http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/knau/local-knau-904552.mp3
Phoenix, AZ – Not for her personally. Brewer wants donations to help pay for
the private lawyer she hired to defend her against lawsuits
challenging SB 1070. That's the law that requires police to ask
those they have stopped about their immigration status if they
reasonably suspect the person is an illegal immigrant.
Challengers say this is an illegal intrusion by the state into
federal immigration policy and that the law will result in racial
profiling. On Wednesday Brewer set up a defense fund to take
donations. But gubernatorial press aide Paul Senseman said the
cash has been rolling in for weeks, since the lawsuits were
filed.
(Roughly $10,000 is how much has been collected already
unsolicited from approximately 300 individuals in over 40 states
throughout the United States.)
Senseman said Brewer hired her own lawyer after Attorney General
Terry Goddard refused to represent her. Goddard said he is
defending the state but that Brewer, named individually in some
of the lawsuits, should probably have her own counsel. Senseman
said the governor is just as happy Goddard turned her down.
(Given his various statements that at times favored the
legislation and at other times opposed it, the governor's much
more confident that she will provide the most vigorous defense
available.)
No date has been set for hearing in any of the lawsuits. For
Arizona Public Radio this is Howard Fischer.