METH, IMMIGRATION TO TOP INTERFAITH LOBBYISTS' AGENDA

A coalition of church leaders, business executives, educators and community
activists will push state and local lawmakers tonight for tougher laws on
methamphetamine manufacturers, more money to care for the elderly and a
reformation of immigration laws.

About 2,000 people are expected to attend a 7 p.m. meeting at Pilgrim Rest
Baptist Church in Phoenix, where the Arizona Interfaith Network will unveil
its grass-roots agenda for next year's legislative session.

"The next legislative session may become mired in anti-immigration
measures, leaving such pressing issues as education, health care and the
methamphetamine scourge on the sidelines," Arizona Interfaith Network
President Dick White said. "That would be unacceptable."

The network, which lobbies lawmakers on a variety of social issues, has a
record of fighting cuts to low-income programs, pushing for neighborhood
recreation centers, organizing voter-registration drives and advocating for
living-wage ordinances.

But the network's most high-profile battle was its unsuccessful opposition
of Proposition 200. The Protect Arizona Now initiative sought to prevent
undocumented immigrants from receiving government benefits and services and
to keep them from voting. It passed last year with 56 percent of the vote.

Supporters of Proposition 200 accuse the network of undermining laws
designed to protect the borders and say its primary purpose is immigration
reform.

"They exist for no other issue," said state Rep. Russell Pearce, a Mesa
Republican who helped draft Proposition 200. "They have battled every
single effort to enforce our borders."

Pearce said he did not know anything about the network's legislative
agenda. But he said he believed it would undoubtedly include measures to
assist undocumented workers, which he described as the "greatest
destructive force going on in America today."

White said immigration reform is only one of the network's goals. At
tonight's meeting, he expects speakers, from school principals to the state
attorney general, to hammer home issues the state is facing over a lack of
caregivers for the elderly and the growing methamphetamine problem.

"We are dedicated to listening to the issues," White said. "Ours is a much
more systematic approach."

The network's agenda includes:

* Immigration reform: launching a campaign to help educate the public on
the impact of immigration on the state and to promote a program that will
help immigrants find legal jobs in hopes of reducing border issues.

* Health care: pushing measures to prevent prescription drug fraud and
seeking funding for home health care providers. The network is concerned
that the pool of well-paid and experienced care providers is decreasing
while the population is aging.

* Methamphetamine: pushing for tougher laws on methamphetamine and seeking
funds for law enforcement officers who are trying to combat the illegal
drug, which accounts for a growing number of officer-related injuries.

White said speakers will give personal accounts of the problems they are
facing.

"That's where these issues find their life," White said. "One woman will
tell the story on Thursday about how she had to teach a caregiver how to
lift her husband."

Other stories will come from local school officials who have been forced to
deal with school children who have been exposed to methamphetamine.

The non-profit Arizona Interfaith Network is made up of five interfaith
affiliates from around the state. The groups are supported by local
churches, schools, businesses and trade unions.

Volunteer members from the network were on hand daily during last year's
legislative session, attending hearings and committee meetings.

Democratic Sen. Bill Brotherton of Phoenix says the network has a moderate
approach and diverse membership that reflects the nation as a whole. He
said the concerns outlined by the network are more broad-based than
narrow-focused special interest groups and are likely get more attention.

"A lot of the issues that they come and talk to us about deal with those
who are the most vulnerable in society," he said.