New York Congressman Wants All-Star Game Pulled From Phoenix

New York Congressman Jose Serrano would like to see Major League Baseball boycott Arizona by pulling the 2011 All-Star Game from Phoenix.

Companies have been pulling conferences out of Arizona resorts while others have suggested consumers shun companies, such as US Airways, that are based in the state and have yet to condemn the the law.

“I think that when people, states, localities make decisions this monumental, they should know the full consequence of that decision,” Rep. José E. Serrano, D-N.Y., said. “I think Major League Baseball, with 40 percent Latino ballplayers at all levels, should make a statement that it will not hold its All-Star Game in a state that discriminates against 40 percent of their people.”

Others are already avoiding the state as a result of the new anti-immigrant law.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association has already announced that it is moving its 300-to-400-person September convention, scheduled for Scottsdale, out of Arizona. Other groups are locked into contacts but some making new bookings are avoiding the state.

Hotels are already feeling the pinch.

“We’ve probably lost upwards of $100,000 in business,” said Jim Hollister, general manager of the FireSky Resort & Spa, a Kimpton hotel in Scottsdale. “Some were definite on the books for us, some were people who were looking to stay with us.”

Hollister said the biggest dollar loss came from corporate bookings but that plenty of leisure travelers called or e-mailed and specifically said they were canceling because of the immigration law.

…

Several large companies planning conferences are deciding to skip Arizona, according to Blake Fleetwood, president of Cook Travel, which has five agencies in the greater New York area. Fleetwood said he is organizing events for several investment banks and doctors’ groups who contacted him after the law passed.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.