Short Attention Span Musing

- Let me be clear - I don't wish death on *anyone*...but there are certain folks who I think shouldn't be mourned.

Elected officials who use their positions to turn their private hatreds into public policy fall into that group.

The Arizona House and Senate have unanimously passed HCR2027, a death resolution commemorating the life of the infamous Russell Pearce.

While it talks about the many public agencies he was part of, it glosses over the bigotry and corruption that suffused any agency he was part of.

I'm not going to mourn a stone bigot, and if some folks believe that makes me a bad person, so be it.

- Booze and guns?  This isn't going to end well.

Pointed at this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

From Jezebel via Yahoo! News -

Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Is Trying to Open a Gun Range That Serves Alcohol

There’s a pivotal election in April that you may not have heard about: A conservative judge on the Wisconsin Supreme Court is retiring, and four people are running in a race that could tip the body from its 4-3 conservative majority. It’s not hyperbole to say that whoever wins the race will determine whether the state’s abortion ban gets overturned and could rule on the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. (The two candidates in the race who support abortion rights are Judges Janet Protasiewicz and Everett Mitchell.)

According to local news reports, Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow, a conservative candidate, and her husband Brian, are developing an indoor gun range that would not only host weddings and other events, but would also serve alcohol. The couple requested a Class B liquor license to sell beer and wine to members and guests in the “clubhouse.” The range would also sell firearms and accessories on-site. The Dorows said in city documents that they devised an “alcohol safety policy” consisting of hand stamps to prevent members from entering the shooting range after drinking and a breathalyzer to be used on “suspicious individuals.” 

And I thought that AZ had the craziest people...

- AZ GOP legislators vote to protect corruption.  Color me so not shocked.

From NBC via Yahoo! News -

Arizona’s GOP legislators vote to shield themselves from public records laws

Arizona’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved a measure this week exempting itself from the state’s public records law and authorizing the destruction of all emails sent or received by legislators and their staffs after 90 days.

The new rules adopted by both GOP-led chambers effectively shield members and their staff from public records requests, making investigations into any potential wrongdoing far more difficult.

Methinks that it's time to change the AZ Constitution, in ways that both compel publicly elected officials to maintain and transmit all records of their activities and so that the legislature is subject to all of the laws that they craft.

Mendoza looks to pick up the bigotry baton left by Russell Pearce

If she wins her race, and Wendy Rogers wins reelection, Rogers won't be the only anti-Semite in the Arizona legislature.

Actually, I'm pretty sure she isn't now, but Rogers is the only one who has been censured over it.

From CNN -

Speaker removed from RNC program after tweeting anti-Semitic conspiracy theory

A speaker who was scheduled to deliver remarks at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday was abruptly removed from the program after she retweeted a thread promoting an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory with ties to the fringe conspiracy theory, QAnon.

Mary Ann Mendoza, whose police officer son was killed by a drunk driver, had been included in a list of speakers sent by the Trump campaign earlier Tuesday evening. An updated rundown circulated before the convention, however, did not include Mendoza after her tweet garnered significant scrutiny following a report by The Daily Beast.

Mendoza had tweeted, "Do yourself a favor and read this thread" in reference to a string of conspiratorial tweets about a Jewish plan to control the world. She later deleted the tweet and claimed that she hadn't read "every post within the thread."

Pic from The Daily Beast

You've got to be *really* extreme to be too extreme for the RNC.

She's largely self-funding her campaign for legislature.  While she reported $450 in individual contributions, she's loaned her campaign $2000.

Note: The pic with Mendoza and Cheeto is from a 2019 anti-immigrant veto ceremony, and Mendoza isn't the only Arizonan in the pic.  Mark Lamb, the sheriff of Pinal County, is in the pic (2nd from right)

Normally, I don't write about legislative candidates/races at this point, but this was too much too ignore until ballots are finalized.

Russell Pearce was an infamously bigoted member of the Arizona legislature from Mesa.

SD AG kills someone and gets fined for it; it must be nice to be politically connected.

Of course, if he was a Pearce, he wouldn't even have gotten that much.

From The Hill -

South Dakota attorney general fined in pedestrian's death

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R) on Thursday was fined for a car crash last year that led to the death of a man.

A South Dakota judge fined the attorney general $500 for each of the two misdemeanor charges he pleaded guilty to and ordered him to pay court costs, according to The Associated Press.

Sean Pearce, son of the infamous Russell Pearce and a senior deputy of then-Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a Russell Pearce political ally, took a defensive driving class, was fined $714, and suspended for a week after killing someone with his county-issued vehicle.  Details here.

Russell Pearce misuses county resources: gets "admonished"

From the Arizona Republic, written by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez -

Russell Pearce, the former Republican state Senate president known for his hard-line stance on illegal immigration and controversial remarks about Latinos and women, appears to be violating the Maricopa County's e-mail policy.

On late Tuesday afternoon, he sent an e-mail from his county treasurer's account that hits on the enforcement of immigration laws, sanctuary city policies, the ACLU and the media. The e-mail was titled "NO PERMISSION SLIP NEEDED:  STATES HAVE INHERENT AUTHORITY TO ENFORCE OUR IMMIGRATION LAWS, ENOUGH OF THE LIES BY THE LEFT AND PROFITS OVER PATRIOTISM CROWD."

Maricopa County policy defines improper use of e-mail as using it for "illegal, inappropriate, obscene, political, or personal gain purposes."

{snip}

He signs off with a description of himself, "Senator Russell Pearce and former President of the Arizona State Senate, former Chief Deputy of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, former Judge, author of:  SB1070, Employer Sanctions, Proof of Citizenship to vote, No welfare for illegals, No bail for illegals charged with serious crime, English as the Official Language, No in-state tuition for illegals, etc."

In most any other state, Pearce would have been fired; in Arizona, he gets less than a slap on the wrist.

For wasting public resources on his private jihad against immigrants.

Laurie Roberts, a columnist for the Republic, has her take here (as it turns out, Pearce is a "well-rounded" winger - he hates public education almost as much as he hates immigrants)

Why does Russell Pearce still have a taxpayer-funded job?

By now, most people have heard of the rants of Russell Pearce, former president of the Arizona State Senate - he wants to sterilize poor women.

By now, most people have heard of the firestorm of criticism of Pearce, from all over the political spectrum.

Note: Reagan is the AZGOP nominee for Arizona Secretary of State.  What a difference four years makes:  

In 2010, she was an ardent supporter of Pearce and his infamous SB1070, both co-sponsoring and voting for the anti-immigrant measure.

In 2014, not so much.

Of course, in 2010, Pearce's targets were people with skin that is darker than a golfer's tan (a group which doesn't include Reagan); in 2014, Pearce's targets are women (which *does* include Reagan).


By now, most people have heard of Pearce's resignation from his post as 1st Vice Chair of the Arizona Republican Party.

What people have not heard of is Pearce's ouster from his high-paying job ($85K/year) with the Maricopa County Treasurer's office.

They haven't heard of it, because it hasn't happened.

From the twitter feed of Dennis Welch, political reporter on KTVK, posted at approximately 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday and screen captured at approximately 8:38 p.m.

In addition to his advocating the sterilization of poor women, Pearce has used his county email account to spew much more bile targeting immigrants, poor people, and racial and ethnic minorities.

In the private sector that's so revered by GOPers, Pearce would have been shown the door long ago.

Instead, Hoskins is protecting Pearce and keeping him on the public payroll, in spite of Pearce's vile and offensive comments toward the bulk of the public that he is supposed to serve, not insult.



Personal take on this:

Pearce should not have resigned his party post, if only because that was a position that didn't receive any taxpayer support.  It was a partisan advocacy position, and Pearce was guilty of nothing more than "truth in advertising" - contempt for women, the poor, and poor women is a staple of GOP campaign platforms across the country.

On the other hand, the taxpayers are under no obligation to pay him to spew his filth.

State Senator Rick Murphy under investigation over sex abuse allegation

Picture courtesy AZCentral.com

From the Arizona Republic, written by Mary K. Reinhart -

Arizona Sen. Rick Murphy, a foster and adoptive parent who identifies himself as a leader on child-welfare issues, is under investigation by Peoria police and state Child Protective Services for allegations he sexually abused children in his care, according to police records.

Police said the investigation was launched Saturday, after an older teen reported repeated incidents of alleged abuse by Murphy going back at least six years. The teen also self-reported his own inappropriate sexual contact with another child in the home, the reports show.

The article goes on to chronicle the fact that this isn't the first time that Murphy has been the subject of similar allegations - in 2011, there was an investigation into abuse claims from another teen who was being fostered by Murphy and his wife.  At the time, the investigation was closed for insufficient evidence; according to the article, that investigation has been reopened in light of the current allegations.

It's too soon in the investigatory process for much specific comment ("allegations" aren't "facts" until they are proven), but here are a few general comments:

1.  I hope the allegations are untrue.  Not because I like Murphy; never met him.  Not because I like his politics; his politics are appalling.

Because if the allegations are true, that means there are more victims of sexual abuse in the world.  Not something that the world needs.

2.  If, however, the allegations turn out to be true, he should be tossed into the general population of the darkest, dankest hole that the Arizona Department of Corrections has to offer.  Something the world needs.

Having said all of that, I have to ask:

WTF is in the Kool-Aid that the friends and allies of Russell Pearce drink?

- Rick Murphy - see above.

- JT Ready - friend and protege of Pearce; multiple murders and suicide.

Ready (left) and Pearce, in happier days.  Pic courtesy the Phoenix New Times

- Chris Simcox - anti-immigrant ally of Pearce; arrested on child molestation charges.

- Scott Bundgaard, formerly majority leader and one of Pearce's chief allies in the state senate; ultimately resigned from the state senate after being involved in a domestic violence incident by the side of a Phoenix freeway.  Last seen suing the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix PD over their audacity in holding him responsible for his actions.

- Joshua Pearce, son and convict.  Who has faced child abuse allegations of his own in the past (all non-sexual, so far as I know).  Has some "interesting" tattoos.

Joshua Pearce mugshot, courtesy Phoenix New Times

- Don Shooter, current state senator and ally of Pearce while he was in the state senate; facing charges over his rampage in his grandson's charter school.


Don't know what "special ingredient" is added to the Kool-Aid at Pearce machine gatherings but they may wish to consider reducing the dosage.  It doesn't seem to be working out too well.

As for the Murphy allegations, those will shake out as they will.  Stay tuned...

Donna at Democratic Diva offers her significantly more Murphy-focused take here.

Republican State Sen. Rich Crandall taking job in Wyoming

From KPHO.com (Phoenix Channel 5), written by Phil Benson -

An Arizona state senator has been chosen to run the Wyoming Education Department.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead late Wednesday afternoon announced his choice of Richard Crandall, of Mesa, who co-owns two nutritional service companies.

 This isn't exactly breaking news - it's been common knowledge for months that Crandall was leaving to "pursue other opportunities".

In my previous post covering this topic, I predicted that Crandall would catch on with a (potential) Jeb Bush presidential campaign.  This would seem to show that prediction to be incorrect, however, the job in Wyoming may be a temp job.

From the KPHO article -

Mead and the Legislature enacted a new law this past winter removing the statewide elected superintendent of public instruction as head of the Education Department. Instead, the department will be administered by a director appointed by the governor.

The change occurred in the middle of Superintendent Cindy Hill's four-year term. Hill is challenging the constitutionality of the change.

The press release from Wyoming's governor is here.

So far as I can tell, Crandall has yet to submit his resignation from the state senate.  Once he does, however, the fun will start.

Former state senator Russell Pearce, the subject of a historic recall election in 2011 appeared on KTVK's Politics Unplugged this past weekend.  When asked about future political aspirations, he responded coyly and ambiguously, neither confirming nor refuting plans to run for office next year.  However, there have been rumors that he is looking at a return to the senate, either by challenging incumbent LD25 senator Bob Worsley or by moving a little east into Crandall's current district, LD16.

If Pearce does make that move, it will be an exercise in irony.

Crandall made the same move after the redistricting process placed him in the same district (LD25) as Pearce, a longtime political adversary (just because they're Rs doesn't mean they like each other).  Crandall chose to move into LD16 to avoid a primary battle with Pearce.  In LD16, Crandall defeated Pearce ally John Fillmore, avoiding Pearce but still deepening the bad blood between the two camps.

However it works out in LD16, it probably won't be as entertaining as what happened at the Texas lege on Tuesday, but it will still be fun to watch in a "get your popcorn and put up your feet" kind of way.

Russell Pearce: Putting another nail in the coffin of his political career

From AZFamily.com (aka - Channel 3 in Phoenix), written by Dennis Welch -

Days after one of the men who led a national border vigilante movement was arrested on accusations of child molestation, former Senate President Russell Pearce had this to say about Chris Simcox: “good people do stupid things sometimes.”

{snip}

Pearce was speaking after appearing on the station’s weekly public affairs show, Politics Unplugged, which airs at 5:30 Sunday.

The video -



Pearce is right about one thing - good people do stupid things occasionally.

However, bad people do evil things, and molesting children qualifies as "evil", not "stupid".

If Pearce ever runs for an elected office again, expect this to seriously haunt him.

The 2012 primaries: one major disappointment, a minor one, but otherwise, no real surprises

Tuesday's primaries are over, and the post-game analysis is in full swing.  As I wasn't able to live blog the results last night due to being otherwise occupied (at David Schapira's election night gathering in Tempe.  Hard to type when it is too dark to see the keyboard... :) ).

There were a couple of disappointments, but the only surprises Tuesday were in margins of victory (or loss, depending on your perspective), not in end results.

First, the disappointments -

- The biggest disappointment of the evening was, of course, David Schapira's second place finish, behind Kyrsten Sinema, in the Democratic primary in CD9.  He ran a positive and energetic campaign, earned the respect of many people who had never heard of him before this campaign (and reinforced the respect of the many people who *had* heard of him), and has a bright future despite this one loss, the first in his electoral career.

- A minor disappointment, but not a surprise, was the ability of LD23 R state reps John Kavanagh and Michelle Ugenti to fend off the challenge of Jennifer Petersen, a member of the Scottsdale school district governing board.  Petersen has a reputation as a pragmatic public servant, ergo, she had almost no chance of getting through a Republican primary.  Her north Scottsdale district used to send a highly-respected moderate R to the lege in the person of Carolyn Allen.  Now, the most "moderate" is State Sen. Michelle Reagan, and she has gone hard to the right, probably in preparation for an expected Congressional or statewide run.  The winner of the CD9 race in November, regardless of partisan affiliation, should probably start oppo research on her, at just about the time that the polls close.


Now, the (mostly pleasant) surprises -

- In the LD25 Senate R primary, disgraced former state senator Russell Pearce lost big to Mesa businessman Bob Worsley in his bid to return to the senate.  He has now lost a recall election by double digit percentage points, where he argued that if only Republicans could've voted in it (like, say, as in a primary), he would have won.  Well, he got the primary that he wanted, and...he lost by double digit percentage points.

- The other Pearce, Lester, lost his primary race for the 2nd District seat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to businessman Steve Chucri.  It was by an equally resounding margin (double digits, baby!).

- Pearce ally John Fillmore lost his bid for the LD16 state senate R nomination to Pearce foe Rich Crandall.

- In the one victory for the Pearce machine, Sylvia Allen, currently in the state senate, won her primary race for the Republican nomination for the 3rd District seat on the Navajo County Board of Supervisors.  She won with 80% of the vote, but her opponent ran as a $500 Exemption candidate, while she had the thousands of dollars that she transferred from the legislative campaign committee.

- In the R primary for US Senate, it wasn't surprising to see Jeff Flake defeat Wil Cardon, nor even to do so soundly.  However, Flake didn't just win soundly - he absolutely thumped Cardon, gaining more than three times as many votes as Cardon. 

Damn!

- In Pinal County, embattled Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu held off multiple challengers for the R nomination, which in itself isn't much of a surprise - he was expected to win a plurality of the votes because the other candidates would split the anti-Babeu vote.  What is surprising is that Babeu got 61% of the vote.  The other three candidates combined didn't equal his total.

- In the LD24 D primaries, Katie Hobbs (Senate) and Lela Alston and Chad Campbell (House) easily turned aside the challenges from Ken Cheuvront (Senate) and his mom Jean and Tom Nerini (House), respectively.  While Hobbs was clearly the better candidate in her race, Cheuvront had money and name recognition on his side, so Hobbs' margin of victory was a bit of a surprise (>20 percentage points).

- In the CD6 R primary, freshman Congressman David Schweikert defeated fellow freshman Ben Quayle.  As a Democrat, I viewed that race much like I viewed the 2000 World Series between the Yankees and the Mets as a Red Sox fan - I hoped both would lose.  It didn't work out that way, but at least one lost. :)

- In the City of Scottsdale's mayoral race, incumbent Jim Lane received the most votes, which was no surprise.  What was surprising was his margin of victory - he gained a majority of votes cast, easily avoiding a November runoff against one of his challengers - businessman/community activist John Washington or businessman Drew Bernhardt.


Democratic primary results from Maricopa County are here (state and federal) and here (county)..
Republican primary results from Maricopa County are here (state and federal) and here (county).
Other party and non-partisan results from Maricopa County are here.
Results from the AZ Secretary of State are here.

The Pearce emails: the deeper you dig, the more nuggets you find

I know it's been a few weeks since they came out, and this is a bit of "old news", but the hundreds of pages of Russell Pearce's bigoted emails are still turning up nuggets.  In this case, he is thoroughly willing to misuse quotes and science to serve his bigoted ends.

To whit:  on page 20 of the linked .pdf file, Pearce quotes a Democrat, President Harry S. Truman -

I think that the line was actually first used in the 1948 presidential campaign, but to be fair to Pearce, that issue of Look magazine may have contained an interview or quote from Truman.  Given that Pearce was born in 1947 (or so says his Wikipedia bio), he was probably too young in 1948 to pay attention to presidential candidates, and by 1956, if he was soaking up wisdom at the (metphorical) knee of any "Democrat", it was probably Bull Connor.

But whether it was 1948 or 1956, either way, Truman wasn't talking about immigration or immigrants.

To whit2:  On page 45 of the same file, Pearce forwarded material that admits the reality of global warming and other environmental concerns, matters that Republican orthodoxy either minimizes or calls an outright hoax -

Now, it seems as if the phenomena cited were meant to serve as points arguing against all immigration (not just the undocumented variety that Pearce claims is all that he is concerned with), but hey, it's a start.  :)

Lester Pearce the subject of an ethics investigation

Lester Pearce, a former Justice of the Peace in North Mesa and current candidate for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, is best-known as the older brother of ethically-challenged nativist blatherer Russell Pearce.

Like his brother, he tends to hold some rather extreme political views.

Like his brother, he is quite willing to use his position of public trust to promulgate those views.

Now, like his brother, he is facing an ethics investigation.

Perhaps it's only fitting that (alleged) ethical transgressions are related to his brother.

During his brother's recall election last fall, Lester Pearce allegedly campaigned for Russell Pearce, including helping to put a sham Latina candidate on the ballot in order to split the anti-Pearce vote, and publicly endorsed his brother.

Things that judges are specifically barred from doing (actually, the whole sham candidate thing goes beyond a violation of standards of judicial conduct; that sort of behavior is frowned upon for all of us).

From Canon 4 of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct -

RULE 4.1. Political and Campaign Activities of Judges and Judicial Candidates in General

(A) A judge or a judicial candidate shall not do any of the following:

{snip}

(2) make speeches on behalf of a political organization or another candidate for public office;

(3) publicly endorse or oppose another candidate for any public office;

{snip}

(5) actively take part in any political campaign other than his or her own campaign for election, reelection or retention in office;

Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times has an article here regarding Lester's apparent violations of all of the above.

Now, the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct is investigating a complaint against Pearce.  They won't post the complaint on their website until the matter is resolved.

The ethics investigation may not be the worst thing facing Lester and the Pearce clan -

I wonder if the ethics investigation will be a topic of conversation at the Pearce family fundraiser scheduled for Saturday, July 21 in Fountain Hills?

It will be that, or talk about how desperately poor the Pearces have been at fundraising this year.

During the five months between January 1 and May 31, Russell raised ~$2800 in his race for the LD25 Senate seat.

During the same period, big brother Lester raised $100,223.87.

Sounds good, even great...until you notice that $100,000 came from a loan from the candidate himself.  Meaning he actually raised $223.87.

Many words will probably be written about the fundraiser, both before and after the event (it's possible my post-event write-up will include the words "klavern meeting".  Just sayin' :) ).

I'm just guessing here, but the Pearces won't care what anyone writes about the event so long as one of the words used after the event is "lucrative".

Arizona politics is like New England weather - don't blink or you might miss something

Damn.  Miss a few days due to technical difficulties, and all kinds of crazy-@$$ $#!t goes down in Arizona's political realm...OK, so it wasn't all that crazy, by AZ standards anyway.  I just wanted to use the phrase.  :)


Oh, and the "technical difficulties" weren't all bad - I finally finished the Gabby Giffords book (finally!), read Cannery Row by John Steinbeck (pretty good.  That Steinbeck guy has some potential. :) ), watched the final season of the Battlestar Galactica reboot on DVD (good, but a little too mystical for this fan of hard SF), and re-read Pearls Sells Out, a Pearls Before Swine treasury (not quite as literary as Steinbeck, but more likely to induce audible laughter.  :) )

...On Thursday, Russell Pearce, Arizona's leading nativist demogogue, experienced a PR and fundraising nightmare.

First, a Pearce campaign fundraising event was booted from one Mexican restaurant, Macayo's, after the corporate office found out that there were going to be protests of the event and that efforts were underway to organize a boycott of the chain by Latino customers.

Second, the Pearce campaign tried to move the event to another Mexican restaurant, Oaxaca Restaurante y Cantina, which also put the kibosh on the event, for much the same reasons.

Third, when the Pearce campaign tried to move his event to the library of a public high school with a heavily Latino student population, they (and he) were rebuffed by the school district .because of the short notice.

...On Friday, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio showed both his solidarity with his fellow traveler on the nativist railroad AND his peevish self-righteous outrage at President Obama's new DREAM-like policy on immigration by arresting a six-year old girl.  Wonder how that helps his self-publicized rep as "America's Toughest Sheriff"?

...Speaking of the new policy, Arizona Congressmen David Schweikert and Ben Quayle, Republicans both and facing each other in the August primary in CD6, responded to the new policy by trying to out-redneck each other with duelling bills to overturn the policy.

...News broke that a grand jury is looking into alleged campaign finance violations committed by Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne.  I don't expect it to go far though. 

The FBI is handling the investigation, but the Maricopa County Attorney's Office is shepherding the grand jury itself.


...Candidate challenges have been dropped or adjudicated or candidates have withdrawn.  The list from the AZ Secretary of State is here.  Highlights:

- Jonathan Paton had to drop his challenge to the candidacy of one of his opponents in the CD1 Republican primary.  He had filed suit, to great fanfare, challenging the signatures of Gaither Martin.  It must have been embarrassing to Paton to have to back off, so the Arizona Democratic Party did its part to help Paton move past the pain of his humiliation over the failed challenge by launching a website to help publicize Paton's past.  Awfully considerate of them, doncha' think? :)

- Jean Cheuvront-McDermott was removed from the Democratic primary ballot in LD24 because "Cheuvront-McDermott" isn't the name she has been using, just "McDermott."  She's the mother of former state senator Ken Cheuvront, who is running for a return to the senate.  Rumor has it that because the current electeds in LD24 wouldn't step aside for him, Ken got his mom to run as payback.  That plan seems to have gone by the wayside.


...Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, not coincidentally Arizona co-chair for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, is continuing to ramp up his 2014 campaign for governor.  First, he threatened to keep President Obama off of the November ballot unless the state of Hawaii provided a copy of Obama's birth certificate that met Bennett's standards.  He backed off of that after bringing a load of national ridicule down upon Arizona.

Now he has taken the next step to sew up the wingnut vote in the R primary.  Now he is saying that the President was actually born in Hawaii, but lied and said he was born in Kenya to help him get into college.


...And finally, in response to a poll that shows Democrat Richard Carmona within 2 points of him in the race for US Senate, Republican Jeff Flake went to Facebook to brag about his "real world" experience as a lobbyist for foreign corporations and the Goldwater Institute.

Flake is almost as out of touch with the "real world" as Mitt Romney.  Probably not a coincidence there.

What's next up Russell Pearce's sleeve? Fluffy bunny slippers?

Hat tip to David Safier at Blog for Arizona for noticing this, and in turn, to Randy Parraz of Citizens For A Better Arizona for publicizing it enough to bring it to the attention of Dave...

Apparently, the Pearce political machine in Mesa has decided that the lesson in Russell's embarrassing loss in last November's recall election isn't that a public official shouldn't be arrogant and bigoted.

Nope.  Apparently they think that stuff is OK, so long as you can dredge up a "smiley, happy" pic to slap on brightly-colored campaign flyers.

Like David before me, I'm loathe to publish the entire promotional flyer here (no need to give them free advertising), but a couple of pics from the flyer tell the whole story -

Cute baby, eh?  Pretty sure it isn't his - not enough tats

Nice kid-friendly color scheme.  Won't keep Russell from being the featured player in the nightmares of Arizona's children, but I suppose it was worth a shot

I mock, but if this gambit is even succeeds a little bit in rehabilitating Russell Pearce's image, look for similar moves. 

Like maybe campaign trail footwear like this -

Pic courtesy knittycrochety.blogspot.com








Still, if he goes for the fluffy bunny slippers as his campaign footwear, he'd best not wear them while he is sponging off hitting up NRA lobbyists for campaign contributions.

Remember the "Pearce Johnson Foundation"? Does anybody?

Last year, just after the news of his leading role in the Fiesta Bowl scandal broke and just before the petitions were submitted to force his ultimately-successful recall election, Russell Pearce formed a charity, the Pearce Johnson Foundation.  Its stated purpose was "to bring clean water to Haiti first, then other developing countries", and solicited contributions from the public for that purpose.

At the time, there wasn't much information available on the "foundation", but given the newness of the foundation, a low profile wasn't too surprising.

It's been a year, however, and the Pearce Johnso Foundation isn't just "low-profile", it seems to be "no-profile".

- The Arizona Secretary of State's charity database has nothing on it -

- Because the foundation was created with the assistance of a California-based political consultant, Kiley & Associates, a check of the California Attorney General's charity database was in order, and was equally fruitless -

- OK.  The fact that Pearce is based in AZ and his consultant is based in CA doesn't mean that they formed the foundation in one of those states.  Time to check national clearinghouses for information on charitable organizations.

- CharityNavigator.org?  Nada.

- National Center for Charitable Statistics?  Zilch.

- Guidestar?  Bupkes.

Those organizations get most, if not all, of their info from the IRS, so maybe the IRS has something they don't.

- From a search of the IRS' database of exempt organizations -

Hmmm.  Still no info, not even a hint that the foundation exists as more than a phrase in a press release.

Did a Google search of the phrase "Pearce Johnson".  The only foundation-related results were the foundation's website or various right-wing blogs pushing the press release last year.  Nothing about good works that they've done, or even instances of teaming up with some of the more well-established (aka - "legitimate") international clean water charities.

This listing of charities working to bring clean water to various third-world countries, including Haiti, doesn't have a mention of "Pearce Johnson".

- Pearce himself doesn't have anything to say about it either.  From his Arizona Public Officer financial disclosure form, filed in January 2012, covering all of 2011 -

Given that Pearce had to "amend" some of his past financial disclosure reports due to his involvement in the Fiesta Bowl scandal, I'm guessing that even he would be hesitant give false information on a report.

What this all adds up to, I can't say for sure. 

Perhaps Pearce's foundation exists and is legit (even if it is so low-profile that the IRS doesn't know about it).  However, if it does, Pearce could have more trouble with false reporting on his disclosure forms.

Perhaps Pearce's foundation is a scam (and apparently was one from Day One), in which case he is fine with the AZSOS (he reported nothing because there was nothing to report) but may have to face some questions from the IRS (and maybe the USDOJ, depending on the amount of money contributed to his foundation and what he did with the money).

Perhaps it's something else, including the possibility that I simply missed something (but that financial disclosure report suggests that there is nothing to find).

Any way you cut it, though, he may want to make sure he has a decent defense attorney on his speed dial.


Notes:

In all searches, variations in the spelling of the name of the foundation were also used; those searches were also unsuccessful.  In addition, just for the sake of thoroughness, general searches for corporations and partnerships in CA and AZ were also performed in the event that the foundation was formed that way.  Neither state has info on such a corporation/partnership.

Also, the consulting firm that Pearce and Johnson said that they used to form the foundation doesn't have a website that I could find.  As such, I was unable to use information gleaned from that particular source.

Candidate updates -

In the "not surprised by the move, just that it took so long" department:

- Embattled Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination in the CD4 primary.  Maybe it was being outed as gay (the kiss of death to a political career in Republican circles), maybe it was threatening to use his position to have his ex deported (an allegation that Babeu has denied, but not exactly helpful to any variety of political career), or maybe it was the investigation into whether Babeu had his deputies campaign for him (the loss of a political career pales next to a possible loss of freedom if the investigation into that goes poorly for Babeu), but his exit from the race was a matter of "when", not "if".

In the "we wish he would just get the message already department" or the "don't go away mad, just go away" department:

- Rumors have spread that former state legislator Russell Pearce is dropping out of the Republican primary in LD25.  However, he has denied that and as of this writing, he is still in the race.

In the "who?" department:

David Crowe, a Republican-turned-Democrat, has dropped his primary challenge to Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva.


In other news, other candidates are dropping, dropping off nominating petitions at the Arizona Secretary of State's office.

State Senator and CD9 Congressional candidate David Schapira delivering his petitions to the AZSOS.  He's the first CD9 candidate to do so (picture courtesy the Schapira campaign)







The full list of candidates who have submitted nominating petitions to the AZSOS is here.  Some of the highlights:

- Former state senator Ken Cheuvront submitted his sigs on May 8.  He's running for a return to the state senate in the new LD24.  Current state representative Katie Hobbs is also running for that seat.

- Current state representative John Fillmore submitted his sigs for the LD16 Senate race on May 11.  Current state senator Rich Crandall is also running in that district.

- Current member of Congress David Schweikert beat current member of Congress Ben Quayle...in the race to submit sigs, doing so on April 30.


The list of Maricopa County candidates who have submitted sigs is here;

Bad Day In Arizona...

...Four people, including a 2 year-old toddler, were killed by infamous Arizona neo-Nazi/white supremacist JT Ready.

From the Arizona Republic, written by Jim Walsh and Lindsey Collom -

A border militia leader on Wednesday shot and killed four people at a Gilbert home, including a toddler, before committing suicide, sources said.

Sources identified the shooter as Jason "J.T." Ready, a reputed neo-Nazi who made headlines when he launched a militia movement to patrol the Arizona desert to hunt for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.

At least one person survived the shooting, and was being treated at Maricopa Medical Center.

Authorities have not identified the other victims, but reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Hugo Maderos said the victims were his ex-wife, Lisa; their daughter, Amber; Amber's boyfriend, whose name The Republic is withholding until his next of kin could be notified, and Amber's 18-month-old baby, Lilly.

First and foremost, my deepest condolences and prayers go out to the family and friends of Ready's victims.

While today's events aren't really surprising to anyone who has followed Ready's activities over the years (one of my FB friends referred to him as a "ticking time bomb"), they are no less horrifying for the lack of surprise.

...Other events today would normally fall into the category of "horrific", but compared to Ready's mass murder...

Note: In addition to condolences and prayers, my apologies go out to the friends and family of Ready's victims.  I planned to write about the following items before the news of Ready's mass murder broke.  In no way do I intend to state or imply that the following items are as horrible as the killings in Gilbert.

- In an effort led by his allies in the legislature, Russell Pearce, former senate president and a friend and ally of Ready) is in line to receive more than $260K of taxpayer money to reimburse him for expenses related to the successful recall of him in November.  A conference committee made of two Democrats and four Pearce supporters amended SB1449 to include a path to payment for Pearce.

Three are in this picture, from election night in November as the Pearce camp realized that the voters of LD18 hadn't fallen for the usual smoke and BS-storm -

Pearce is at the mic, Rep. Eddie Farnsworth is to his right (left in the pic as we are looking at it), Sen. Steve Smith is directly behind Pearce, Rep. Steve Montenegro is to Pearce's left (right, when viewing the pic).  Also on the committee, but not in the pic: Sen. Andy Biggs.  I'm not sure, but I think he was there that night, but just isn't in this particular pic.  In this pic, however, are Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio (pic right, gazing at Pearce), Rep. Carl Seel (behind Arpaio), and Rep. John Kavanagh (barely inside the pic on the right, sort of behind Arpaio).


So far, Steve Pierce and Andy Tobin, the current Senate President and House Speaker, respectively, haven't said much about the scheme to give Russell Pearce a s---load of taxpayer money, but since they select the members of the conference committees, my guess is that they are completely on board.


- The House gave final approval to HB2503, a measure that exempts companies from punitive damages relating to defective or inadequate products or services if those products or services meet government regulatory standards.

Left unsaid in the bill:  The fact that industry lobbyists already write most regulations, watering them down to the point of being ineffective or even counter-productive.

- The Senate passed HB2571, Governor Brewer's plan to turn the state's merit employment system into a political patronage/spoils system designed to enrich her and her associates/handlers.  It returns to the House for a rubber-stamp vote on a minor amendment passed by the Senate.

- Republican legislators are working to join lawsuits seeking to overturn the recently-precleared legislative district maps, saying that the maps don't do enough to protect minority voting power.

This in spite of the fact that minority legislators are saying "the maps are fine, and since when do you folks look out for minorities, other than looking to demonize them for fun, profit, and votes whenever you can?" (OK, they didn't use those specific words, but it's a good summary.  :) )

...All in all, a bad day made tragic by events in Gilbert, which are still unfolding at this hour.  Federal agencies are on the scene handling a hazmat situation.  Apparently, Ready had a stockpile of chemicals and munitions at the house.

Ready (left) and Pearce, in happier days

Ready getting, well, *ready* for one of his immigrant hunts "patrols"

Ready in all of his glory











The above three pics courtesy the Phoenix New Times; the press conference pic courtesy a FB friend.

Another Pearce out of office: Lester Pearce resigns from office

For the first time in 15 years, brothers Lester and Russell Pearce are out of elected office at the same time.

Both are attempting to win office in November (Russell, state senate; Lester, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors), but until then, the amount of bs and hatred spewed into the atmosphere by AZ's elected officials by a huge middling OK, a tiny amount.

Russell was removed from the senate by a now-legendary recall vote in November; his brother Lester resigned from the office of North Mesa Justice of the Peace on Monday in order to pursue a run at the East Valley seat on the MCBOS.

From the press release announcing the resignation -

Lester Pearce, Presiding Judge of the Maricopa County Justice Courts, has announced his resignation from the Justice Courts Bench. In his resignation letter to the Board of Supervisors, effective at midnight tonight, Judge Pearce cited Rule 4.5 of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct, which states that a judge shall resign from judicial office upon becoming a candidate for a non-judicial elective office.

"It has been an honor to serve the citizens of Maricopa County as a Justice of the Peace for the past 15 plus years," said Judge Pearce. "I have enjoyed my role in providing justice at the level closest to the people. However, as I will be announcing my candidacy for another elected position, I unfortunately must resign as the North Mesa Justice of the Peace."

{snip}

Associate Presiding Judge Clancy Jayne will assume the duties of the Presiding Judge.

There are 25 justice courts in Maricopa County that hear a combined caseload of more than 400,000 cases each year, including civil lawsuits where the amount in dispute is $10,000 or less, landlord and tenant controversies, small claims cases and civil and criminal traffic offenses, including DUIs. Justices of the Peace also resolve other types of misdemeanor allegations and handle requests for orders of protection and injunctions against harassment.

While both Pearces are running in R-heavy districts where the winner of the Republican nomination is likely to win the general election, both face formidable opponents in the Republican primary.

Programs! Get yer programs here! Ya can't tell the candidates without a program!

The last couple of days have seen some significant shakeups in the fields of candidates for some of the offices up for election this fall.

...In the new LD25 (East and Central Mesa), Russell Pearce, the recently ousted former senate president, surprised almost no one by announcing that he will run for the Senate again.  What did surprise a few people was how quickly Sen. Rich Crandall announced that he would not run (he lives in the new LD25) and threw his support behind newcomer Bob Worsley, a businessman who is highly regarded in Mesa and the Mormon Church.

...In the old CD8/new CD2, Ron Barber announced that he will run for a full term in the new CD2.  This came as a bit of a surprise, particularly to the Democrats who cleared the field so he could run to serve out the remainder of Giffords' term in the current CD8.  Of the "name" Democrats who were candidates for the new CD2 under the understanding that Barber was just running in CD8 as a sentimental placeholder, State Sen. Paula Aboud and State Rep.Matt Heinz have basically said that they will be staying in, Rep. Steve Farley has already dropped his bid for Congress and will be running for the state senate, and Nan Walden, a former US Senate staffer (and lots of other well-connected things) has announced that she won't be running.

...Mike Sunnucks of the Phoenix Business Journal is reporting that Vernon Parker, a former mayor of Paradise Valley and an also-ran in the 2010 primary in CD3, is going to run in CD9, and that Lisa Borowsky, currently a member of the Scottsdale City Council is looking into the race. Borowsky had been rumored to be interested in a run at the mayor's job in Scottsdale.

Parker won a seat on the PV Town Council last week, but resign to run doesn't apply because I think that positions on the PV council are unpaid.

...Former Scottsdale City Council member and Democrat David Ortega has entered the race for the District 2 seat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.  The "big" name in that race right now is Lester Pearce, currently the embatttled Justice of the Peace for North Mesa and brother to former senator (and always bigoted) Russell Pearce.

Shake up coming in EV political circles

...and I'm not talking about just East Valley Congressman Jeff Flake choosing to run for US Senate, opening up his spot in the US House of Representatives.

The creation of a new Congressional district, combined with the continuing fallout from the now-famous recall election loss of former state senator Russell Pearce, is serving as the catalyst for a shake up among politicos in Mesa.

While checking for open campaign committees, I found that five people, State Rep. Cecil Ash, former Mesa city council member Kyle Jones, automotive technician instructor David Lane, Town of Gilbert purchasing specialist Jess Romney (Rs one and all) and corporate pilot Fred Sossaman (I), all have open committees for a run at the North Mesa Justice of the Peace slot currently held by Lester Pearce.

Who doesn't have an open committee for that particular race? 

Pearce himself.

Hmmmm.  It's rather unusual for that many folks of the same party as an entrenched incumbent to go after a seat held by that incumbent.  Unless they know that incumbent isn't trying to keep his job.  That discrepancy piqued my interest, piqued it enough to inspire me to engage in some intense research.

"Intense" meaning that I called a friend in Mesa and asked him if he had heard anything. :)

According to the rumor mill there, Lester Pearce is facing possible disciplinary action for his direct involvement with both his brother's campaign and with putting a "sham" candidate on the ballot in an attempt to split the "anti-Pearce" vote in the recall election.  Turns out that it is frowned on when sitting judges do such things.  Who knew? :)

According to the rumors, he has been quietly advised that it would be best for all concerned that he not run for reelection.

Note: the specifics of the rumors could be a little off as my friend is not hard-wired into the smoke-filled backrooms of R politics in Mesa.  However, they do fit the known facts.

Besides this stuff, Lester is known  to be as "creative" in his worldview as his brother and for bringing that creativity to work with him (lots of complaints filed, lots of defense motions for a change of venue/judge.)

Now add into this mix Don Stapley, current Maricopa County supervisor, who is mulling a run at the new 9th Congressional District.

It seems that Lester Pearce is eyeing Stapley's seat on the MCBOS in turn.  The only real question is if Pearce would challenge Stapley in a primary if Stapley chooses to forego a run for Congress (best guess: Pearce would go for it).

On top of that, Russell Pearce is making moves to run for AZ senate again, though he may go in another direction (say...if Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio resigns or retires in the face of the ongoing USDOJ inquiry).

Now, just to spice things up a little, the rumors are that the next generation of Pearces are thoroughly peeved at the travails of their elders and are looking for a little payback/redemption for the Pearce brand.  One or more of them may run for an office (JP?, constable?, city council?, lege?).

Note on the above:  even my source admitted the least confidence in the last rumor, but it is well-known that the Pearces in general are still ticked off, which isn't really a surprise.

Still, regardless of which Pearce(s) runs for which office(s), it's going to be an interesting spring, summer, and fall...


Note:  As of this writing, I can't find any paperwork for any new campaign committees in the name of Pearce or Stapley at the county, state, or federal levels.