Napolitano criticizes group's attacks on Pearce

Gov. Janet Napolitano has some advice for those hoping to defeat the state Senate bid of Russell Pearce: Stay out of his personal life.

Napolitano on Wednesday criticized a campaign being waged by a group called Mesa Deserves Better, which has sent two mailers to homes in the district of the Republican who has represented west Mesa in the House of Representatives for the last eight years. One brought up a 28-year-old court divorce filing by his wife alleging assault; the other said Pearce associates with neo-Nazis.

Group takes aim at Pearce's state Senate bid

The governor called that unnecessary, and Pearce has denied the accusations.

Napolitano said Pearce has a long record of actions he has taken as a legislator "that don't represent his district well." And that, the governor continued, should be the focus of the campaign, "not his personal domestic relations record or whatever it is they're throwing out there."

Pearce is facing a stiff primary challenge from Kevin Gibbons, who already has spent more than $62,000 that he has received in private donations. Pearce will get no more than $58,146 in public financing for his Senate bid.

On top of that, Mesa Deserves Better reports it already has spent nearly $8,100 on its two mailings. And another anti-Pearce group named Judgment Matters, headed by a labor attorney, has spent $6,900 in anti-Pearce efforts.

Napolitano said her defense of Pearce from the tactics does not mean she supports him.

"He knows that, his constituents out there know that," she said. "But I think there are ways to talk to voters about that beyond the personal attack."

One of the reasons the two independent groups are targeting Pearce is his sponsorship of sweeping legislation last year that allows a judge to suspend or revoke all state licenses of any firm found guilty of knowingly hiring undocumented workers.

That point, however, does not appear to be one that Napolitano believes should be an issue that she would use to defeat his Senate bid: The governor herself actually signed the legislation.

"Two atoms may collide occasionally," said gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer. "And these two people may agree once in a blue moon."

But L'Ecuyer said Pearce has a sufficient record of "shenanigans during his time in the Legislature" for voters to justify electing someone else.

Republicans in the district outnumber Democrats by a margin of close to 5 to 3 among registered voters. That would make it difficult for Judah Nativio, the only Democrat in the Senate race, to win in November.

But Napolitano, who has crossed political swords with Pearce repeatedly on a variety of issues, said that doesn't mean she believes GOP voters in the district would be better represented by Gibbons. "I'm not participating in the Republican primary out there," she said.