House votes to modify 9/11 memorial

The 9-11 memorial in Wesley Bolin Memorial Park has been mired in controversy since it was unveiled on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks - so much so that Len Munsil, challenging Gov. Janet Napolitano at the time for the governor's mansion, made tearing it down a plank of his platform.

Now critics of about a dozen inscriptions on the metal disk in the legislature, led by Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), have been successful in passing a bill that would strip them from the memorial and replace them by Sept. 10, 2009. There was no talk of timelines acting as a substitute, the compromise Kavanagh sought earlier in the year to end the controversy. 

"The purpose of the memorial should be to honor and remember the 3,000 innocent men and women who lost their lives that day," said Kavanagh. "The memorial should be a place where all Arizona residents go to remember and mourn the victims and not to argue. The controversy must end.

“This is not the right way to remember Sept. 11, 2001."

The vote went straight down party lines, with only one Democrat voting in favor - Minority Whip Steve Gallardo (D-Phoenix).

"I hate this bill," said Gallardo of his vote, which he explains was an attempt to position himself to introduce a motion to reconsider, which would tie it up before it could reach the Senate. "If it didn't get to the Senate by Wednesday, there's no way it could pass this session," as next week is the cutoff for bills to be considered this year.

"Unfortunately we weren't able to pull it off."

Now the bill will go to the Senate. Gallardo says he hopes the Senate "will respect the decision of citizens panel" that created the memorial. However, it is unlikely the Senate will vote differently than the House.

When asked if he expects Gov. Janet Napolitano, who has been a steadfast supporter of the memorial in its current form, to veto the bill should it reach her desk, Gallardo said:

"If it does pass the Senate, there will be a lot of phone calls to the Governor asking her to veto it, including from me."