You gotta love one thing about Republicans: With them, there's always blood in the water.
With erstwhile Go Daddy exec Christine Jones hard on his heels in the GOP primary for governor, and an awesome anti-Ducey ad by a pro-Jones I.E. in circulation, Ducey has fired back beginning today with a new commercial calling Jones out on her border plan, which the ad labels "phony."
Ice-cream man Doug Ducey hits rival Christine Jones hard in this new attack ad
See, in one of her own ads, Jones boiled down her position on border security, thus:
"I'll deploy 1200 troops to the border, use technology to monitor who's coming and going, finish the fence, and send Obama the bill."
See also: --Christine Jones Pandering and Delusional on Immigration, Border Security --Doug Ducey's New Ad Claims "Arizonans," Not Obama, Will Get Job Done on Immigration: Why That's Bull --Doug Ducey and the Stain of Chris Simcox
Problem is, Jones herself says her plan will cost $270 million. As far as sending Obama the bill, she might as well send it to Fred Flintstone, for all the good it'll do.
The Ducey ad pounces on a clip from a campaign appearance Jones made with her top immigration adviser, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, aka "studboi1," where Jones essentially admits the obvious, that Arizonans will have to pick up the tab for her plan.
"We've tried this whole billing the federal government thing before," she tells the crowd. "Which is why I've said to the people of Arizona, `You're going to have to pay for this.'"
Jones never explains where this $270M will come from, which is significant, since the state budget faces massive shortfalls for the next couple of years, shortfalls sure to wipe out the state's rainy day fund, and still leave us in the red with new court-ordered mandates on education spending.
But Ducey is no better when it comes to pandering on the immigration issue. In one of his first ads on the subject, he promised to tackle border security "with every resource at my command," listing these as "fencing, satellites, guardsmen, more police and prosecutors."
Like Jones, he gave no indication of how he would pay for all of this.
Moreover, Ducey wants to cut taxes.
"I will submit legislation to reduce taxes every year," Ducey states on his website, "with the goal of pushing income tax rates as close to zero as possible."
The reality is, both of these candidates are lying their butts off in order to get elected. In Ducey's ad, the images that accompany his promises are of federal fencing, ports of entry on the border (also federal), and federal vehicles, specifically, ones from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
That's because border security and immigration are the sole province of the federal government. There is very little a state can do on its own when it comes to these issues, unless the federal government allows it to help.
National Guard? If the governor calls it up without the feds' help, the state will have to pay.
As I've already reported, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, the deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops to the southern border for one year during Operation Phalanx (2010-2011) cost $110 million.
To be honest, Jones' plan is more worrisome for one reason: Paul Babeu, the charlatan sheriff, who once allegedly employed his illegal immigrant boyfriend, and then threatened to have the man deported when the boyfriend threatened to make their relationship public.
Would a Governor Jones appoint Babeu to a state position, perhaps to head up the Arizona Department of Public Safety or some border czar position created just for him?
Considering the way Babeu cynically manufactured a fake crisis in Oracle last week for his own ends, that thought should be chilling to all.
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