Senator Huppenthal Has A Racial Profiling Problem

I have a feeling that Arizona State Senator John Huppenthal won't be going on MSNBC's Hardball ever again. Here's the segment where he and former AZ Senate Majority Leader Alfredo Gutierrez debate Arizona's March to Extremism: SB1070.

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At the 6:50'ish mark, the following - amazing - exchange occurs:

Chris Matthews: Can a police officer who spots a car with 5 or 6 people in it, who he thinks because of instinct, experience/whatever, evidence whatever he uses. Can he stop that car and say, "I think these people are here illegally. I'm gonna stop and check them." Can he, under the law, do that, without any crime involved. Can he do that?

John Huppenthal: No, he cannot. That would be. That would just be simply racially profiling and that would not be permitted under the law.

There are two possibilities here. 1) Senator Huppenthal didn't bother to read the bill he voted for and cosponsored - which proves that he's unfit for governance; or 2) he's lying about what's in the bill.

From Article 8, Section B of SB1070:

B. FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE WHERE REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES, A REASONABLE ATTEMPT SHALL BE MADE, WHEN PRACTICABLE, TO DETERMINE THE IMMIGRATION STATUS OF THE PERSON. THE PERSON'S IMMIGRATION STATUS SHALL BE VERIFIED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PURSUANT TO 8 UNITED STATES CODE SECTION 1373(c).

"Lawful contact" is the ten-thousand pound chupacabra that John Huppenthal is ignoring. God help us all, but this monster was even too big for Tomás Tancredo to ignore. There is no detailed definition of "lawful contact" - it vaguely means any contact between the public and a law enforcement officer, as I understand it. The fact that the bill's language is so wide-open is why many of us are confident that it won't stand the scrutiny of the courts.

A final note on John Huppenthal. He's running for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in November. We don't need another anti-Latino nativist heading up our state's school system - especially one who flunked the lesson in kindergarten about lying.

Vote for Jason Williams in November