AZ Gov Vetoes "Birther Bill"
PHOENIX - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has vetoed legislation that would have required presidential candidates to present birth certificates.
Brewer, for the first time vetoing a gun rights bill, also rejected a law that would have allowed weapons on "public rights of way" on college campuses, the Arizona Daily Star reported. She called the bill "poorly written," saying, for example that it does not define a public right of way.
The governor said the bill requiring presidential candidates to prove to the Arizona secretary of state that they meet constitutional requirements "could lead to arbitrary or politically motivated decisions."
The bill was inspired by the widespread right-wing belief that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya.
“I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for president of the greatest and most powerful nation on earth to submit their ‘early baptismal or circumcision certificates’ among other records to the Arizona secretary of state,” she said in the letter. “This is a bridge too far.”
Brewer elaborated in a Monday night interview on Fox News, saying the bill was “something that I felt very, very uncomfortable with and I feel that it serves no purpose.”
The bill, she said, “is a distraction, and we just simply need to get on with the state’s business.”
