Soft and cuddly this Mesa muttonhead will never be

I sure hope recalled ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce doesn't bow out of the GOP state Senate primary in Legislative District 25, as some have been speculatin' in the blogosphere.

Why? Well, because that would rob me of the immense pleasure of watching the 12-point loser get crushed yet again by a newbie Republican politician, in this case deep-pockets SkyMall-founder Bob Worsley. 

Also, it would leave me with one less deserving target of my invective. Pearce, disbarred former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, J.T. Ready, they're all falling by the wayside, all of the far right loonies. Well, not all, but some of the most heinous of the lot, that's for sure.

If Pearce stays in the game, that allows me a couple more months of material while I seek out new villains to torment. Material like the lame video above of a kinder, gentler Pearce, no doubt created by Pearce's creepy snake-in-the-grass consultant, the ever-slithery Constantin Querard. 

This thing is freaking hi-larious. The soft lighting. The living room setting. The attempt to make Pearce seem like a human being instead of an aggro bully-bigot who's one step away from donning a sheet and reenacting the Klan scene from O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Well, I hate to break it to you, Russ, but no matter how gentle you try to seem, no matter how many babies you hold for the camera (like the one at the end), and no matter how much you lie and claim that you're for improving education, you'll always be what you are: an ogre with a record of doing everything in your power to hurt this state's kids.

The last year you were in the Legislature, Pearce backed a budget that slashed $148 million from K-12 education. According to Education Week, Arizona currently ranks 44 overall out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Pearce has done nothing to help lift that ranking.

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A screenshot from the March 13, 2007 ADL forum where J.T. Ready was publicly exposed

I've often said that in Arizona you don't have to be a swastika-carrying neo-Nazi to have the same or similar beliefs. Which is why the presence of neo-Nazis and other right-wing wackjobs in the midst of the immigration donnybrook here in Sand Land has caused little or no outrage. 

And yet, when the rhetoric of hate leads almost inevitably to bloodshed, the rationalizations and excuses begin. In the case of murderous neo-Nazi J.T. Ready, the historical revisionism and denial of guilt has found its ultimate shill in wingnut anti-immigration advocate Linda Bentley, a way-loony scribe who masquerades as a reporter for the über-right Cave Creek freebie, Sonoran News.

Bentley's column this week deals with Ready's massacre of four unfortunates, including a baby girl, before reportedly turning the gun on himself. But the purpose of her column is not to decry the horror of what happened, commiserate with the victims, or discuss how the community should deal with the tragedy.

Nope, all Bentley cares about is covering for Ready's onetime associates, such as state Senate President Russell Pearce, and all the other nativist haters on Bentley's side of the fence. 

When it suited their purposes, they embraced dangerous radicals like Ready. Now that he's branded a baby-killer, they have an extra-special need to claim Ready was not part of their movement.

Buffalo Rick Galeener, second from right, in the audience of the March 2007 ADL forum

Here's what Bentley writes along those lines:

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One of Ready's final hate-grams, posted on Stormfront.org

Neo-Nazi J.T. Ready could be quite lucid and genial. Sometimes, he came off as an autodidact, widely read if not highly educated. That impression would last only so long, however. Inevitably, he would make some anti-Semitic or racist comment, or go off on some related tangent involving eugenics or the supposed superiority of Caucasians. 

You could tell he believed the insanity he was spouting.

The Anti-Defamation League, which dogged Ready for years, has released what it says are some of Ready's last online comments both to the white supremacist message board Stormfront.org and Youtube.  

More ravings, this time on YouTube...

ADL's blog reports that Stormfront erased Ready's account from its site not long after the Gilbert massacre in which Ready killed himself and four others, including a baby girl. But the ADL was able to retrieve Ready's messages, either through Google cache or through the responses other posters made to his racist blatherings.

The ADL's blog discusses these posts in detail. Here is an excerpt:

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One of my photos of Ready and Pearce working a crowd together in 2007

Why is it that some lies are so difficult to rebut? One reason: eviscerating untruths is made infinitely harder when the media is complicit in perpetuating them.

For many years, I've written about the ties between ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce (who believes it's the Legislature's "duty" to "reimburse" him $260,000 for money that his failed recall campaign spent) and well-known neo-Nazi, alleged kid-killer, and apparent suicide victim J.T. Ready.

And yet, Wednesday night, more than one TV news show uncritically reported Pearce's self-serving statement about his relationship with Ready, whom authorities believe offed himself and four others at a Gilbert home Wednesday afternoon. Some news anchors related the press release as if it were true, failing to challenge Pearce's skewed version of his own personal history.

As I've demonstrated on numerous occasions, Pearce is a serial prevaricator. I've spent a lot of time cataloging his dishonesty on several subjects, including his connection to Ready, to whom he was close at one time.

Indeed, the pair once were so close that Pearce attended Ready's baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and in 2004, Pearce ordained Ready an elder in the church's Melchizedek priesthood, an office held by adult men of the Mormon faith.

Pearce's entire statement on the Gilbert massacre is reproduced below. In it, Pearce paints himself as the victim, whining about reporters and editors calling him for comment. He accuses these journos of trying to "score the ugliest of political points off of this tragedy," when, in reality, calling a political figure who was at one time publicly affiliated with Ready is a no-brainer in light of current events.

In the statement, the erstwhile legislator admits to having known Ready but insists that he was ignorant of Ready's extremist views and associations when they were pals. Reports to the contrary are false, he insists.

"In the past several years, the local media has worked hard to try to tie me to the J.T. Ready that preached hate," Pearce asserts. "And that is nothing more than a lie. When I learned the truth about him, I made it clear how wrong I thought it was, and I worked to remove him from our party."

Pearce claims he thought Ready was just a stand-up ex-Marine, and that Ready's turn to the dark side only became evident later.

"At some point in time, darkness took his life over. His heart changed," Pearce writes. "And he began to associate with the more despicable groups in society. They were intolerant and hateful and like so many who knew him from before, I was upset and disappointed at the choices he was making."

And if you buy that, I've got a bridge in Lake Havasu I want to sell you.

A photo Ready texted me on April 17, which came with this message: "No bullshit today I was wearing same shirt as Russell in the pic today and didnt even know til dude @ circle k mentioned it in nt."

Pearce supported Ready's run for Mesa City Council in 2006. You can see video of Pearce endorsing him for that post in a mini-documentary videographer Dennis Gilman and I did on the Pearce-Ready relationship, here. It also includes a exclusive interviews with Ready and video of the 2007 speech mentioned below.

During 2006, Ready was involved in a strange, almost comical "shootout" with an illegal alien in Mesa as Ready drove back from a trip to Walmart. Other outlets reported on a 1992 aggravated assault charge in Florida that Ready had on his record.

Ready also told the press that he was courting the support of the Mesa Hell's Angels in his city council bid. If that's not a red flag, I don't know what is.

After Ready lost the election, the East Valley Tribune exposed his checkered history as a Marine, including the fact that he had been court-martialed twice, then drummed out of the military. 

In March 2007, the Anti-Defamation League of Arizona exposed Ready as a white-supremacist during a forum at the state Legislature on extremism in Arizona's anti-immigrant movement. Then state House member Kyrsten Sinema sponsored the event. You can watch video of that forum, here.

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All patriots must act now to prevent this parasite on the body politic from scoring $260K of taxpayer funds

Multiple sources at the state Legislature are informing me that former state Senate President Russell Pearce's $260,000 "reimbursement" will be added as an amendment to Senate Bill 1449, which I'm told will be in Conference Committee today at 4 p.m. in the State Senate Building.

The bill could go to both floors of the Legislature tonight for a vote.

SB 1449 is state Senator Steve Smith's baby, a proposed statute seeking to add a primary election to the recall process.

I've had Republicans tell me that there are votes on the Senate side to kill it, but I do not think we can rely on that happening unless there is an overwhelming show of outrage over this insidious effort to hand a quarter of a million dollars to a disgraced, recalled politician.

The only bright side is this: If it passes, it will be an albatross around the necks of Pearce, Smith, and any GOPer dumb enough to vote for it.

Granting Pearce this windfall -- when the Legislature can't fund KidsCare, when education is cut to the bone, and when the state is still suffering from economic doldrums -- should be criminal.

It's worth remembering that the folks who want to fill a suitcase full of taxpayer cash for Pearce are the same ones who refused to extend benefits to the long-term unemployed in 2011.

Disgusting.

To contact the Pearce lackeys behind this proposal, see my blog from yesterday, which includes all the contact info.

For now, on to the Capitol. Stay tuned for updates. 

UPDATE 8:09 p.m.: Have been busy following the murder-suicide in Gilbert involving former Pearce pal J.T. Ready, so I didn't make the hearing. 

The Capitol Times has a general round up of what happened. 

Basically, state Senator Steve Smith refused to allow public comment and had Randy Parraz of the pro-recall group Citizens for a Better Arizona removed from the hearing.

There's no money in the bill, but it allows for reimbursement in the future, should Pearce apply for it. And you know he will.

A number of Republicans have spoken out against this boondoggle, so its chances of passage remain uncertain. However, fanatic Pearce-worshippers such as Smith will no doubt push this proposal to the bitter end.

UPDATE 5/3/12: The AP reports that the Pearce reimbursement bill seems finally to be kaput.

Love this quote:

Democratic Sen. Linda Lopez said she'd received more than 150 emails critical of the proposal, "and they're still coming in. People don't know it's not going anywhere."

Pearce, looking to score $260K in taxpayer cash

The Capitol Times' Luigi del Puerto is reporting that the plot to cut a $260,000 check to recalled, disgraced former state Senate President Russell Pearce remains alive at the state Legislature.

I've heard the votes are not there in the Senate, but, hell, ya never know. Also, it's not in the budget, so how they would pull this one off is anyone's guess.

The big lie that Pearce's bootlickers in the legislature are spitting is that it's their "duty" under the Arizona Constitution to "reimburse" Pearce for the money his campaign committee raised and spent during the 2011 recall election, which Pearce lost by a whopping 12 points.

As I've written previously, this is a complete prevarication being foisted upon the public by a few sleazy politicians in Pearce's pocket, namely the following GOPers:

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Will pirate Pearce make off with the loot? Or is his dinghy sunk?

Is the effort by some GOPers to "reimburse" their erstwhile God, recalled state Senate President Russell Pearce, D.O.A.?

Just recently, the Arizona Republican Caucus Tweeted a response to statements made by Democratic state Senator Steve Gallardo that were critical of the right-wing plot to reimburse Pearce by $260,000, the amount Pearce's campaign spent during the recall election.

See, Gallardo, state Senator Leah Landrum-Taylor, Randy Parraz of Citizens for a Better Arizona, and others held a press conference today on the Senate lawn to condemn the proposal.

"Gallardo should read GOP Budget before he attacks it for reimubursing [sic] Sen. Pierce's [sic] campaign. It does no such thing," says the Tweet.

If the GOP caucus is making a commitment that the expenditure won't happen, that's grand. Its inability to get Pearce's name right, however, doesn't fill me with faith.

There's always the possibility that a last-ditch effort by Pearce partisans could delay a final vote on the budget so as to slip in a reimbursement to the 12-point loser. But there seem to be the votes in the state Senate to stop any such move.

More state budget details have just been released, and Pearce's payday is not listed anywhere. (Sniff. Poor baby.)

Indeed, GOPers may have stepped away from the cliff, according to the Arizona Republic.

I received this statement from Governor Jan Brewer's spokesman Matt Benson, when I asked if the governor would sign off on a quarter-million dollar reimbursement to Pearce: 

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Gangster Pearce, looking to make off with $260K of taxpayer moolah

Remember when I informed you of the trial balloon being floated by toadies of recalled state Senate President Russell Pearce, lickspittles who long to give their lord and master more than $260,000 of taxpayer funds because he had to endure a recall election, one he lost by a humiliating 12 points?

Well, it's no longer a trial balloon, it's a full-fledged push from Pearce's proxies in the state Senate and House, who claim that the Arizona Constitution requires them to grant Pearce the $260K.

Why, that's an argument an unabashed Pearce is making himself, telling a Capitol Times reporter today that he would have to give "serious consideration" to the proposal, and that state legislators have a "duty" to offer it to him.

A "duty"? Really? Isn't this why Pearce was recalled, because of such outrageous arrogance, and contempt for the public and the law? 

The effort to help Pearce cash in and recoup money that was donated to him during the recall election by lobbyists, political committees and individual donors is being spearheaded by two Republicans, state Representative Steve Montenegro and state Senator Steve Smith.

Montenegro and Smith, as well as other Pearce lackeys in the Republican Party, have been making this massive payoff a condition of a budget deal with Governor Jan Brewer. (See update below.)

Indeed, before the GOPers buried the hatchet with Brewer and began working with her again, they engaged in talks with Democrats over a possible budget agreement. 

Arizona Senate Minority Leader David Schapira told me that the Rs wanted to make Pearce's $260K-plus welfare check a requirement of any Democrat-Republican deal, an idea still alive and well in the state Senate.

As you might expect, it's a proposal Schapira finds repugnant.

"My understanding is that this new budget will include no new money for kids care," he noted. "Zero dollars for soft capital to buy new textbooks and computers, which haven't been purchased in three years in our school system. Zero dollars for those things, yet Russell Pearce gets $262,000. Talk about misplaced priorities."

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Pearce confronts DREAM Act students in 2010

I'll have more to say soon about recalled former state Senate President Russell Pearce's Tuesday appearance at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Senate Bill 1070. There was some good stuff in the nearly two hour donnybrook, especially from U.S. Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin, who gave Pearce a bit of a shellacking.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd share this unusual quote from Pearce regarding DREAM Act students, which occurs at about 1:24:19 in the C-Span video of the hearing:

"I've met with these students at ASU," Pearce tells Durbin. "I've met with a bunch of them that are in that status, and we even shared some tears together. Some of them are wonderful kids. And I don't know how you carve out -- the way this bill works it's always a blanket for everybody. Doesn't carve out individually. It's a blanket amnesty for those folks." 

Following the hearing, reporters from Arizona and elsewhere mobbed Pearce. Leave it to Channel 12's Brahm Resnik to ask Pearce the question I was most curious about; i.e., when and where did this tear-sharing actually take place?

"I was at the convention at the downtown during the last election, 2010," Pearce states at 1:50:01 in, "We went off in the corner, about a half dozen of us and I have to admit I was very touched. These were exceptional kids and I understood their plight, and again, that's why I say, exceptions I think can be carved out. But you can't just do blanket policies and forgive the world for breaking our laws. Or use taxpayer dollars to subsidize it."

Could Pearce be talking about this confrontation above between him and DREAM Act students, which took place on election night 2010, at the Hyatt in downtown Phoenix?

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Pearce, a parasite on the body politic, even in defeat...

Of all the trial balloons in the history of politics, this one most deserves to be shot down, stomped, incinerated, and spat on, with the remains dumped in the nearest landfill to rot.

Seems there's a cadre of hardcore Russell Pearce-worshippers in the state legislature that want to give the recalled state Senate President $260,000 of taxpayer money because he was made to undergo a recall election, which he lost by an embarrassing 12 points.

Apparently, the Pearce stooges are floating the idea as part of budget negotiations, which, as you may have read, have not been going so well.

Certain Republican lawmakers have stalled budget talks with Governor Jan Brewer, because they're not getting everything they want. As a result, Democrats in the legislature have been approached by recalcitrant GOPers with the possibility of deal-cutting. 

And guess what they want on the table for anything they might give the Ds? A big, fat payday for their hero and erstwhile jefe, the Fiesta Bowl-freebie-moochin' Pearce.

This rumor was first circulated in an e-mail edition of the Capitol Times, with quotes from an unnamed lawmaker ridiculing the possibility, calling it a "kamikaze mission," and saying the Ds would go along with it when Satan started building igloos in Hell.

I set about confirming this rumor, and sure enough I was able to do so, though of course no one was willing to go on the record. Still, the message was conveyed that giving Pearce a stack of the taxpayers' moolah is something the Republican caucus -- or at least the crazies therein -- wants.

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