Arizona leaders lament as state's image takes beating with new immigration law

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/06/AR2010060603063.html?wprss=rss_print/asection


When state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D) travels outside Arizona, she hears the same question over and over: "What's wrong with your state?" She notes Arizona's new immigration law, its ban on ethnic studies classes and its prohibition on creating animal-human hybrids.

The other day, Sinema sent a note to her Twitter followers that might as well have been accompanied by a heavy sigh. "Just one day," she tweeted, "I'd like Arizona to be in the news for something good."

Sinema is a liberal Democrat in a largely Republican state, but her sense of disheartenment is shared across party lines. Dean Martin, state treasurer and conservative GOP candidate for governor, said national opinion on Arizona is "polarized. That's counterproductive."

Arizona finds itself at the vortex of an immigration debate that is increasingly bitter and, figures on both sides say, increasingly unwinnable. Opinions are split, with fear of harassment rising among Hispanics and worry about an economic boycott growing among the state's leaders.