Another step toward removing Sen. Pearce
Yesterday, the Arizona Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for the recall election of Senator Russell Pearce to be held on November 8. It has been a difficult uphill battle for the concerned citizens in Pearce’s 18th district, with Pearce’s attorneys using every available legal tactic to stall or stop the recall process.
As I noted in an earlier post, Russell Pearce is most noted for being the author of Arizona’s infamous SB 1070. He is also known locally for being the author of Arizona’s Anchor Baby bill and many other discriminatory anti-immigration initiatives over the past few years. In addition, Pearce is remembered for being the chief architect of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Tent City program when he was a deputy Maricopa County sheriff.
The stop-the-recall effort initiated by the Tea Party in Pearce’s district is now using “dirty-election” tactics to keep Pearce in office. There are two candidates who obtained the required number of signatures to run against Pearce in November. One of them, Olivia Cortes, is a Tea Party plant, put on the ballot to split the vote of Pearce’s opposition. A petitioner, paid to get Cortes on the ballot, explained the Tea Party tactic in the video below:
“She (Cortez) is just a buffer. The people who won’t vote for him (Pearce) will vote for both Lewis (the favored opponent) and for her, and then Lewis can’t get all of that vote.”
As Stephen Lemons notes in the above video, as well as in his article in The Phoenix New Times, Olivia Cortez was recruited by Greg Western, the Chairman of the East Valley Tea Party (and "coincidentally" a member of her church), to run for Pearce’s seat.
The Mesa citizens who signed Cortez’s petition do not have any intention of voting for her in November. They will be voting for Russell Pearce.
Cortez is a retired factory worker who has never held a public office or been involved with local politics. In her current campaign, she has never made a public appearance and will not speak to reporters. However, she has received a considerable amount of campaign funding for posters and local advertisements – Just enough to dilute Pearce’s opposition vote.
Please view the above video to gain an understanding of how low a local Tea Party group will go to destroy the democratic process.
They call themselves the true patriots in this country?
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Cenk Uygur
Oryoki Bowl
Robert Greenwald
Frank Michels
Kent Pitman
markinjapan
Salon.com
Comments
As Bill Mahar says the Tea Party is a cult, or something way to close to it that responds more to emotional appeals than rational thinking.
.
Scary.
You’ve brought up an extremely important point. The Tea Party has nothing to do with looking out for “the will of the people.” They have been “taught” through very clever manipulation by the moneyed-elite that, “Those that lead have unlimited Authority to act on behalf of those who follow.”
In the past, we would have called this Fascist Oligarchy. Today we call this Tea Party patriotism.
“When Fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving a cross”
the fact that there are phoney candidates should be proof that the wishes of the electorate are less important to your masters than their own power and profit. if that doesn't remind you of feudal society, you skipped too many history classes.