Florida and AZ Bill

Florida candidates backing Arizona law

Some of the leading statewide Republican candidates in Florida are coming out in favor of a new law aimed at curbing illegal immigration in Arizona.

The Republican Party's front-runner for governor, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, threw his support Thursday behind a tough new immigration law in Arizona that he criticized as ``far out'' just two weeks ago.

The law makes it a crime for immigrants not to carry legal papers and gives local police the power to question people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.

Passed in a capitol 1,600 miles away from Tallahassee, the law is nevertheless emerging as a campaign issue in Florida as candidates jockey for the conservative voters who dominate Republican primaries.

By coming out in favor of the law, McCollum joined U.S. Senate contender Marco Rubio in abandoning his previous opposition to the toughest crackdown on illegal immigration in the nation. Both have said they changed positions in light of amendments that aimed to outlaw ethnic and racial profiling by the police.

``I support Arizona's law as amended, and if the federal government fails to secure our borders and solve the problem of illegal immigration, I would support a similar law for Florida,'' McCollum said in a statement Thursday.

But the amendments didn't change a single vote in the Arizona Legislature or quash a mounting backlash from Hispanic and religious groups. On Thursday, a group of Arizona religious leaders made an ``emergency'' lobbying trip to Washington, The Associated Press reported, while the city of Los Angeles joined about a dozen other municipalities in declaring a boycott of the state of Arizona.

That elicited a response from Holly Benson, embroiled in a hotly contested Republican primary for Florida attorney general. She said: ``Illegal immigration is a serious problem facing our country and it is unfortunate that the Los Angeles City Council came down in support of illegal activity, over the actions of Arizona's attempt to enforce the law.''

McCollum's flip-flop comes days after a recent poll showed him losing ground to an unexpected and well-financed Republican rival, Rick Scott, who backs the Arizona law. After spending at least $4.7 million on a statewide television blitz, the little-known former healthcare executive is capturing 24 percent of the Republican vote, according to a Mason-Dixon poll. McCollum, who has been in politics for two decades, received 38 percent in the survey.

The leading Democratic candidate for governor, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, opposes the law. So does Rubio's major Senate rivals, the newly independent Gov. Charlie Crist and Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami.

The Florida governor's race has parallels in Arizona, where Sen. John McCain -- a former proponent of sweeping immigration reform -- calls in a new campaign ad for the government to ``complete the danged fence'' along the Mexican border. In an election year that looks dangerous for incumbents, McCain is fending off a conservative Republican challenger who backs the new Arizona law.

Proponents say the measure will help bring law and order to a state where the federal government allows illegal immigration to run amok. When first asked about the law on April 27, McCollum said, ``I think Arizona has its own unique problems. I don't think Florida should enact laws like this quite that far out.''

On Thursday, McCollum issued a statement that said, ``Arizona leaders recently made needed changes that address concerns I had that the law could be abused and misused to perform racially profiled stops and arrests. I do not support any measure that would result in racial profiling or other unintended consequences for law-abiding American citizens.''

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/13/1628658/florida-candidates-backing-arizona.html#ixzz0nsI29Su6