Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Gascon makes a BAD move

Gascon says that he doesn't dance for anyone, except he better start dancing for the City Council and fast. Since it has been discovered that a "group of nonprofit organizations that are seeking immigration reform” paid for his trip to Washington, there has been a bit of an uproar. And now, Gascon, who, while outspoken, has done a pretty good job of keeping himself above the immigration fray, has now jumped in the middle of it.

We have to ask: Do you dance with the one who brung you?

Our thoughts on Sheriff Joe and his out of control behavior have been fairly well documented. We sided with Mesa against his raid on Mesa City Hall. Whats more, we have been fairly supportive of Gascon's efforts to reduce crime, and have even opposed efforts to demonize him.

However, in the end, it looks like his stubbornness may be his undoing. The chief is supposed to be an impartial enforcer of the law. Why would you take money from a group that has thoughts about which laws are right and which laws are wrong? When the sheriff conducted the sweeps last year, this is what we had to say:

"Gascon has a concern for riots and civil unrest - it doesn't appear that he is fundamentally against a crackdown on illegal immigration. However, he is allowing those concerns to stand in the way, or at least allow the perception to prevail that he is trying to stand in the way. The result is people calling for his dismissal claiming that he is part of the problem on why Mesa is considered a "sanctuary city." Gascon must clearly define himself as part of the solution."

So what does he do? He moves in the completely opposite direction. Instead of defining himself as part of the solution, he has now aligned with himself with people who clearly want to stand in the way. The result is going to be even more people calling for his dismissal. Is there anything that Gascon can do to fix the damage that has been caused?

2 comments:

Heath Reed said...

I have tried to support the cat, but for some reason I have always been suspicious of him and the way he has ran this department. He has done some good and not so good, but you are right, this is a BAD move by him which I think will get him ousted down the road unless he changes his stance. The voters and tax payers are not going to stand for this clown. Its time to get a tuff noise guy in here to get the job done, upheld the LAW and not chief who picks and choose his laws.

Don’t take someone’s money like this and waste it if you not going to actually do something about it. Very ignorant move by him and I hope he is gone soon.

Anonymous said...

From a source who is very close to the illegal immigration issue, that said that it was for good cause that Gascon has refussed to say where ther money has come from. The source whom I trust and respect says that ACORN is the organization that provided the funds.

This is a very bad move given that ACORN and it's organization is under criminal investigation in may states.