Russell Pearce -- Infamous Already for Assaulting Arizona's Economy -- and His Ban Amnesty Now Hate Group Attack Local Businesses With Boycott
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| banamnestynow.com |
| Sean McCaffrey: Russell Pearce's cynical mini-me... |
One estimate released in November of 2010 pegged the loss of convention spending in Sand Land at $141 million as fallout from Pearce's Arizona Senate Bill 1070. Even if you don't buy that particular number, the boycott and backlash over 1070 have certainly affected Arizona's economy, and not in a good way.
But Pearce is so blinded by his hatred of Hispanics that he doesn't care about local businesses, as a good conservative should.
As far as this current boycott against New Times' advertisers goes, it's McCaffrey and Pearce's childish, cowardly reaction to tough criticism meted out by this writer.
For example, in one recent blog item, I discussed the slew of legal and ethical issues involved in Pearce's staying on as BAN president and as host of BAN's radio show on KFNX 1100 AM, while he campaigns for state Senate in Legislative District 25.
Indeed, BAN's status as a 501(c)4 tax-exempt organization should be in trouble because of Pearce's continuing ties to BAN. This is something McCaffrey admitted to me when we discussed BAN's hiring of Pearce in late January.
I also know that McCaffrey was personally upset that I had asked him to disclose BAN's tax forms, as 501(c)4 groups are required to do by federal law. I first asked for them in mid-February, and he stonewalled me until recently, when I made good on a promise to complain to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service if he did not comply.
BAN's tax form for 2010, the first year it was in business and the only one currently available, shows the organization's take for the year to be $102,480.
That's not bad, considering that McCaffrey started BAN in May 2010 -- and that he lost a major asset not long out of the gate, when Sheriff Joe Arpaio severed all ties with the organization.
(BTW, if you're curious, you can eyeball BAN's financial docs for yourself, here.)
As I reported in October of that year, McCaffrey messed up royally when he sent out an e-mail blast bearing Arpaio's signature as an "honorary national co-chair" of BAN, which claimed that "illegals" were plotting to steal the 2010 midterm elections. The e-mail also called on a "grassroots army" of "voter prevention volunteers" to waylay suspected illegal aliens at the polls.
Voter intimidation is illegal under the federal Voting Rights Act, and Latino groups were enraged. There were calls for the U.S. Justice Department to investigate, and Arpaio felt the heat, even though Arpaio's campaign manager Chad Willems claimed that Arpaio had never authorized his signature to be used on the e-mail.
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