Governor Jan Brewer’s claim last week that immigrants in Arizona are cutting people’s heads off could cost the people of Arizona $250,000.
A report released Wednesday by the Governor’s Tourism and Economic Development Task Force found that public funding was needed to convince tourists and convention-goers that, despite Governor Jan Brewer’s claims, it is safe to come to Arizona.
According to Kristen Jarnagin, spokeswoman for the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association, public officials are damaging the image of Arizona in order to grow support for SB1070.
“The information that we’re giving to support 1070 in our state is that there’s massive crime happening here and (we’re the) kidnapping capital,” Jarnagin told the Arizona Daily Star. “And those don’t help tourism.”
A report released in May by the Wall Street Journal found that violent crime was down by 17% in Phoenix, yet Governor Brewer and many public officials in Arizona say that crime in the area is on the rise.
According to the Daily Star, the task force wants a fact sheet to “clarify facts and misconceptions and $250,000 of public funds to fix Arizonas badly damaged image.”
The report comes just one week after Governor Brewer told a television audience that:
“We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings …”
Watch Governor Brewer’s comments here:
When asked about her comments, Governor Brewer said, “Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded.”
The state’s county coroners did not support Governor Brewers claims and said they hadn’t seen any headless bodies from the desert.
By Matt Hildreth
