A group of activists brought a toilet to the state Capitol today as an "award" for Republican Representative Carl Seel.
Seel's assistant at the House of Representatives refused to accept the award, which Citizens for a Better Arizona brought in response to Seel's introduction of a bill that would make it a crime for undocumented people to use "any public resource," including highways, public schools, or, perhaps, public restrooms.
House Bill 2192 says the bill would apply only to people if "any . . . operation of law" has determined that the person is not lawfully present in the state. Seel has argued that this would apply only to people already subject to court proceedings.
Beto Soto, of Citizens for a Better Arizona, says the language is vague and doesn't really specify which undocumented immigrants it would apply to.
Soto and more than a dozen others brought the toilet to the House of Representatives today, naming the award the "Russell Pearce Extremist Award" -- in honor of the former Senate President whose recall in 2011 was championed by Citizens for a Better Arizona.
Thus, Soto said the toilet award was a symbol that Seel still needed to "learn a lesson about hateful anti-Latino legislation."
Unfortunately, Seel's assistant wouldn't accept the award for him, and Capitol police threatened to cite activists for littering if they left it there, so Seel won't be getting his toilet.
Send feedback and tips to the author.
Follow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley.
