Council voted for Arizona boycott - now it wants to be exempted

This is what happens with a really dumb idea: Given time it becomes even dumber. In this case, it's the L.A. City Council's 2010 boycott of business activity with Arizona - a response to that state's crackdown on illegal immigration (another dumb idea). Turns out that council members would like to attend this year's Congress of Cities & Exposition, which just happens to be in Phoenix. Councilman Ed Reyes, who co-authored the boycott, has introduced a motion that allows passage to Arizona just this one time. From the LAT:

The exemption, if approved by Reyes' colleagues on Tuesday, would allow council members to dine in Arizona restaurants, hobnob in Arizona watering holes and sleep in Arizona hotels - all activities that were discouraged as part of the city's protest of Senate Bill 1070, a law passed last year to crack down on illegal immigration. Reyes, whose Eastside district has a high concentration of Mexican and Central American immigrants, said he supported the idea of having the conference in Phoenix after a lengthy debate by the league's board of directors, where he was a member last year. Reyes said he was swayed in part by the plan to weave the topic of immigration -- and the impacts of crackdowns on undocumented residents -- into the conference's workshops and sessions.

Lots of tap-dancing on why the trip should be made. Next time they'll come up with other reasons. Here's the thing: These sorts of boycotts have little economic impact. If anyone does get hurt, it's the lower-income service workers who have nothing to do with the legislative misdeed.