicity could drastically impact the state’s already ailing budget.

In the meantime, a CBS 5 News investigation revealed that there is one business that could profit from the implementation of SB 1070 and similar immigration measures. The private prison industry houses illegal immigrant detainees for the federal government. Those companies could gain contracts with state and local agencies to house illegal immigrants arrested for state violations.

Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, holds the federal contract to house detainees in Arizona. The company bills $11 million per month. CBS 5 Investigates learned that two of Brewer’s top advisers have connections to CCA.

Paul Senseman is the governor’s deputy chief of staff. He is also a former lobbyist for CCA. His wife is listed as a current lobbyist for the company.

Chuck Coughlin is one of the governor’s policy advisers and her campaign chairman. Coughlin’s company, HighGround Public Affairs Consultants, currently lobbies for CCA.

CCA issued the following statement to CBS 5 Investigates:

“CCA, unequivocally, did not at any time lobby -- nor did we have any outside consultants lobby -- anyone in Arizona on the immigration law. Nor are we proposing to house detainee immigrants as a result of SB 1070. We currently have no contracts with the State or any counties. CCA very proudly does have a presence in Arizona, as we own and operate six correctional facilities, employing more than 2,500 Arizona residents. These contracts are with other state and federal jurisdictions.”

Meanwhile, at Rancho de la Osa, Richard and Veronica Schultz said they don’t know much about the motives behind the politicians making alarming statements about the border.

Though their hacienda survived a real attack from Pancho Villa, it might not survive the war of words from politicians, Richard Schultz said.

“I think they’re covering their own personal interests, and as a consequence, Arizona and its tourism needs are being the sacrificial lambs to some extent,” he said.

Story with video here:www.kpho.com...

In Phoenix, police spokesman Trent Crump said, "Despite all the hype, in every single reportable crime category, we're significantly down." Mr. Crump said Phoenix's most recent data for 2010 indicated still lower crime. For the first quarter of 2010, violent crime was down 17% overall in the city, while homicides were down 38% and robberies 27%, compared with the same period in 2009.

Arizona's major cities all registered declines. A perceived rise in crime is one reason often cited by proponents of a new law intended to crack down on illegal immigration.
online.wsj.com...:SB10001424052748704113504575264432463469618.html

Mod Edit: Placed external source tags around copied and paste material.

[edit on 7/29/2010 by maria_stardust]

This was from January. I don't believe CCA was the main reason for the hysteria. I think the biggest reason was to place blame on a target for an inept state legislature.

Arizona, like many other states, are always spending based on money they will collect rather than what they actually collect.

“Although we are disappointed with the proposed budgets’ initiative to eliminate utilization of out-of-state prison capacity, we understand our partner’s fiscal concerns in a very difficult budgetary environment,” Corrections Corp. CEO Damon Hininger said in the news release.

Hininger went on to say that the company hopes to win a contract for the construction and management of 5,000 prison beds in the state. CCA already owns and operates six prisons in Arizona, which primarily house immigrant detainees and prisoners from other states such as California.

nashville.bizjournals.com...

Good Evening DNC!

Yeah,

It isn't roses.

Phoenix is the #2 Kidnapping Capital of the world now... bypassing Bogota, Columbia! Only Mexico city is worse.

We cannot ignore the problems any longer. America is degrading into a 3rd world sh!th0le.

Enforce the law.

abcnews.go.com...

In what officials caution is now a dangerous and even deadly crime wave, Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City and over 370 cases last year alone. But local authorities say Washington, DC is too obsessed with al Qaeda terrorists to care about what is happening in their own backyard right now.
Wave of abductions hit Phoenix. Is Washington paying enough attention?

More Photos

"We're in the eye of the storm," Phoenix Police Chief Andy Anderson told ABC News of the violent crimes and ruthless tactics spurred by Mexico's drug cartels that have expanded business across the border. "If it doesn't stop here, if we're not able to fix it here and get it turned around, it will go across the nation," he said.

And see what's coming:

www.mymexicanlife.com...

Mexican drug cartels according to recent press reports have military style training camps on and near the border with the United States. These Training camps are for military-style killers. Federal authorities say these camps have Afghanistan and other middle eastern instructors who teach the latest military fighting tactics that are utilized in Iraq and Afghanistan by the Islamic radicals that are fighting and killing American and allied troops in those countries. Mexican officials admit they know of special training camps in the Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Michoacan, where newly recruited Zetas take intensive six-week training courses in weapons, tactics and intelligence gathering.

Iran is believed providing at least some of the money for this recruiting and training program. The training camps are teaching hit and run gorilla technique’s. Cells of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) have sent their seasoned veterans to oversee the training of the new troops and to direct the war against the Mexican government on behalf of the Mexican Cartels. Trained fighters from al-Qaida, Hizballah (Party of God) Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been seen in Mexico and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reported cells from these terrorist organizations are believed here in the U.S. as well. According to a well placed CIA operative.

[edit on 28-7-2010 by infolurker]

12guage
I have to disagree with ur analogy here.

CCA will NOT make profits from this law.
Illegals will be detained in public county
jails until transferred to ICE's custody
for processing. Where in that process
do illegal detainees go to a CCA facility???
They don't !!!

CCA runs permanent prisons
not temporary detention facilities.
It's a moot point and far fetched
IMO

She mucked up. Had a meeting with Pres Obama then bragged with caveat he ( PresidentObama) better get back to me on funding within the next three weeks, re Federal Support for the Governors newly signed in Law re Cops pulling over suspected Illegal Mexican Immigrants...

Then the respected Gov started chastising President Obama as things weren't happening fast enough.
The US Feds filed a case against Arizona its Governor in terms of taking federal Immigration matters in their own hands. Brewer, smart Attorney and Gov representing Arizona crossed the line through pure ganesh.

She'll lose to, through her gen-ash. The Lady swanked it all and it has now hurt not just her perceived outcome, but perhaps the next Gubernatorial election of her favor in AZ.

Decoy

reply to post by boondock-saint

I have to disagree with ur analogy here.

It's not my analogy boon. I totally ripped off the report from CBS 5 Investigates. The only line that was mine was the question at the beginning and the title.

As far as the kidnapping capital second only to Mexico City, to date it's FALSE!

PolitiFact: "Experts advise that such rankings can't be made based on available information," "no evidence" claim is accurate. PolitiFact.com assessed the claim that "Phoenix is the second kidnapping capital in the world" and determined it is "false." In a June 27 analysis of the claim, PolitiFact concluded:

Phoenix has experienced hundreds of kidnappings over the past few years. However, we couldn't find reliable around-the-planet evidence to confirm that only Mexico City experiences more of them. In fact, experts advise that such rankings can't be made based on available information. If they could, they speculate, other cities would prove to have more kidnappings than Arizona's capital. We found nothing confirming Phoenix as No. 2 in kidnappings worldwide.

We found nothing confirming Phoenix as No. 2 in kidnappings worldwide.

Neither FBI nor Interpol "could confirm that Phoenix has the second-highest frequency of kidnapping cases worldwide." PolitiFact reported that "Neither the FBI nor the U.S. National Central Bureau of Interpol... could confirm that Phoenix has the second-highest frequency of kidnapping cases worldwide." In fact, a spokeswoman for Interpol stated that the "agency doesn't track local kidnapping rates."

Kidnapping expert: "No reliably empirical data" exists on worldwide kidnappings. PolitiFact reported that Daniel Johnson, "an overseas kidnapping operations consultant at ASI Global," a company that counsels companies whose employees are kidnapped, said that kidnappings are "inherently under-reported" and that "no reliable empirical data" exists on them. Johnson also stated that "the definition of 'kidnap' varies" making totals difficult to quantify. Politifact further reported:

Johnson said: "From our internal experience in the last year, Mexico by far has been the biggest location for kidnappings" followed by Honduras, Venezuela, Nigeria and the Philippines. The company has handled domestic cases but Thompson said they don't compare in volume to overseas incidents. Thompson said the company annually dispatches a consultant to handle about 50 to 100 cases a year. Mexico City, Caracas, Venezuela, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras are the three cities where they work on the most kidnapping cases, he said.

Intelligence expert: "[T]here is no way that Phoenix is the No. 2 city in the world for kidnapping." From the June 27 PolitiFact report:

Scott Stewart, vice president of tactical intelligence for Stratfor, an Austin-based global intelligence company, separately chimed in: "According to our analysts, there is no way that Phoenix is the No. 2 city in the world for kidnapping and there are significantly more kidnappings in many other cities throughout Latin America," he said. "San Salvador, Guatemala City, Bogota as well as several cities in Mexico certainly have higher kidnapping rates than Phoenix."

That said, Stewart said Stratfor doesn't track such kidnapping statistics, noting that it's "extremely difficult to measure given the fact that so many cases go unreported and that the record keeping in many of the most effected countries is inaccurate." The company bases its information on "intelligence that we gather through our network of human and open sources, as well as the experience of our analysts," he said.

mediamatters.org...
www.politifact.com...
www.politifact.com...

This is a report fox news put out yseterday about AZ and there Ecomony

www.foxnews.com...

I think she is doing the right thing

[edit on 29-7-2010 by cosmo740]

She is great ! We are proud of Her here and it shows by Her 70% approval rating . She will win in a landslide . She was handed a mess by the Governor who quit . She is doing a great job . Sorry .

I love it.

See what I have here-

Huff post link
mediamatters link
politifact link

Then

See what I have here-

fox news link

Hey ATS, why don't we just link the propaganda links from the left together with the links from the lonely fox news and let the links argue things over.

I know some people cannot think for themselves but c'mon, there must be something in them melons that are ORIGINAL THOUGHT.

Even just a smidgen would be nice...........any?

reply to post by endisnighe


damn ES
I didn't know you had
a sense of humor
like that
hahaha

that was great

Originally posted by vulcanwizard
She is great ! We are proud of Her here and it shows by Her 70% approval rating . She will win in a landslide . She was handed a mess by the Governor who quit . She is doing a great job . Sorry .

70% approval rating !!!!
wow

I guess the other 30% were illegals.
They could vote online without
showing birth certificates.
hahaha

I'm pretty happy with her too
and I don't even live in AZ

Originally posted by boondock-saint
CCA runs permanent prisons
not temporary detention facilities.

CCA already owns and operates six prisons in Arizona,
which primarily house immigrant detainees and prisoners from other states such as California.