Arnold and Bill versus Jan and Rick

From the El Paso Times -  U.S.-Mexico border governors will meet Sunday and Monday in Santa Fe to talk about border security and economic development even though Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer are boycotting the event, New Mexico officials said Friday. Brewer and Perry will not be there because they disagree with the decision of the other governors to move the conference from Arizona to New Mexico. The conference was supposed to be in Phoenix this year, but the six Mexican governors in the group announced in June that they would not travel to Arizona because of its new immigration law. At that point, Brewer canceled the conference. However, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson disagreed with Brewer and he moved the conference to New Mexico. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is helping Richardson host the conference.


Bill Richardson

Chihuahua state Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza is expected to be there. Richardson said the conference must go on regardless of who shows up."As border governors, we see the impact of border issues like security, economic development and energy issues every day," Richardson said in a statement. "While we may not always agree on every issue, as leaders of the U.S.-Mexico border region, we must maintain a strong dialogue to help assure cooperation along the border, resolve regional border issues, and make sure binational issues are given proper attention by our federal governments."

Jan Brewer

A spokeswoman for Perry said the Texas governor will not attend the meeting and referred all questions to the statements Perry made in July when the conference site was changed. "It was Arizona's turn to host this and he respected their decision to cancel it. He still intends to have a working relationship with all of the border governors," Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said. Read more here:

Arnold and Bill versus Jan and Rick