Craziest Republican of the Day: Barry Wong

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The hate for immigrants in Arizona continues:

Ratcheting up the debate over immigration in his state, a candidate for the Arizona utilities commission is threatening to cut off power and gas to illegal immigrants if he's elected.

"It is not a right. It is a service," Barry Wong, candidate for the Arizona Corporation Commission, told The Arizona Republic.

The Republican candidate argues that the policy would be a cost-saving measure for consumers.

Though it would cost money for power companies to check immigration status, he said it would ultimately save money because power companies would not have to build new plants to serve the illegal immigrant community, presumably passing on that savings to consumers. His plan, if elected to the five-person commission, would be to require utilities to check immigration status.

"There is a cost ratepayers shouldn't have to bear because of the illegal immigrant population," he said, while acknowledging the idea would probably attract "criticism about human-rights violations."

Um, yes. It would. And understandably so. So why is this idiot recommending it?

Though Arizona has drawn praise and criticism alike from all corners of the country for its new law making illegal immigration a state crime, support was hard to come by for Wong's proposal.

None of the other candidates for the commission would endorse his idea. The CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry also blasted Wong in a column in the Republic, accusing him of trying to "score cheap political points" while marking a "new low" in the state's immigration debate.

"To deny someone access to electricity based on his or her immigration status is not only a wrongheaded policy proposal, it's just cruel," Glenn Hamer wrote, calling the candidate's economic argument "absurd." 

It's certainly absurd, it's certainly cruel, it's certainly about scoring political points, and it's certainly one among many lows.

The argument, of course, is that these are illegal immigrants who shouldn't be in the U.S. in the first place. But it would be exceedingly difficult for power companies to identify who is documented and who isn't, and, lest we forget, we're talking not just about illegal immigrants here but about the children of illegal immigrants. The children would suffer, but so too would the sick and the elderly. It's a service, yes, not a right, but, broadly, it is a right not to be treated cruelly. This is simply no way, no humane way, no compassionate way, no effective way, to address the problem -- to the extent that you look at it that way -- of undocumented immigration into the U.S.

Thankfully, for now, it looks like Wong -- who might want to look into how Chinese immigrants, his own ancestors, were treated -- is on his own here. Even in Arizona, it seems, some ideas are just a little too crazy.