What Happened To The "Arizona Boycott?"

                                                       

When Arizona passed SB 1070, the illegal immigration law, the barrios in Los Angeles exported ten thousand illegal Mexicans to Phoenix to march in the streets and call for a nation-wide boycott of Arizona.    The liberal press jumped on this boycott talk and ran with it for a good three months.  So how did that boycott fare?  

Well, we did lose a few Mariachi concerts..and a few Tejano bands stayed away.  And, as I recall, an international soccer game between the Mexican national team and someone else was cancelled.  Which means Arizona lost about $175 dollars in tax revenue and a few dozen Filberto's had to cut back on their salsa orders.

Here's what happened:  

The one million snowbirds who migrate from the frigid north and mid-west continued to come and stay through the winter.  As they do every year, they spend enough to fund some 7% of our entire annual state budget.

Phoenix hosted as many as three college bowl games, with the Fiesta Bowl being the monster that makes millions for local hotels, restaurants and tourist centers.  

The annual Barrett-Jackson antique car auction is held here every year, generates millions of dollars in profits to the auction and the many hotels and restaurants and bars throughout the city

Attendance at The Phoenix Open grows at least ten percent every year and draws hundreds of thousands over the four day tournament…and that's without Tiger Woods!

Phoenix is the spring training home for a dozen major league baseball teams and, from the 20th of January to the first of April, millions of baseball fans fly in to Phoenix, attend the games, dine in our restaurants, gas up at our gas stations, drink gallons and gallons of beer and wine and liquor, and enjoy their hot dogs and beer and Cracker Jacks in our well turned out stadiums.

Our Grand Canyon is our nation's third most favorite tourist destination.  Hunting and Fishing seasons bring even more folks to our state.  Hikers from the U.S. and around the world hike our thousands of miles of trails and visit our ghost towns and even search for the Lost Dutchman's Mine.

First Solar corporation invested billions into the biggest solar panel factory in the world.  Intel expanded their operations here.  Apple Computer just invested $1.1 billion to open a huge manufacturing complex here.  

Phoenix plays host to four major sports teams and the Cardinals home is such a jewel of a stadium that it will host the Superbowl for the second time in six years….the next one coming in 2015!

The Arts are well attended in Phoenix and every major star has been here, acting, or singing or participating in a major movie or television production here…the pros love it because we don't regulate them to death.

Arizona 1, Boycott 0  Yep…the 67% who opposed immigration reform are well represented here..from in and out of state.