HOUSTON - When The Arizona Republic asked state Senate President Russell Pearce in a questionnaire why he thought he was getting recalled, his answers was unequivocal.
He wrote that "liberal special-interest groups" from outside his district were using "still undisclosed sources" of funds and had "organized and purchased many signatures" to require the Nov. 8 recall election.
Pearce, the architect of Arizona's reprehensible anti-immigrant law, may just as easily have been talking about himself and his own tactics, except, of course, for the word "liberal."
His bill, now synonymous with his name, came about after he was elected to the state Senate and became president of that body in 2010. He ranked as one of the state's most influential political figures.
But on July 8 Secretary of State Ken Bennett certified a petition to recall Pearce, and the governor was notified to set an election date for the state Senate district east of Phoenix. The petition drive was spearheaded by Citizens for a Better Arizona, forcing Pearce to resign or become a candidate in the recall election. He chose to run again.
In its bill of particulars, the recall group (www.citizensforabetteraz.org) claimed Pearce's illegal immigration proposals were conjoined with his advocacy for private prison companies. That special interest "has showered him with thousands of dollars in campaign contributions" in turn for millions of dollars in contracts by privatizing incarceration.
Citizens for a Better Arizona claimed that Pearce, since 2002, has introduced or has helped pass 13 bills favoring the private prison industry. The group won the issue by getting enough signatures on its recall petition to show there are widespread popular objections to Pearce's representation of the district. It also claims that the anti-immigration bill was drafted with the help of Corrections Corp. of America. The so-called "anti-immigration" law might in fact have been a pro-incarceration law.
Pearce is said to have unsuccessfully proposed three bills to entirely privatize the state prison system and he "directed" the state to contract 11,450 new private prison beds. He sponsored the FY 2012 budget, with a $10 million increase for the state prison system while cutting education and health care by $1 billion.
As Senate Appropriations Committee chairman in 2010 and Senate president in 2011, Pearce was willing to let Arizona become the first state to end its children's health insurance program and allow 36,000 poor children to lose coverage.
He helped lead an effort to balance the state's budget by ending Medicaid for 310,000 low-income adults and allowed Arizona to lose $7 billion annually in federal funding. The governor and the legislature rejected most of the cuts Pearce supported. But the 2012 Medicaid enrollment freeze Pearce sponsored will keep health-care coverage from hundreds of thousands of poor Arizonans for years.
It was only natural that two candidates like Republican Jerry Lewis and Olivia Cortes would arise to challenge Pearce in the recall election.
Cortes withdrew on Oct. 7 and the following day, Maricopa County Superior Court disclosed Cortes had been recruited by Pearce forces to spit the opposition. Pearce's relatives had been involved in the collection of signatures to get Cortes on the ballot.
Judge Edward Burke's court agreed with Lewis. Pearce had recruited Cortes "to siphon Hispanic votes from Lewis to advance Pearce's recall election bid."
In other words, it was a dirty trick. It was deceptive but the court didn't find it illegal.
Since the ballots for the election have already been printed, a notice will inform voters on Nov. 8 of Cortes' withdrawal from the race.
In a real sense, the dirty trick may stick. With Cortes' name still remaining on the ballot although she has withdrawn, the net effect may still be to siphon votes from Lewis.
Jose de la Isla writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. Email him at joseisla3@yahoo.com
RationalHuman posted at 5:10 pm on Thu, Oct 13, 2011.
Leave it to the La Raza racist pig to lie even more.
I'm no fan of Pearce, but I dislike lying weasel racists even more.
"Arizona's reprehensible anti-immigrant law"
The law is PRO-IMMIGRANT. It is anti-illegal alien invader.
(Jose knows this and continues to LIE to push his agenda)
""liberal special-interest groups" from outside his district"
That would be Parraz, and he's from Scottsdale.
"using "still undisclosed sources"
Parraz has refused several times to disclose his sources?
Has this changed? Have they been disclosed?
Or is this just ANOTHER lie from the Jose the lying weasel?
"With Cortes' name still remaining on the ballot although she has withdrawn, the net effect may still be to siphon votes from Lewis."
Simple solution - post signs IN PLAIN ENGLISH that Cortez is not running...only those that can't speak the official language of Arizona will have a problem.
Masterrogue666 posted at 8:54 pm on Thu, Oct 13, 2011.
Jose: Should I cry a single tear for you? No, I think not. The damage that has been done, and CONTINUES to go on from the FLOOD of ILLEGAL ALIENS (or INVADING FOREIGN NATIONALS, you choose) is costing my state and country BILLIONS every year. It's time for that to stop.
If it's legal to have someone like Parraz (and his RACIST SUPPORTERS from LA RAZA (That's "The Race" if you don't understand Spanish). So, BOTH SIDES used "dirty tricks". What's funny is that YOUR SIDE won't admit the TRUTH. Just like they won't admit that it's not ABOUT RACE but about LEGAL STANDING.
Jose, anything you write is so bias, I wonder why you bother in the first place. The MAJORITY of USA CITIZENS is tired of you entitlement minded people. What ever happened to EARNING it like other LEGAL IMMIGRANTS have done?
Leon Ceniceros posted at 11:45 pm on Thu, Oct 13, 2011.
Well Senor de la Isla made it safely back into the United States without getting kidnapped or worse (35 Drug Cartel victims dumped on a Mexican highway overpass...2 poor bloggers hung by wire nooses in Acapulco or Puerto Vallarta...10 victims here...20 victims there...day after day...week after week...month after month...year after year.......and yet.......not one...."word"...about Mexican politics from Senior de la Isla.
Yet, from his Houston, Texas home.....he somehow finds all about or little District 18...Recall Election.....not only does he find out all about it.........but.....
Senior de la Isla feels so knowledgeable about an election.... 800-1000 miles away...from his hometown of Houston, Texas...........to ......Lecture us Arizonians all about it.............go figure.......[sad]
Dale Whiting posted at 8:47 am on Fri, Oct 14, 2011.
Hey Gang,
Get with the topic! The topic here is not whether you like or dislike either Jose or illegal immigration or think SB1070 is a step forward or a step backward. It's whether Pearce has been bought by a group seeking to profit from privatizing our state prision system. And where you ignor the topic, in effect you admit that Pearce has been bought and you either don't care or like the idea of politicians selling themselves to special interests.
Shame on you for avoiding the issue!!!! Shame, Shame, Shame.
Defend your ignoring the topic, I dare you!
RationalHuman posted at 12:04 pm on Fri, Oct 14, 2011.
Defend ignoring the topic because the author of the slanted article (which happens to be full of misinformation and outright lie) is a member of a racist/terrorist organization?
What's to defend, Dale? If he were instead a card-carrying Neo-Nazi or a member of the KKK, would YOU ignore it, or pretend it didn't slant the article with extreme bias?
If so, shame, shame, shame.
Defend your defending an ignorant racist, I dare you!
Dale Whiting posted at 6:13 pm on Fri, Oct 14, 2011.
The topic remains Russell Pearce and his shenanigans, not Jose de la Isla and his background or motives for exposing Pearce and his supporters for what they are!
Dale Whiting posted at 6:13 pm on Fri, Oct 14, 2011.
P.S.
When the facts sting, ignor them. Is that your strategy?
Masterrogue666 posted at 6:51 pm on Fri, Oct 14, 2011.
Dale: I first heard that the recall was started due to Pearce's "racist" attitude. Then, for kick backs he received, and poor financial management (Even though Janet N. left it that way, and He DID reduce the cost dramatically).
It's called mudslinging. Throw enough mud, some may stick. What's next, someone has a problem because he may play pool left handed?
Diogenes Lantern posted at 11:18 pm on Fri, Oct 14, 2011.
TRUE Vetted Lewis Facts:
1) Lewis committed fraud against Arizona by falsifying the number of students at Sequoia Schools, which he used to manage until the State forced him to resign. Lewis asked Joy Christian, doesn't take public funds, to have their students log on to Sequoia to inflate the number of students.
A 2009 Audit by the State of AZ showed that Lewis defrauded taxpayers $1.9 million by Lewis falsely reporting an additional 400 Joy Christian students. Lewis was forced to resign and Sequoia had to pay back the $1.9 million to AZ. For more information, go to Sonoran News.
2) Lewis then became the manager of Pappas School, for underprivileged youths. Lewis was caught "light fingered" taking from the Homeless Donations. The lawsuit by the teacher(s) is open and pending in MC Superior Court. Click on the link at Sonoran Alliance to print the court documents.
3) Lewis at the debate equated AZ TODAY with the worst of the lynchings, KKK, and other civil rights travesties. Lewis "AZ is seen as something akin to 1964 Alabama". (AZ Rep video or Trib)
4) The article in the AZ Capital Times by a University of Phoenix lawyer(s) that Lewis' "slash and burn" tactic in the Cortes lawsuit were brutal and unconstitutional.
Quotes" The BEGINNING OF THE END OF DEMOCRACY IN ARIZONA. So let's hope no one ever brings a lawsuit like this again".
"After establishing just how far, exactly to the political Right these people can be found on the spectrum, (Lewis') Ryan executed what was probably the MOST CONSTITUTIONALLY REPUGNANT PART OF HIS LITIGATION STRATEGY -he required each to list every single political ally be name..their political beliefs and goals of their friends."
"The government has no right to pass judgment on the associations of its citizens-political, religious, ideological, or otherwise. Yet (Lewis') Ryan asked a Judge to INVENT A LAW whereby such associations can also give rise to legal and criminal liability." (AZ Capital Times article)
5) Lewis claims to be a Republican-no Democrat is running because Lewis is the "sham" Republican. The State GOP and Maricopa County GOP broker tradition of not endorsing a candidate when more than one is running because they KNOW that Lewis is a plant. Pearce has the support of the prominent Republican AZ state officers and legislators.
6) Lewis refuses to criticize/denounce his puppet master, Randy Parraz. Parraz is a union organizer and promoter of class warfare paid $117K a year by the unions (unioncheck.com) to disrupt and attack conservatives. Add in Lewis' La Raza (kill whites) and AZtlan (return AZ to Mexico) buddies-Snow, Parraz, Grijalva, Pastor, Reze- and you have a witches' brew.
As US Senator Trent Franks stated in his endorsement of State Senator President Pearce, please do not allow the "Looney Left" to take over Arizona, "flooding Million(s) into the state from outside unions , to pay for Open Border Activists to swarm Mesa's neighborhoods.
RationalHuman posted at 11:03 am on Sat, Oct 15, 2011.
Poor Dale.
Perhaps one day he will grow a spine, and not scamper away from comments that expose his ignorant prejudices.
One can always hope!
RationalHuman posted at 11:42 am on Sat, Oct 15, 2011.
Dale Whiting wrote:
"The topic remains Russell Pearce and his shenanigans"
WRONG, Dale. The topic is "Dirty tricks in a recall election" - it's even right there at the top of the page! And I exposed a half dozen of them.
All you've done is run your mouth...and run from anyone who stands up to your bullying.
chatmandu002 posted at 1:28 pm on Sat, Oct 15, 2011.
What about the shenanigans of the re-call to start with. Where did the money come from that started the re-call. Who funded Citizens for a Better Arizona? We all know this about SB 1070 and the open border/amnesty crowd trying to get revenge against Sen Pearce.
Lewis will be a RINO and betray the republican party.
A_Rose_By_Any_Other_Name posted at 8:26 am on Sun, Oct 16, 2011.
The only dirty trick being perpetuated on the Arizonian people is La Ratza's trick to make Arizonians get rid of the enemy of the reconquesta forces. A vote for Lewis is a vote to help allow the open border, La Ratza reconquesta people to continue invading Arizona and the USA. The only question is, are you for the continuing invasion and amnesty or against it. Vote for Pearce if you are an American first.
A_Rose_By_Any_Other_Name posted at 8:32 am on Sun, Oct 16, 2011.
Diogenes Lantern, Lewis is a swine the likes of which this state doesn't need. Thank you for sharing these facts with us. They deserve to be restated.
TRUE Vetted Lewis Facts:
1) Lewis committed fraud against Arizona by falsifying the number of students at Sequoia Schools, which he used to manage until the State forced him to resign. Lewis asked Joy Christian, doesn't take public funds, to have their students log on to Sequoia to inflate the number of students.
A 2009 Audit by the State of AZ showed that Lewis defrauded taxpayers $1.9 million by Lewis falsely reporting an additional 400 Joy Christian students. Lewis was forced to resign and Sequoia had to pay back the $1.9 million to AZ. For more information, go to Sonoran News.
2) Lewis then became the manager of Pappas School, for underprivileged youths. Lewis was caught "light fingered" taking from the Homeless Donations. The lawsuit by the teacher(s) is open and pending in MC Superior Court. Click on the link at Sonoran Alliance to print the court documents.
3) Lewis at the debate equated AZ TODAY with the worst of the lynchings, KKK, and other civil rights travesties. Lewis "AZ is seen as something akin to 1964 Alabama". (AZ Rep video or Trib)
4) The article in the AZ Capital Times by a University of Phoenix lawyer(s) that Lewis' "slash and burn" tactic in the Cortes lawsuit were brutal and unconstitutional.
Quotes" The BEGINNING OF THE END OF DEMOCRACY IN ARIZONA. So let's hope no one ever brings a lawsuit like this again".
"After establishing just how far, exactly to the political Right these people can be found on the spectrum, (Lewis') Ryan executed what was probably the MOST CONSTITUTIONALLY REPUGNANT PART OF HIS LITIGATION STRATEGY -he required each to list every single political ally be name..their political beliefs and goals of their friends."
"The government has no right to pass judgment on the associations of its citizens-political, religious, ideological, or otherwise. Yet (Lewis') Ryan asked a Judge to INVENT A LAW whereby such associations can also give rise to legal and criminal liability." (AZ Capital Times article)
5) Lewis claims to be a Republican-no Democrat is running because Lewis is the "sham" Republican. The State GOP and Maricopa County GOP broker tradition of not endorsing a candidate when more than one is running because they KNOW that Lewis is a plant. Pearce has the support of the prominent Republican AZ state officers and legislators.
6) Lewis refuses to criticize/denounce his puppet master, Randy Parraz. Parraz is a union organizer and promoter of class warfare paid $117K a year by the unions (unioncheck.com) to disrupt and attack conservatives. Add in Lewis' La Raza (kill whites) and AZtlan (return AZ to Mexico) buddies-Snow, Parraz, Grijalva, Pastor, Reze- and you have a witches' brew.
As US Senator Trent Franks stated in his endorsement of State Senator President Pearce, please do not allow the "Looney Left" to take over Arizona, "flooding Million(s) into the state from outside unions , to pay for Open Border Activists to swarm Mesa's neighborhoods.
Moderation posted at 3:04 pm on Mon, Oct 17, 2011.
Three more weeks of this and LD18 will put an end to the debate about who we want representing us. I wish both sides were not allowed to recieve any financial support except from those in the district. Better yet disclose the source for every penny spent on the campaign even by organizations not directly linked to the canidates. Then no outside interests could be blamed! I can't wait for Nov 8th.
Diogenes Lantern posted at 11:41 pm on Mon, Oct 17, 2011.
Sadly the votes will be mailed before Lewis' funding from Moveon,org, SEIU, AFL-CIO, IAF and other mob-controlled unions. Oh and also La Raza and Aztlan if they have any money. Can not wait for them to leave in November and return to Wisconsin to then attack Walker.
Former State Senator Chuck Gray:
Senator Russell Pearce is one who has consistently championed the principles of liberty. While defending our liberties, he has been threatened, maligned and persecuted.
Those who have conspired against our American way of life are now targeting Senator Pearce because of his effectiveness. Liberal progressives are trying to silence the voice of this champion of freedom through a recall election. Those who have joined to vote with the Recall organizers, have unwittingly sided with the very people who are determined to destroy our freedoms.
When in a battle such as this, we should never side with the enemies of freedom. That is why I fully support Russell Pearce. Chuck Gray
Masterrogue666 posted at 4:16 pm on Thu, Oct 27, 2011.
I just found out that Citizens United for Progress is sending out ILLEGAL mailers in an effort to prevent votes going to Olivia Cortes.
Tell me, Jose, your thoughts on that, IF YOU DARE.....