Minutemen Suspect AZ Governor's Troop Care Package Ban Was Personal
by Chad Groening
January 2, 2007
(AgapePress) - - An official with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps believes politics was behind Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano's recent decision not to allow the Minutemen to deliver care packages to National Guard troops. The Arizona-based Minutemen had prepared about 160 care packages for the Arizona National Guard troops patrolling the state's border with Mexico. Last week, they were prepared to deliver those packages when Napolitano suddenly nixed the deal, citing security concerns.
However, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps executive vice president Carmen Mercer feels the governor's voicing of concern over possible harm to the National Guard troops was nothing more than a laughable excuse. "How she put it was ... it was a matter of security, and of course they didn't want any [unsafe] packages to go to the soldiers," Mercer says.
"What would the Minutemen really put in those packages to harm the soldiers, you know, was our question after that," the Minutemen official muses. "So it was a little ridiculous." And, she adds, even though Napolitano did not allow care packages from any other groups to be delivered, the Arizona governor's dislike for the private citizens' border security advocacy group was very plain to see.
Napolitano's prohibition against delivering the care packages "was not only directed against the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps per se," Mercer admits. "I think it was directed to anybody," she says, "but, of course, [the governor] made it clear that they were not to take any packages from anyone, but especially not from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps; so her dislike for us is very obvious."
The Minutemen are convinced that the governor's feelings about their group were the primary motivation behind her decision not to allow delivery of the care packages. Nevertheless, Mercer says the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps will continue trying to find a way to get those packages delivered to the Arizona National Guard troops.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
