Pearce's sleazy career as a pol will dog him all his days

The news that former state Senate President Russell Pearce is positioning himself to run again for the state Senate should surprise no one.

To be clear, Pearce hasn't yet announced his intention to seek that office. He's merely filed paperwork with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office that would allow him to do so.

But his recent election to the Arizona Republican Party's First Vice Chair position, his new paid gig as president of the nativist shill organization Ban Amnesty Now, and his comments to reporter Howie Fischer that, "I'm getting pushed by a lot of people to run," all signal that Pearce has finished crying in his oatmeal over his humiliating 12 point recall loss in November.

Literally, the 64 year-old has few other options, never having held a job in the private sector, unless you include the recent BAN appointment and the part-time stint as a Tuesday night talk-radio host that comes with it.

If Republican state Senator Rich Crandall seeks re-election, Pearce would face him in a primary, assuming Pearce runs, of course.

And by all means, I hope Pearce does run. Because I can promise I will be ruthless in reminding people of the mountain of sleaze that has been his career in public life.

Associations with right-wing extremists and a well-known neo-Nazi. Being fired from the Arizona MVD. His Fiesta Bowl freebies and contributions from Fiesta Bowl execs to him, being but three examples of this sleaze.

The campaign he and his functionaries foisted on the public this past fall should be, simply, the most recent reminder of what Pearce stands for.

The Pearce camp and its backers engaged in a long string of dirty tricks: a fake Twitter site, smears of the eventual victor state Senator Jerry Lewis, misleading robocalls seeking to suppress the vote, and, most notoriously, the sham candidacy of Olivia Cortes.

Cherny, stepping down as party chair to tackle CD9

It will be official shortly, but Andrei Cherny, Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, is stepping down today, in anticipation of a formal announcement of his candidacy for the Ninth Congressional District seat sometime next week.

The former Arizona Assistant Attorney General and policy adviser to the Clinton White House has chaired the party for the last year, offering a more vigorous and outspoken leadership style than his predecessor Don Bivens.

Cherny, 36, will take on former state Senator Kyrsten Sinema and state Senate Minority Leader David Schapira in the primary race for the Democratic nod. 

Congressman Ben Quayle has been considered a possible Republican contender for the CD9 general election, and many observers believe Quayle has been waiting to announce whether he'll run in the newly-formed CD9 or against fellow Republican U.S. Representative Davis Schweikert in CD6.

Pearce, now 1st Vice Chair of the AZ GOP

Ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce began slithering back into relevancy this Saturday during the Arizona GOP's winter meeting, held at Phoenix's Church for the Nations, where he was elected to the party's First Vice Chair position.

Despite an embarrassing 12-point loss to fellow Republican Jerry Lewis in November's recall election, Pearce remains popular with many state tuskers. His bid was endorsed by Arizona GOP Chair Tom Morrissey and various Republican office-holders

Though Pearce was running against a respected incumbent, Diane Ortiz-Parsons, when Morrissey announced the results at day's end, Pearce had crushed her, 669 to 443.

(The SeeingRedAz blog has a slightly different vote count, 668 to 441. The numbers I'm quoting above are what I heard Morrissey read to the assembled.)

One other stark result from Saturday's meeting: Congressman Ron Paul's name drew massive support in a presidential straw poll that served as a fundraiser for the party. 

Paul scored 256 votes to 20 for Newt Gingrich, 17 for Mitt Romney and 8 for sweater-boy Rick Santorum.

Young, intelligent and enthusiastic, the Paul supporters were a welcome, non-conformist presence. 

Otherwise, the day was dominated by Pearce's triumph over Ortiz-Parsons, and the sickening shadow of nativism, which darkens every aspect of the GOP in Arizona.

Carmona talks immigration, foreign policy and women's issues with Gilman and I

Above is a video of an interview videographer Dennis Gilman and I did with former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, now a candidate for the U.S. Senate. The interview took place at the state Democrats' winter meeting in Tucson.

Carmona's appearance at that meeting and his bid for the Democratic nomination were the subject of my recent column, "Richard Carmona Promises AZ Dems a U.S. Senate Seat."

Attorney and ex-Arizona Democratic Party chair Don Bivens is also vying to be the Dems' primary pick. Republican U.S. Senator Jon Kyl is vacating the seat.

Republican Congressman Jeff Flake and businessman Wil Cardon are the main contenders for the GOP nod.

Sylvia Allen: Bizarro-world politico

If you need an example of wigged-out, dysfunctional democracy verging on outright insanity, look no further than state Senator Sylvia Allen's Border Security, Federalism and States' Sovereignty Committee.

Here, Chairwoman Allen and a cadre of right-wing loons hold sway. Rational questions and reasoned arguments are dismissed with a flutter of Allen's hands. And those poking their heads in the room to interject a note of sanity are most unwelcome.

That was the case Thursday when Major General Hugo E. Salazar, Adjutant General of the Arizona National Guard, dropped by Allen's committee to express his concerns over Senate Bill 1083.

That bill, which is Allen's baby,  would create a state-sponsored "Arizona Guard" with four paid staff positions, an initial $500,000 from the state's general fund and an extra $1.4 million from gang task-force funds, all so that potentially hundreds of local, armed militia-types can run around on the border after "illegals."

Under the Arizona Constitution, Salazar is the commander of all state military forces and answers directly to the governor, and he would, in theory, bear responsibility for this new force as well. So you would think Allen would be eager to hear what the general had to say.

She wasn't. In fact, her face visibly dropped when Salazar approached the lectern before the committee, and explained that he had seen that the bill was on the day's agenda, so he decided to be present so he could make his concerns known.

"My real concern is...I really haven't been consulted on this bill," he told the committee.

Seems he and Allen had discussed the bill in her office, but that was about it. Otherwise, he explained, "I don't know what the plan is."

He hastened to state that he had no official position on the bill, but he had a number of worries, among them the fact that Allen's militia would be armed. 

Facebook

I'm guessing those stains will not come out in the wash...

The photo above showing seven young men with guns holding what seems to be a bullet-riddled T-shirt depicting President Barack Obama was, until recently, up on the Facebook page for Sergeant Pat Shearer of the Peoria Police Department.

The photo is captioned, "Another trip to the ranch," and features the comments, "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta," and, "They look like Gangsta's huh?"

"Gangsta"? That's so late '90s...

Not sure how "gangsta" it is to shoot-up a pic of the President of the United States, but I'm certain it's a constitutionally-protected activity. Heck, here in Arizona, I'm surprised public schools don't have target practice at Obama cut-outs during lunch break.

AZEIR

Julie Erfle, speaking on behalf of the Arizona Accord at the state Capitol

As I anticipated in a blog item late last year, the Arizona version of the Utah Compact, called the "Arizona Accord," was introduced to the public at the state Capitol yesterday. It argues for a rational, humane approach to immigration reform.

The accord's statement of principles, which you can read, here, mirrors almost word for word those of the Utah Compact, which was issued in November 2010, in advance of efforts by Utah legislators to pass a copycat of Arizona's breathing-while-brown statute Senate Bill 1070.

These principles acknowledge that immigration is a federal issue, emphasizing that, "Local law enforcement resources should focus on criminal activities, not civil violations of federal code."

That's at odds with the round-'em-up, ship-'em-home philosophy that still dominates the political discussion over immigration in Arizona. 

So, too, is the accord's opposition to the separation of families, it's acceptance of the "economic role immigrants play as workers and taxpayers," and its welcoming attitude toward new arrivals.

"The way we treat immigrants will say more about us as a free society and less about our immigrant neighbors," the accord reads. "Arizona should always be a place that welcomes people of goodwill."

Sadly enough, those are fighting words in Arizona, where nativism is as nasty and persistent as strain of MRSA.

PoliticoMafioso

Pearce and Cortes, as envisioned by the wags at PM...

Unless you frequent right wing blogs such as Sonoran Alliance or SeeingRedAZ, you may have missed the tidbit that disgraced ex-state Senator Russell Pearce has won the endorsement of Arizona GOP Chair Tom Morrissey for the unpaid position Pearce is seeking: First Vice Chair of the Arizona Republican Party.

Morrissey's endorsement was never in doubt. He's a stalwart Pearce backer, and spoke at a meagerly-attended rally on Pearce's behalf in Mesa during last year's recall election. 

Pearce is running against incumbent Diane Ortiz-Parsons, who, to judge by her website, is as conservative as Pearce. She also apparently has a good reputation, and is respected for the job she's done. 

But the consensus seems to be that, being that she's a Latina and that the biggest bigot in the state wants her job, she will be crushed when the vote goes down at this Saturday's state GOP meeting.

Lovely message some Arizona tuskers are sending, eh? If you're brown, we don't want you around, unless your name happens to be Olivia Cortes.

BanAmnestyNow

Pearce, the Prince of Prevarication, lands on the AM dial where he belongs

I've been staying up late nights worrying about disgraced former state Senate President Russell Pearce.

I mean, what's a washed-up nativist hatemonger to do for cash? Sure, he's been busy running for First Vice Chair of the Arizona Republican Party, but that won't put fatback on the griddle, being that it's an unpaid gig.

Well, now I can rest easy knowing that ol' Russ won't have to stoop to Food Stamps or supplementing his various government pensions with the occasional can of Alpo. 

That's 'cause Pearce is now the President of Ban Amnesty Now, the nativist shill group created by Sean McCaffrey, erstwhile executive director of the state GOP.

Pearce had been an honorary chairman of the organization, but that basically meant that BAN used Pearce's name to raise ducats.

But now, as Pearce will be front man for the org, he'll be compensated for services rendered, including his hosting of the BAN radio show Tuesday nights at 7 p.m.on KFNX 1100AM. 

"Starting off, he'll be the full time paid BAN employee, and we'll work to build a relationship around him," said McCaffrey. "We'll give him free reign of BAN and let him take it to new heights."

LD 29's Dan Patterson at the state Dems' winter meeting...

Videographer Dennis Gilman and I drove down to Tucson on Saturday to check out the Arizona Democratic Party's winter meeting, held at a local high school there. Among those we chatted with was state Representative Daniel Patterson of Legislative District 29.

Patterson spoke of efforts by Dems in the state Legislature to repeal both Sand Land's breathing-while-brown-statute Senate Bill 1070, as well as House Bill 2281, the state's ethnic studies ban.

Today, state Senator Steve Gallardo held a press conference at the Capitol to announce Senate Bill 1218, which would strike 1070 from the books if passed. Patterson was there with other Democrats to support the effort.

Patterson used to go head-to-head with ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce in committee back in the day. Indeed, Patterson's questioning of Pearce was once so intense that Republicans stripped him of his committee assignment in retaliation.

Of the mean-spirited anti-immigrant insanity the state GOP continues to foist on Sand Land, Patterson had this to say in the video: