Jon Kyl

During a one-on-one interview at his Phoenix office on Monday, U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl discussed his views on a number of political matters, including his plans to crash the Democratic national convention later this month.

A story on those plans appears in today’s Tribune.

In addition, Kyl offered his insight on two of the most intriguing political dramas of the moment – the Republican and Democratic veepstakes.

They’re both rather ho-hum stories, according to Kyl.

Neither John McCain nor Barack Obama will get much benefit by naming a vice presidential running mate, because each candidate already is so clearly defined politically. No matter who the vice presidential nominees turn out to be, their personal political views will fall deep into McCain’s and Obama’s shadows, Kyl said.

Besides, historically, veep nominees have done little to tilt votes to presidential candidates.

The last vice presidential nominee who made a perceptible difference in the vote count was Lyndon B. Johnson, who helped John Kennedy win Texas in 1960, Kyl said.

There’s an argument to be made that last vice presidential candidate to help round out the top man’s résumé was Dick Cheney, who had the defense and foreign policy experience that George W. Bush lacked in 2000, Kyl said.

 “Potentially, Obama could have somebody that demonstrates more of an experience factor for his administration,” Kyl said.

“What does McCain need? McCain doesn’t need that. The only thing McCain would want to avoid is somebody who older than he is,” he said. “You need to have somebody, obviously, younger. But all the people are younger, so it doesn’t matter – I mean, all of the people he’s been talking about.”

Other than the 1960 and 2000 races, recent veepstakes have been mostly uneventful. Still, picking someone to fill the No. 2 spot on the ticket is serious business.

“My personal view is that most of the time with these selections, the upside potential is much less than the downside potential. You can be applauded for a good decision if you avoid making a bad decision,” Kyl said.

In that regard, both candidates seem to sticking to safe choices. Most of the buzz for Obama’s potential veep goes to Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana; while public discussion concerning McCain’s choices generally focuses on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and former director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Rob Portman of Ohio.

“These are not dynamics-changing options. They’re more playing-it-safe options,” Kyl said. “Frankly, that’s probably better governance for both of them. You don’t want to make some big dramatic political statement. You want somebody who’s competent to help run the government.”

Incidentally, Kyl said that while he has been one of McCain’s closest political allies for years, he doesn’t have any special insight into McCain’s decision for a running mate.

Sen. Jon Kyl’s press office noted that legislationl authored by Kyl and John McCain was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week

The measure authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to study ways to add to the water supply in the Sierra Vista Sub-watershed, which is home to Fort Huachuca, the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.  

The bill authorizes $1,260,000 to pay for the federal government’s share of the study’s cost. The bill requires the non-federal cost share to be at least 55 percent. The committee approved it Wednesday.

Jon Kyl

Sen. Jon Kyl penned letters to the editor that appeared in two of the nation’s leading newspapers Friday.

In The Washington Post op-ed pages, he differed with a column headlined, “Iraq War is Everyone Else’s Fault, Feith Explains.” The column suggested that there were no links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.

Kyl wrote, “The historical record tells a different story.” The Republican senator from Arizona noted that in 2002, then-CIA director George Tenet described a connection in a letter Sen. Bob Graham, who at the time was the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

He also noted that in 2006, the U.S. Joint Forces Command discussed in a report relationship with Hussein and Osama bin Laden’s second in command.

Kyl wrote, “Critics of the war in Iraq often try to minimize – if not dismiss – the links between Saddam Hussein and terrorists. As they say, facts are stubborn things.”

In the East Valley Tribune’s op-ed pages, Kyl differed with an editorial headlined, “Don’t blithely give feds our DNA.” He differed with the newspaper’s concerns about the creation of a federal DNA database. The Trib argued that a federal DNA sampling and recording system could infringe on civil liberties.

Kyle wrote, “The Tribune has a right to disagree with my position, as it did in a recent editorial regarding a new DNA database, but it is not fair to characterize my effort as ‘blithely’ or lighthearted.

“The new regulations and the bill that led to them are the product of years of review and consideration. Since the bill creating this database was first introduced in 2003, my staff and I spent hundreds of hours consulting with experts in the field, opponents of expanded sampling, and other government agencies to ensure, among other things, that the regulations do not violate anyone’s privacy or result in misuse of data.”

He further argued that if such a database had been in place years ago, it could have helped identify the Chandler Rapist more quickly.

Jon Kyl

Sen. Jon Kyl is using tax-filing day as a launching point for an anti-Democratic rip concerning the soon-to-expire 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. President Bush’s tax cuts will sunset and rates will increase unless Congress takes action to extend them. Kyl blames Democrats for inaction on that front. 

Here’s Kyl’s view on the subject, via a press release issued today by his office: 

“Tax day isn’t our favorite holiday.  And if anything makes Americans bitter, it’s seeing politicians in Washington overtax and waste their hard-earned money.   

“The Tax Foundation recently estimated that Americans will work a total of 113 days this year just to pay their federal, state and local taxes.  That is more than they work to pay for basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter.

“Congressional Democrats seem to cling to the policy that higher taxes and more government spending is the medicine for an economy that’s getting sick.  During a time of economic uncertainty, the last thing the government should do is reach into the pockets of American families and take even more money.  But that’s precisely what will happen if the Congressional Democrats get their wish and allow the current tax rates to expire.”  Kyl is the assistant Republican leader in the Senate. 

To be fair, I’ll post an Arizona Democrat’s interpretation about how April 15 represents Republican policies, as soon as such a release arrives, which I expect will happen before the end of the day.

John and Cindy McCain

One of the best applause lines in Sen. John McCain’s speech in Prescott on Saturday was a reference to his wife Cindy.

“I was introduced to Arizona by my wife, Cindy, whose love for this place I soon shared. Guided by her superior judgment, to which I am always indebted…”

At that point, McCain had to pause for a moment while the women in the crowd of more than 500 cheered.

Then he continued, “… we made the decision to raise our children here.”

Before McCain took the podium, one of his warm-up speakers, Sen. Jon Kyl, elicited a fair laugh himself. Kyl’s task was to introduce Cindy McCain, who in turn introduced her husband.

Kyl quipped, “My friends, we know that Cindy McCain will be the best first lady of the United States. I won’t even mention the first bubba candidate.”

For more on McCain’s day in Prescott, read my story that appeared in the Tribune.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (in Arizona)

Sen. Jon Kyl, who appeared on FOX News this morning, said he supports the idea of “getting about the job” of constructing a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The matter is in the news again because Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff cleared the way Tuesday for another 220 miles of fence and roads to be constructed through Arizona.

Kyl, the Senate’s assistant minority leader told FOX’s anchor Jon Scott, “You’ve got to secure the borders if you’re a sovereign country. And we’re never going to have further immigration reform in this country if we don’t get control of our borders.”

During the interview, Kyl discussed the differences between actual fence and virtual fence, and sized up the environmental arguments. The senator also helped the geographically challenged cable-news anchor locate the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in the proper state.

Here’s the transcript…

SCOTT:  Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff testifying on Capitol Hill this morning.  He’s expected to talk about plans for the virtual border fence — the federal government bypassing more than 30 laws and regulations to get it built faster.Let’s talk about it with Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl.Sen. Kyl, parts of this virtual fence, it’s my understanding, in Texas, would go through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, for instance. And there are opponents who don’t want the roads built and that kind of thing that you need to maintain the towers. Right?

KYL:  Well, let’s, first of all, get a couple of things straight. The virtual fence is not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about actual fencing. Secondly, actual fencing works. I was just in the Yuma sector between Arizona and Mexico. And because of the amount of fencing that’s been constructed there, the number of illegal border crossings is down substantially. Third, where it goes through federal land, especially, there is great consultation on environmental matters. It is true that they can accelerate the construction of the fence because of the waivers that the law provides for. It’s not as if the secretary is acting outside the law.

SCOTT:  Well, and that’s the argument:  The secretary is pushing through the fence by using these waivers, that, as you say, he has the power to invoke. Right?

KYL:  That’s right.  And he just testified — I just came from his testimony. And it’s very clear that Congress is pushing him to hurry up and do the fence. So he’s doing what we’re asking him to do. We gave him the authority for the waivers. We’ve given him the money. And we’ve said, “Get about the job.”And he says that he can complete the amount of fencing that he’s been talking about now by the end of this year.

SCOTT:  Well, then, good fences make good neighbors?  I mean there are an awful lot of people opposed to either a virtual fence or an actual physical fence.

KYL:  Yes. There are some people who would open our borders to illegal immigration. That’s not the policy of the United States. And I don’t know of anybody in the United States Congress, Democrat or Republican, that would admit to supporting that kind of a policy. You’ve got to secure the borders if you’re a sovereign country. And we’re never going to have further immigration reform in this country if we don’t get control of our borders.

SCOTT:  Well, it’s my understanding that the virtual fence, which I talked about earlier, going through some of those national monuments, that would require road building.Even though you’re not building a physical fence like the kind we see on our screen here, you need to build those giant towers, 100 feet tall or so. People want to put roads through some of these national monuments, and that has some of the environmentalists upset.

KYL:  Well, first of all, there are roads through the national monuments. Organ Pipe is in Arizona. I’m very familiar with our forests, our monuments, our game refuges. And in all cases where they are adjacent to the border, it is necessary to have protection at the border, but we also are very concerned about ensuring that the reason why they’re monuments or game refuges are not destroyed by whatever is constructed. But let’s just stop and think for a moment. Even a light on top of a pole or a camera on top of a pole has a very small footprint. And the roads that do need to be constructed in most cases are either already there or are very inobtrusive. It’s not like you’re building a paved highway through the middle of a national monument.

SCOTT:  All right, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, thank you.

KYL:  You’re very welcome, Jon. 

John McCain

A surge of interest in the Democratic presidential candidates will present problems for Republican John McCain across the West, according to Democratic Party leaders from Arizona and other states who spoke in a teleconference Thursday.

They pointed to numbers that indicate Democrats have been turning out for their presidential primary elections in record numbers across the region, where the political landscape is changing. In Arizona for instance, 369,000 Democrats voted on Feb. 5, which marked a 130,000-voter increase from the previous record amount.

If all of that’s true, the big blue upheaval hasn’t exactly shown up in most polls across the eight-state Mountain West region.

Deep thinkers with the polling company Rasmussen Reports classify Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana “Safe Republican” states, at least for the presidential race. They catalogue Nevada and Colorado as “Toss Up” states, and New Mexico as a “Leans Democratic” state. For those keeping score at home, that’s five reds, two purples and one blue.

The Democrats in the teleconference offer a different assessment. They said Republican voters feel betrayed by McCain.

Arizona Democratic Party executive director Maria Weeg noted that McCain failed to win the GOP primaries in Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney placed first in each of those. McCain finished second in Colorado and Utah, third in Montana, and fourth in Wyoming.

“McCain’s losses around the West speak volumes. I mean, they’re really resounding. If you look at what happened in the Mountain West, McCain only won one state – and it was his home state,” Weeg said.

McCain won Arizona’s GOP presidential preference election on Feb. 5 with 48 percent of the vote. He was followed by Romney at 34 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 9 percent.

The U.S. senator from Arizona never opened a campaign headquarters in his home and hardly campaigned in Arizona, spending the bulk of his time before the Super Tuesday elections in other states, including New York and California, both of which he won.

The presidential primaries haven’t been conducted yet in the remaining Mountain West states. Idaho’s primaries are May 27 and New Mexico’s are June 3. Here’s a guess that McCain will win both GOP races.

The Democratic leaders did not respond to a question about whether they felt the state-by-state losses of their eventual presidential candidate foretold similar difficulties for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in those states. For example, Clinton beat Obama in Arizona. So if Obama ends up as the Democratic nominee, which seems likely, does his second-place finish in the state’s primary in February suggest that he doesn’t have a chance in the general election in November?

Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, faulted the Democrats’ assessment of McCain’s chances in the West.

“By ignoring every recent poll showing Sen. McCain’s strength among independents, the (Democratic National Committee) is proving that their Western strategy is as far removed from reality as their candidates’ liberal policies are removed from the values of the region’s voters,” he said in a statement.

“John McCain’s Western roots and proven record on taxes, Second Amendment rights, and protecting our national security stand in stark contrast to the flawed vision of Obama and Clinton,” Lindsay said. 

McCain’s biggest problem is within his own party, Weeg said. Republicans simply don’t trust him.

“He’s not the Straight Talk Express that he might have been when he ran for Senate the first time. He’s now what we’re referring to as the Double-Talk Express. He’s changed his stance on almost everything to pander to the most extreme portions of his party,” she said.

The Democrats said McCain has been cozy with lobbyists and AWOL from his Senate job, plus he’s weak on the economy and wrong on the war in Iraq. According to their assessment, that’s enough to tip the election toward the eventual Democratic nominee in Arizona.

“I see Arizona as winnable for a number of reasons. The first and foremost is that I don’t think McCain is that popular here. He may once have been – I don’t know – but certainly 48 percent of the vote from his own primary voters does not bode well for him,” Weeg said.

McCain’s handling of immigration has demonstrated his failure to lead, she said.

McCain and other Republican senators, notably Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, joined with Democrats to forge a compromise border security and immigration reform bill that failed to advance last year. Some Democrats said the bill was too strict in regulating immigration into the country, while some Republicans charged that it was too forgiving in allowing millions of illegal immigrants already living in the country to obtain citizenship.

Since the bill failed, McCain has changed his stance on the issues, going from an all-at-once approach to a two-step approach. He said he believes lawmakers should deal with the border first; and deal with immigration reform second.

Weeg said immigration will be a huge issue for Arizona voters in November.

“We work with people who come across the border. We play with them. We are next to them. We are their neighbors. So this is really an issue in Arizona,” she said. “And McCain, who once sponsored legislation to come up with some practical solutions to this increasing problem, has given in to the extremists in his party in order to garner this nomination. He’s not coming up with any real solutions at all.”

The Democrats talk about conducting a 50-state campaign. The real measure of their sincerity will be to see if Obama or Clinton runs a bona fided campaign in the 48th state.

Jon Kyl

Jon Kyl is scheduled to discuss economic issues during a swing through the southern portion of the state Thursday.

The Republican senator is set to deliver the keynote address at a Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave., in Tucson, starting at 12:30 p.m.

Then the assistant minority leader will speak at the Green Valley Chamber of Commerce at the Canoa Hills Recreation Center, 3660 S. Camino del Sol, in Green Valley, starting at 2 p.m.

At Tuesday’s event to mark the passage of the Arizona Water Settlements Act, Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr. distributed gifts to Sen. Jon Kyl and other key players in the landmark water-rights agreement. 

Norris distributed woven baskets that featured turtle designs. Turtles, he explained, are symbols of strength for tribal members. Turtles were appropriate for the occasion because they reflected the strength of those involved in reaching the agreement to endure 30-plus years of discussion to arrive at the settlement. 

“The Tohono O’odham people are a giving people and we like to acknowledge accomplishments by giving gifts. We don’t look at it as bribery, so please don’t look at it like that,” Norris quipped during the event at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa on the Gila River Indian Community reservation. 

There was a fair amount of gift-giving all around.

Gila River Gov. William Rhodes distributed framed student-drawn pictures of pottery on behalf of his tribe. U.S. Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Carl Artman gave framed copies of documents that enacted the agreement displayed side-by-side with congratulatory letters signed by U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. 

For more on the event, check out my story in Wednesday’s Tribune.

Jon Kyl, UA ’64, ’66

Jon Kyl, the lone U.S. senator with a weekly sports talk radio show, offered his insight into the NCAA basketball tournament on Tuesday.

“I was sad for ASU, but as a UA Wildcat, I was glad UA got in,” said Kyl, who earned two degrees at the University of Arizona. He notched a bachelor’s degree in government and history in 1964, and a law degree in 1966.

“Now, they’ve got something to prove: Are they as good as the tournament organizers think they are? And, I sure hope they can prove that they are. On a good day, there’s no question they are. I still don’t know what it is that sometimes causes them to do great and sometimes not-so-great,” he said.

Kyl’s in good company in that regard. UA interim head coach Kevin O’Neill clearly hasn’t been able to figure that out either.

Kyl also joined the debate about the tournament selection committee inviting UA, but not ASU to enjoy March Madness. He said, “I’m hoping as much for ASU as for UA that UA does well, because if they don’t, ASU is going to say, ‘Dog gone! Why couldn’t it have been us?’ But if they do, maybe the Sun Devils will say, ‘Well OK, maybe they were the team to get in this year.’”

Yeah, um, precisely. That’s what I’m telling my ASU friends, too. I’m hoping that the Wildcats clean up for your benefit. Really. And best of luck in that other tournament.

Kyl can be heard analyzing NASCAR race action on KMLE-FM 108 most Mondays at 6:30 a.m. This Monday will be an off week, though. NASCAR isn’t racing on Easter Sunday.