On Second Thought... (City councilors backtrack on Arizona boycott)

Boston Herald ^ | 7/12/2010 | Jessica Van Sack

[Qbert]

Red-faced Boston city councilors who boldly voted to shun the state of Arizona over its new immigration crackdown are now showing signs of boycotter’s regret.

The grandstanding pols kept a low profile when the target of their boycott came to their city on Saturday. Some acknowledged taking a pass on the much-hyped protest of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer for weekend vacations and other engagements - while one councilor even admitted the embargo was ill-conceived.

The non-binding measure, sponsored by Council President Michael Ross and Councilor Felix G. Arroyo, calls on city officials “not to participate in any business activities substantially connected with the State of Arizona and municipalities in Arizona.”

“If it had to be done all over again, there’d probably be more thought put into it and perhaps a hearing,” said Councilor John Tobin of West Roxbury. “It was an emotional issue and an emotional time. I think the sponsors were getting a lot of pressure to say something, to file something.”

[Rapscallion]

Poetic justice would be for Arizona to call for a reverse boycot and make it hurt. Where do I sign up?

[popdonnelly]

Some Dems tried to organize a big rally in Boston against the Arizona law. Four hundred people showed up, and some of them were counter-demonstrators.

[RonF]

I liked this part:

“The ANSWER Coalition, which calls the law “racist” and Brewer “bigoted,” only drew about 350 people to their Saturday protest - not the thousands they had predicted. Many of those that did attend were bused in from out-of-state, organizers reported.”

[RonF]

This is pretty good, too:

Councilors have privately expressed regret, saying they’ve been verbally accosted by angry constituents and taken aback by the level of national attention the boycott brought.

Note that the legislators were completely out of touch with what their constituents thought about this issue.