Not that it's likely to happen, but I hope Russell Pearce, the President of the Arizona Senate, never finds it in his heart to publicly endorse or defend me. You see, he doesn't have a very good record.
Pearce of course is the author of Arizona's SB 1070 and the loudest anti-immigrant official in the state -- perhaps the nation. When he rode into the Senate Presidency this year, Pearce brought with him the swaggering cowboy bravado he picked up while serving alongside Joe Arpaio for more than 20 years, eventually becoming Deputy Sheriff.
Just as Sheriff Joe thinks the Constitution is for little people, King Russell immediately set about constructing his own government: he declared that lawmakers could carry weapons into the Capitol and chambers, even though nobody could say where that authority resides. Soon he drew up a blacklist that banned troublemakers from the Capitol buildings -- and horse-collared a few who tried to enter. Next he decreed that the public is not permitted to attend press conferences at the Capitol. We're just waiting for him to say reporters aren't allowed at his pressers.
Pearce has been pushing this authoritarian, even totalitarian, agenda during the early months of his reign. But karma is a bitch, and she's serving up a big helping of comeuppance. Mormons in Pearce's own district said he's a disgrace to their faith; one LDS elder even called him a "knuckle dragging closet racist," and there's a recall underway. Five of Pearce's far-reaching immigration bills were recently defeated by his own party. And everybody I can remember him endorsing hasn't fared too well.
1. J.T. Ready
Let's go back to 2006 and check out Senator Pearce endorsing J.T. Ready for a seat on the Mesa City Council. The Senator will tell you now that he doesn't really know Ready, a leader of Arizona's National Socialist Movement, a white supremacist gaggle of goonballs. But that's not what the video below shows, nor is it what good old J.T. himself says these days. It's not necessary to watch the entire 5-minute video, and I don't blame you if you can't, as you've rarely seen so many swastikas, brownshirts, and happy Hitler crackers in one place. But check out the first minute, and you'll hear Pearce say J.T. is "committed" to the right kind of government, and he's a "true patriot," so Mesa voters should elect him to the City Council.
Even in Pearce's ultra-conservative Mesa, where he has strong support, the voters didn't swallow this crap load of goose-stepping nonsense, and Ready was defeated. Today J.T. spends his time organizing the "Report an Illegal Day" on Cinco de Mayo, or he and his camouflaged, AK47-packin' storm troopers run around the desert hunting brown people. If you check that video again and jump to the 3:45 point, you'll hear J.T. rhapsodizing about the old days, when he and Russ would sit on the Senator's porch and tell Mexican jokes and toss around the N-word. This man could've been on the City Council of the 3rd largest city in the state, and the current President of the Arizona Senate endorsed him for that very seat.
Arizona 1, Pearce 0
2. Senator Scott Bundgaard
Another over-the-top conservative legislator, Bundgaard is Pearce's right-hand man in the Senate, where he is majority leader. Or he was. A "family values" guy, Bundgaard leapt into the headlines last month when he and his girlfriend got into a fight while driving on a Phoenix freeway. Bundgaard and Aubry Ballard were heading home after a local "Dancing with the Stars" event when the dispute erupted. According to witnesses, he pulled the car into the median, then fists were thrown, slaps were smacked, screams were screamed, and cell phones were tossed out of the Mercedes -- ending with Bundgaard dragging the young lady out of the car.
"He grabbed the woman and slammed her up against the cement barricade in between the freeway and started throwing her around." Arizona Republic
The police showed up, only to be told by the Senator that he could not be arrested because of legislative immunity, which is true. His girlfriend, now his ex-girlfriend, was taken into custody. If you want to see the whole sordid tabloid affair, here's a slideshow that features bruises aplenty.
In addition to slapping his girlfriend around, Bundgaard made at least three mistakes: at the scene he told police no punches were thrown (a lie); he told police he had not been drinking (probably a lie); then he later told the media the police lied when they said he invoked legislative immunity (not smart, calling cops liars). This incident was not Bundgaard's first run-in with the law: he once was arrested for stealing car stereos, and in 2006 he was charged with domestic violence against his then-wife.
Maybe it was party loyalty or the fact both men belong to the fraternity of women hitters, but none of Bundgaard's actions kept his pal Senator Russell Pearce from riding to Scotty's defense, deciding that he should keep his plum leadership seat:
Senate Republicans decided that [Bundgaard] is, still, the man to lead them. Or Senate President Russell Pearce decided it, and they just all went along like sheep because they owe him or they're scared of him. Arizona Republic
Well, another of the Senator's boys went down. First the GOP went over Pearce's head and stripped Bundgaard of his leadership position. Then this week the police said they will bring assault charges against the Senator. He does have immunity through the legislative session, but when it ends he can be charged.
Arizona 2, Pearce 0
3. Glenn Spencer
This old stain on the state has been an ally of Pearce's since at least 2008, when Spencer allowed Pearce to use his anti-immigration website to raise campaign funds. A couple weeks ago, one of Pearce's Committee Chairs, Senator Sylvia Allen, invited Spencer to be the only speaker before a Committee on border security. Why invite Glenn? Well, he's the President of the American Border Patrol, another vigilante group that monitors the border looking for illegals. Their speciality is little airplanes with cameras on-board. So Pearce and his Senator friends invited Spencer because he's an "expert," you see, on border security. There wasn't anyone else who fit the bill.
Turns out Spencer is an expert on a few other things. Old Glenn has his own radio program where he hosts guests like White Nationalist Jared Taylor. Spencer is a contributor to American Renaissance, a white supremacist publication, and he's spoken at conferences that endorse ethnic cleansing and other fun stuff. The Southern Poverty Law Center labels the American Border Patrol a hate group. Oh yeah, after Minutemen founder Shawn Forde killed Raul Flores and his 9-year-old daughter Brisenia near the Mexican border in 2009, she fled to Glenn Spencer's home and was arrested nearby. Nice friends he runs with.
Knowing all this didn't stop Pearce from speaking at a Tea Party confab at Spencer's California compound, where the Senator blabbered on about states' rights trumping federal law. Somebody toss this boob a copy of the Constitution.
PEARCE: "Do you know what existed before the Congress, the states? Do you know, you’re not a citizen of the United States. You’re a citizen of a sovereign state. The fifty sovereign states makes up United States of America, we’re citizens of those sovereign states." Think Progress
So when the media started to highlight the story that the Senate Committee had invited only one person to speak about border security, and that one person was a man with ties to white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazis, anti-semites, and other upstanding citizens, the Committee did some back-pedaling and un-invited him -- with no comment.
Arizona 3, Pearce 0
4. Tony Hill
Hill is Pearce's latest champion, his most recent "good man" who has "a real love for this country." Tony Hill substitute taught a class of 8th-grade students, most of whom were Hispanic, in Harold W. Smith Elementary School. Shortly afterwards, he sent a racist screed to Senator Pearce, saying that the students: a) would not Pledge Allegiance because they hate America, b) refused to speak English, c) didn't care about education and only want to be gang members, d) want Mexico to invade Arizona and take it back, e) believe all white people, including the teacher, are prejudiced -- and a host of other unpatriotic accusations you can read in Hill's letter at this link. He ends his statement thanking Pearce for "standing up to the invasion," a word laced throughout the Senator's border speeches. Pearce then asked Senator Lori Klein to read Hill's letter during a hearing where several immigration bills were being considered.
Although all of the bills were defeated, the controversy over Hill's letter continues. The legislature's Latino Caucus called for Senators Klein and Pearce to apologize for smearing all Hispanic children, who make up more than 40% of Arizona students, with this racist drivel. Klein appeared on FOX News and refused to apologize. After interviewing the students in the class Hill taught, the Glendale Elementary School District has fired back against the substitute's accusations, as has the school principal, writing to parents:
... the District believes that the statements made by Mr. Hill in regard to our students and school were not accurate. Students who were interviewed did not recall making or hearing any of the inflammatory statements attributed to them by Mr. Hill, and students also said they stood for the daily recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. ABC15.com
Parents have also spoken out, supporting the school and their children, as have other teachers at Harold W. Smith Elementary School. Finally, Tony Hill's own exit report does not corroborate the level of disobedience in his letter. True, on one line he wrote that the students "refused to act proper," but the space to describe "inappropriate behavior" is empty.
None of that, however, has stopped Russell Pearce from holding up Tony Hill as a paragon of classroom virtue. Check out Pearce's hokey-pokey defense of the substitute:
"What a shame. This man who was simply trying to be informative all of a sudden is being attacked, a teacher who has dedicated his life to children," he said, going on to call Hill a "good man."
"This is a real person who wrote a real letter who has a real love for this country. You never have to apologize for telling the truth. It was verified. All of it was verified." Arizona Republic
You gotta love that: Hill "is a real person." Well, shit, that settles it! As in all of Pearce's defenses, there's that lapel-pin "love of country" language (if you disagree with the Senator you don't), and here he adds that the guy "dedicated his life to children." Really? None of us really knows much about Tony Hill, but he's not even a regular substitute with any district; he works for a placement center called Teachers On Call. It shows how desperate Pearce is that he'd direct Klein to read a letter that confirms his Mexican-invasion fear-mongering, rather than a statement from someone who's been in the classroom for years, someone who has truly "dedicated" him/herself to students, someone like Representative Ben Arredondo, a 30-year teacher who said, "I have never seen kids talk like this" (video).
Suddenly, a man who taught one class on one day (a total of 9 substitute days during the year) is Pearce's go-to guy on education reform -- just like we should heed Glenn Spencer, the expert on border security. The legislature has been cutting the shit out of public schools and universities, but now, when the leadership finds one man who will corroborate their Latino-bashing views, they're interested in education!
Tony Hill says he never intended the letter to become public, he's turned off his phones, and the placement agency will not return reporters' calls. I don't think Tony is happy that Russell Pearce has come out swinging for him. The Senator's been striking out a lot lately.
Arizona 4, Pearce 0