All indications are there will be a recall election involving Republican State Senate President Russell Pearce, who represents Mesa’s Legislative District 18. The election will likely come in November, although it could be delayed until next March.
The recall effort led by Citizens for a Better Arizona collected over 18,000 signatures on recall petitions. There are an estimated 68,000 registered voters in LD-18. Only residents of the district are eligible to sign petitions and vote in a recall election.
Of 18,000 signatures submitted, the Maricopa County elections office validated about 10,000 of them — 7,756 signatures are needed for Gov. Jan Brewer to set a recall election for Pearce.
Pearce, who claims widespread grass roots support in his district and from his hometown of Mesa, can challenge the signatures and petitions in Maricopa County Superior Court. But that might just put off the inevitable — the biggest effort to remove a ranking Arizona politician from office since Gov. Evan Mecham was impeached in 1988 by his fellow Republicans.
Mesa voters have sent Pearce to the Arizona Legislature for 16 years and put him in a position of power that some say surpasses that of fellow Republicans Brewer, Secretary of State Ken Bennett, Attorney General Tom Horne, Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal and his fellow legislative leaders. He’s been mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2014.
While Pearce boasts of his humble Mesa roots, the man who controls the Arizona Legislature has considerable ties to groups and financial support from way beyond the his hometown city.
Records at the secretary of state’s office show Pearce is no wallflower when it comes to taking money from unions, wealthy national corporations and business owners, private prisons, the scrap metal industry, gaming interests and the Fiesta Bowl. Those ties can be seen in some of his legislative decision-making.
Besides being the go-to guy for these special interests, the former deputy sheriff and Fox News regular has become the face and mouth of the anti-illegal immigrant movement.
Right after the recall petitions were turned in, the national Ban Amnesty Now group sent out an email proclaiming: “Obama-La Raza Attacking Senator Russell Pearce.”
The email was soliciting contributions of $15, $25, $50, $100, $500 or even $1,000 “to unite our broad coalition against this recall scheme.” A second BAN email praised Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and ex-congressman JD Hayworth while attacking retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. O’Connor, who was raised on a southern Arizona cattle ranch and still calls Arizona home, was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and was the nation’s first female Supreme Court Justice.
No doubt between Pearce’s big-money friends and the anti-illegal immigrant crowd, money will pour in to fight any effort to remove their benefactor from power.
The people who signed the petitions to remove Pearce from office have friends also who’ll contribute cash and more to the recall effort. They’ve already accomplished what most said couldn’t be done: They gathered enough signatures to force a recall election and challenge the power Pearce wields.
Before it’s all over, Mesa could see a street fight like never before in the battle to keep or remove Pearce.
Even though Pearce’s type of leadership and influence is a statewide issue, in the end the choice of whether Pearce remains as the most powerful state-elected official in Arizona will fall on the voters of Mesa’s Legislative District 18 and no one else.
• Retired Mesa master police officer Bill Richardson lives in the East Valley and can be reached at bill.richardson@cox.net
Leon Ceniceros posted at 6:20 am on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
Most of us in our 60's and older...were raised to "love" America. We "cherished" being American Citizens. Most of my childhood friends, my brothers and myself were in the Military, mainly the Army and Marines. We never looked on our Military Service as "waste of time" but as a part of "Citizenship"...a debt to being American.
Senator Russell Pearce is cut from the same "old-fashioned, God-fearing, Flag-waving, America-loving...cloth". America is the best Nation in the World to us...not Mexico or Guatamala or Belize or El Salvador or Honduras. So why should these Citizens from these other Countries be..........."GIVEN AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP AFTER THEY HAVE ENTERED OUR COUNTRY = ILLEGALLY" ???
When the Catholic Church saw their Sunday Collections revenues getting smaller and smaller...they started looking for a new "cash cow". All of a sudden, the Catholic Church in the 1960's realized that they had 20 Million Illegal Aliens that went to Mass on Sundays and were putting money into the Collection Basket. So what did they do = BECAME CHAMPIONS FOR ILLEGAL ALIEN AMNESTY.
The Mormon Church realized about the same time that here were 20 Million Illegal Aliens from Latin Countries that were potential = TITHERS....so what did they do = BECAME CHAMPIONS FOR ILLEGAL ALIEN AMNESTY TOO.
Now it took the Mormons longer to realize that they too had a new "cash cow" just waiting to be milked for millions and millions of dollars in tithes. So in the 1990's...they jumped on the ............"AMENSTY FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS....WHO JUST HAPPENED TO BE .......ILLEGAL ALIENS".
Did these two Churches care about what would happen to American Values, American Social Security pay-outs, American Unemployment pay-outs, American Medicare pay-outs, American Medicaid pay-outs ???
THE ANSWER IS NO..........TO HECK WITH THE RULE OF LAW...TO HECK WITH AMERICA............GET RID OF POLITICIANS LIKE RUSSELL PEARCE....HE MAKES ...."AMNESTY QUEENS" LIKE JEFF FLAKE AND MATT SALMON.....LOOK BAD.
DURING THE VIETNAM WAR...THE MORMON CHURCH AND THE DRAFT ADMINISTRATION MADE A DEAL THAT ONLY ...1 OUT OF EVERY 5 "DRAFT ELIGIBLE MORMON YOUNG MEN WOULD BE DRAFTED.
THAT MEANT THAT 4 OTHER NON-MORMON YOUNG MEN WERE PUSHED FORWARD TO FILL THE SLOTS OF THE 4 MORMON YOUNG MEN WHO WERE EXEMPTED FOR....."MORMON MISSIONARY WORK".
SINCE ONLY.......1.5 % OF OUR UNITED STATES MILITARY IS ....MORMON....MAYBE THIS IS WHY THE MORMON CHURCH HOLDS ..."AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP" ...SO CHEAPLY.
THEY HAVE NEVER SEEN THEIR MILITARY BUDDIES BEING KILLED OR HORRIBLY WOUNDED DEFENDING...."AMERICA". THEY HAVE NEVER COME UNDER FIRE OR EVEN SERVED "INSIDE THE WIRE" AS SUPPORT FOR OUR WARRIORS. THEY HAVE NEVER HAD THE EXPERIENCE OF PROUDLY WEARING AN AMERICAN MILITARY UNIFORM .....MAYBE THIS IS WHY THEY DON'T THINK TWICE ABOUT RECALLING SOME ONE LIKE A......SENATOR RUSSELL PEARCE....SO THEY CAN REPLACE HIM WITH A POLITICIAN WHO DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME RESPECT THAT .....SENATOR RUSSELL PEARCE HAS FOR.....AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP....THAT IT IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE...."AMNESTIED-AWAY".....FOR MONEY IN THE SUNDAY COLLECTION BOX OR MONTHLY ENVELOPE
catskinner posted at 6:26 am on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
Hopefully, when this is finally over, Pearce will emerge as an even stronger political figure to help lead Arizona and the nation away from the perils and destruction of illegal immigration.
CooperG posted at 6:36 am on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
Bill makes a great point. It's not the voters in LD18 who pay for Russell's campaigns, it's big money lobbyists and donors from Fountain Hills and Cave Creek and Scottsdale who know he'll vote for tax increases on his own constituents while he cuts theirs. Yeah, the people in LD18 know Pearce, which is exactly why they don't give him any money.
Then there's his ongoing record of failed leadership and policies that have made Arizona dead last in education, put tens of thousands of Arizona families at risk of losing their homes and their lives, doing nothing to create jobs. He's a walking train wreck who hides behind locked doors at the capitol, refusing to meet with his own constituents when they come to visit him. I'll bet the doors get unlocked when his lobbyist buddies come to visit.
I think Pearce is scared to death about this recall, which is why he plays the only card he has: immigration and how the big bad government is behind a conspiracy to dethrone him. He can't run on his real record because no politician could ever be proud of his constant and consistent destruction of his district's neighborhoods, businesses, the state economy and its reputation.
Poorman posted at 8:45 am on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
If by some chance he does get recalled,we will have to go out and re elect him again.As for one posters comment about the destruction of neighborhoods in some of his district,thats correct. I watched a lot of that caused by the habitation of illegals who turned the houdes and streets into dumps. etc.Russ'es biggest enemy is the illegals and the people who hire them and live off their backs.
rouse2 posted at 9:29 am on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
pearce has an abysmal track record of constituent service, unless you are among the wealthy few special interest he kows to. even then getting his face on the national news is his number one priority. will i vote to retain him in the recall? no. i intended to, but Mr. Ceniceros' informing me he was anti-catholic changed my mind. outsiders do not have the right to interfere in mesa business. i would rather wait and try to be rid of him in two years?
Accuracy posted at 10:13 am on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
“Local voters (from Mesa’s Legislative District 18) have final say in Pearce recall”
“If We Can Recall SB1070 Author Russell Pearce, WE CAN RECALL ANYBODY!” That was a direct quote from Randy Parraz, the organizer of the “Recall Russell Pearce Petition” and the Citizens for a Better Arizona recall committee.
Maricopa County elections officials presented a 1,202-page certification package to the state elections director last week, and are certifying that the petitions have 10,365 valid signatures of voters from the Mesa's Legislative District 18.
It will be up to Gov. Jan Brewer to formally call for the recall election in November or March.
Meanwhile, no candidate has come forward to challenge Pearce. Some Democrats say that they are still waiting until the recall is made official by the Secretary of State.
elevation posted at 10:21 am on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
It seems to me that the people who support Pearce do so because of his extreme anti-immigration views, but he is so extreme that his laws are unconstitutional making them not effective. Therefore, the people who vote for him because they think he will get rid of the undocumented persons in Arizona are wasting their votes - it isn't going to happen. He is playing those supporters for suckers just to get re-elected. We don't need politicians who only care about staying in office for the perks and campaign contributions, we need politicians who care about jobs, the economy and education.
billrichardson posted at 10:43 am on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
Game on. A recall is a coming.
http://eastvalleytribune.com/arizona/politics/article_193a5dfc-a985-11e0-82b3-001cc4c002e0.html
Dale Whiting posted at 11:22 am on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
No catskinner,
"Hopefully, when this is finally over, Pearce will" have learned his lesson. If he remains, he will adopt a more level headed approach to solving immigration problems. If he leaves, his replacement will have learned that same lesson.
Dale Whiting posted at 11:26 am on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
Leon,
Nice Conspiracy theory. But Pearce is a Mormon! It's back to your skewed drafting board.
Moderation posted at 12:22 pm on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
Thanks for the post elevation!
In_God_We_Trust posted at 4:42 pm on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
Sat whatever lies that make you feel good fools. No one is going to be Pearce. No democrat could ever hope to win here, but we hope many try. Any republican with an ounce of self respect will stay away from this fool hardy attempt to make Pearce pay for enacting SB1070.
In_God_We_Trust posted at 4:50 pm on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
elevation says the people who vote for him because they think he will get rid of the undocumented persons (Illegal Aliens) in Arizona are wasting their votes - it isn't going to happen. It's already happened hoser, and the movement continues growing throughout the country.
NothingButTheTruth posted at 4:53 pm on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
Bill Richardson sure does hate white people. Tell us Bill, how many illegal aliens do you have in your family?
samkat posted at 7:53 pm on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
rouse and Dale: I went back and read Leon's post again. The only thing he did was to state fact. I failed to see any conspiracy theory in his comments but leave it to the ACLU advocates to find a boogy man in every comment they disapprove of.
AmericanPatriot posted at 9:04 pm on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
So tell us Bill, how many illegal aliens do you have in the family?
AmericanPatriot posted at 11:28 pm on Fri, Jul 8, 2011.
KJDaVinci777, go get an education so you can at least spell a persons name correctly. You sound like an uneducated, illegal alien. That's probably not far off.
CooperG posted at 7:26 am on Sat, Jul 9, 2011.
It's not just "Game On," the senator's NEW title is "Recalled Russell." He has been recalled. The election is to fill the seat.
Posts by Leon, NothingButTheTruth and AmericanPatriot are more evidence that Pearce and his supporters are one trick ponies who have zero to contribute to a stable and growing economy.
They believe it is okay for an elected official to shake down the Fiesta Bowl for $37,930 (which is more than some of Pearce's own constituents earn per year) for football tickets and lay the blame on his son.
They believe it is okay for Pearce to set up Arizona government death panels that have caused three or four citizens to lose their lives because of cuts to health care.
They believe it is okay for Arizona to be ranked last in education.
They believe it is fine if tens of thousands of Arizona families lose their homes to foreclosure.
They believe miles of vacant storefronts and apartment complexes in Mesa is a good thing and that declining property values are ideal public policy.
They believe it is okay for Pearce to vote to kill solar jobs in Arizona.
They believe it is okay for Pearce supporters to trash the LDS church while Russell sits silently and lets them, not lifting a finger to defend his faith from malicious attacks.
These are the Russell Pearce supporters. They are the reflection of the man and they are why Peace WAS recalled.
Dale Whiting posted at 9:41 am on Sat, Jul 9, 2011.
Samcat,
Leon claims that both Catholics and Mormons conspire with the legislature to keep a soft touch on illegals so that they can extract contributions from them. Yes, one must do a tiny bit of reading between the lines. But I am sure Leon would agree. His is a conspiracy theory.
NothingButTheTruth posted at 9:59 am on Sat, Jul 9, 2011.
You illegal alien supporters are all alike. It's all about the race card or calling people KKK this or that. KJDaVinci777, go back to Mexico. CooperG, Pearce didn't shake down the fiesta bowl, they just tried to buy him as they try with any politician. There you go with the death panel BS like that was all Pearce's work alone. Oh and your kids failing high school is all his fault too? My kids got mostly A's so is that his fault too? And the housing crisis is his fault? WOW! Did he cause the entire countries housing crisis or was it just his fault here in Arizona? I see now, you must have had money invested in solar power and that's why you hate Pearce so much. That explains a lot. You libertards are so predictable. You harp on the same issues but in actuality, you don't have any credible information to bring to the table.
samkat posted at 12:52 pm on Sat, Jul 9, 2011.
No Dale, it is you who is reading between the lines. How many boogie men have you seen today? :-)
PS: Long live Russel Pearce KJ and Dale. By the way, I am not a Pearce disciple but to make things interesting, I will donate to his campaign. :-)
NothingButTheTruth posted at 1:51 pm on Sat, Jul 9, 2011.
Well the game is on as Bill said. So where are all Pearce's opponents?
Dale can read a whole book between two sentences.
"When the Catholic Church saw their Sunday Collections revenues getting smaller and smaller...they started looking for a new "cash cow". All of a sudden, the Catholic Church in the 1960's realized that they had 20 Million Illegal Aliens that went to Mass on Sundays and were putting money into the Collection Basket. So what did they do = BECAME CHAMPIONS FOR ILLEGAL ALIEN AMNESTY."
Where's the conspiracy in that paragraph Dale?
"The Mormon Church realized about the same time that here were 20 Million Illegal Aliens from Latin Countries that were potential = TITHERS....so what did they do = BECAME CHAMPIONS FOR ILLEGAL ALIEN AMNESTY TOO.
Now it took the Mormons longer to realize that they too had a new "cash cow" just waiting to be milked for millions and millions of dollars in tithes. So in the 1990's...they jumped on the ............"AMENSTY FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS....WHO JUST HAPPENED TO BE .......ILLEGAL ALIENS""
Where's the conspiracy in that paragraph Dale?
"DURING THE VIETNAM WAR...THE MORMON CHURCH AND THE DRAFT ADMINISTRATION MADE A DEAL THAT ONLY ...1 OUT OF EVERY 5 "DRAFT ELIGIBLE MORMON YOUNG MEN WOULD BE DRAFTED.
THAT MEANT THAT 4 OTHER NON-MORMON YOUNG MEN WERE PUSHED FORWARD TO FILL THE SLOTS OF THE 4 MORMON YOUNG MEN WHO WERE EXEMPTED FOR....."MORMON MISSIONARY WORK"
Is that what you call a conspiracy Dale? lol I see your conspiracy standards have been lowered somewhat lately. It's not considered conspiracy to make deals with your own government is it Dale? lol It's Gods work they do lol
NothingButTheTruth posted at 4:17 pm on Sat, Jul 9, 2011.
Well that doesn't surprise me KJDaVinci777. Governor Perry is an open border advocate trying to pretend he's a hardliner on immigration. A RINO in the same vein as McCain. You need to learn English if you want to talk to me Jose.
NothingButTheTruth posted at 4:22 pm on Sat, Jul 9, 2011.
Ask Bill? You probably are Bill. You both sound like you have illegals in your family, and you both sound illiterate.
Dale Whiting posted at 5:49 pm on Sat, Jul 9, 2011.
Samkat and Nothing!
Conspire: to join in a secret agreement to use such means as necessary to accomplish a lawful end, scheme, to act in harmony but behind the scene to achieve the desired ends.
Now may I quote Leon incerting identity for the theory he supports:
"When the Catholic Church saw their Sunday Collections revenues getting smaller and smaller [the problem they wished to solve]...they started looking for a new "cash cow". All of a sudden, the Catholic Church in the 1960's realized that they had 20 Million Illegal Aliens that went to Mass on Sundays and were putting money into the Collection Basket. [The legal ends, new sources of revenue] So what did they do = BECAME CHAMPIONS FOR ILLEGAL ALIEN AMNESTY. [The means to achieve the ends undertaken behind the scene for some alterior reason, i.e. charity or humanitarian ends masking the real reasons for backing illegal aliens and amnesty not for their face value, but for contributions. ]"
Now who did these churchy people join with? Who has supported amnesty over the years? Several politicians whom Leon has neglected to name. But we pretty much know who they are!
Come on guys! Are you really so naive as to not see this as Leon's claim? Utah has its Utah Compact, a means to soft peddle the handling of illegal aliens. But Mormons do not support this idea to generate more revenues. My point is made with the observation that Pearce is Mormon.
NothingButTheTruth posted at 6:16 pm on Sat, Jul 9, 2011.
So Dale, basically you're saying the Catholic church conspired with the Catholic church? Again I have to point out that your standards for conspiracies is somewhat wanting for credibility. Did the Mormon church conspire with the Mormon church in the same way? Got to go, my wife conspired with my wife to cook my favorite dinner tonight. I will appease her by conspiring with myself to eat it.
NothingButTheTruth posted at 6:19 pm on Sat, Jul 9, 2011.
Oh now I get it Dale. You think they secretly agreed to such means as necessary to accomplish a lawful end, scheme, to act in harmony but behind the scene to achieve the desired ends. It was no secret Dale as there was no meeting and no agreement other than to feather their collective beds.
Poorman posted at 5:12 am on Sun, Jul 10, 2011.
Come on now folks don't pick on Poster KJDaVINCI777 and some of the other posters on here who don't type or spell to well. They can't help it if the are a little braindead. As much as i hate to say it Poster Richardson is right on one thing,the game is on. The game to re elect Russ should by some quirk of fate get recalled, is already going. Have a good day all.
NothingButTheTruth posted at 3:19 pm on Sun, Jul 10, 2011.
KJDaVinci777, you and CooperG are a couple of losers and you can keep quoting the same lies over and over again and still Pearce will be victorious.
Masterrogue666 posted at 7:18 pm on Sun, Jul 10, 2011.
"There are an estimated 68,000 registered voters in LD-18."
"Of 18,000 signatures submitted, the Maricopa County elections office validated about 10,000 of them" -- What's NOT SAID is if 8,000 signatures FAILED to be validated or not.
So, from about 14.7% to 26.5% asked for a recall. It's easy to get that many signatures. It wouldn't be as easy getting a winning majority at the polls. I'm not too concerned. The MAJORITY of US CITIZENS are tired of the "business as usual" mentality ILLEGAL ALIENS (or Invading Foreign Nationals) have been receiving. What ever happened to EARNING citizenship like LEGAL IMMIGRANTS have?
If Pearce does happen to lose, I have no doubt another person will step foward to assist in the fight against the INVASION US citizens have had to endure over the last 2 decades. President Regan granted amnesty ONCE. It wasn't suppose to be given again. I knew then it was a mistake. Why? Around 3 million ILLEGAL ALIENS were granted amnesty in '86. Now there could be 25 million or more in the states. All it did was open the flood gates. If ANY FORM of amnesty is given again, the USA will have yet another flood to contend with in the years to come.
Twenty years ago, I wasn't too concerned as it wasn't that big of a problem. The problem wasn't that alarming. Things have changed. IT'S A BIG PROBLEM NOW, and the porous border MUST BE REMOVED. Two fences are working fine for Yuma. Time for the same to be done for the ENTIRE NATIONAL BORDER.
In_God_We_Trust posted at 8:25 pm on Sun, Jul 10, 2011.
I think you're right Masterrogue666. Some people sign those petitions without really caring what they are about too. One thing is for sure, this election will have a large turnout of Pearce haters and people who have become very concerned about the very real problems associated with uncontrolled immigration from the south. Pearce is more than just an Arizona phenomenon. He is a national leader who has helped pave the way toward getting a handle on a immigration problem that has spread past the southern border states to all states. That is why they want him so bad that they will waste so much time and money on a recall election that is all but already decided. He cannot lose because no republican with any integrity will run against him and no democrat could ever hope to win. I hope they get an early election date instead of the longer date so we can get this thing past us and start getting the job finished.
storminnorman posted at 12:54 am on Mon, Jul 11, 2011.
Either way I hope he runs for Govenor in the future.. Easy win for Pearce When the entire state votes..
NothingButTheTruth posted at 9:46 am on Mon, Jul 11, 2011.
storminnorman, the man has many options open to him. He could be our next governor if he wants to be, or he could run for Jon Kyl's US Senate seat when he retires. He could really do a lot for Arizona as a US Senator. Jeff Flake wants the job, but flake is a rino and soft on immigration just like McCain is and he wont get my vote. Sheriff Joe Arpaio would make a good governor too. Just imagine if Pearce became US Senator Pearce and Joe became Governor Arpaio. They could do so much more than they are able to do now to save the state and nation from the disastrous direction it's heading now under this Obamanation of a president.
RationalHuman posted at 7:06 am on Tue, Jul 12, 2011.
You know, if KJDaVinci777 used legible grammar, and didn't use ignorant, grade-school insults as if they were going out of style, I might have seen some substance in his comments.
As it is...someone forgot their meds.
In_God_We_Trust posted at 10:28 am on Tue, Jul 12, 2011.
KJDaVinci777 forgot to take his meds again? That's pretty obvious Rational. It's hard to tell what his politics are. Perhaps he should start his own party and call it the loonybin party.
In_God_We_Trust posted at 7:56 pm on Sat, Jul 16, 2011.
Please help a national and Arizona American Hero by donating to his recall election campaign. Senator Russell Pearce the author of Senate Bill 1070 is under attack from the liberal left for giving the state the authority to enforce the laws President Obama and Secretary Napolitano refuse to enforce.
These liberal leaders, who support Amnesty for those who broke our laws, are recalling Senator Pearce because of his leadership to secure our border.
Stand with him today and send President Obama, Secretary Napolitano and their liberal friends a message that we will never give up the fight to secure our borders.
National liberal groups are pouring thousands of dollars into the effort to remove Senator Russell Pearce from office. He needs your immediate financial support. Please donate as much as you can to support a true American Patriot, the author of SB 1070, and a leading voice to secure our borders.
http://protectanamericanpatriot.com/