Fake candidate Olivia Cortes testified in court last week that she didn't know who had spent thousands of dollars to gather the signatures to put her name on the November ballot in the recall election of Arizona Senator Russell Pearce -- author of SB 1070 and stacks of other racist and mean-spirited legislation. She didn't know who paid for and posted her campaign signs; she didn't know who created and monitored her website; and she didn't know who was sending press releases and soliciting donations under her name.
But she also didn't seem too concerned that someone was helping her, someone she didn't know. Nor did it seem unusual to Cortes that the people accused of fronting her campaign also worked for or supported her opponent, Senator Russell Pearce.
It was clear then, even to the judge hearing the case, that Cortes was indeed what critics have been calling her all along: A shill candidate meant to dilute votes from anti-Pearce citizens in Mesa who otherwise would likely vote for Jerry Lewis, the Senator's main challenger.
After Friday's hearing Judge Edward Burke said it was obvious Cortes was recruited by Pearce supporters, but he had no legal reason to kick her off the ballot. Another hearing was scheduled for this Friday, when new evidence that Cortes was a plant for the Pearce campaign would be introduced, but within the hour Cortes put an end to her magical misery tour:
Controversial candidate Olivia Cortes has withdrawn from the District 18 recall election. Cortes notified the Secretary of State's Office Thursday morning that she is pulling out. She had been accused of fronting a sham campaign to pull votes away from Jerry Lewis, who is challenging state Senate President Russell Pearce in the Nov. 8 recall. She was not immediately available to comment. Arizona Republic
Since lawyer Tom Ryan was about to call to the stand and put under oath Russell Pearce's brother, a judge, and other family members -- people we know were involved in the Cortes scheme -- that might have provided a bit of incentive for her to exit the race. It also appears that her dropping out was part of a deal with Cortes's lawyer to avoid a lawsuit, said Ryan.
"The Pearce forces did not want this hearing to go forward tomorrow, for the same reason I don't order steak at an East Valley Denny's. In both instances, we know it won't go down well." New Times
This entire saga only helps Pearce's remaining opponent, Republican Jerry Lewis. I've written several diaries about the lengths to which the Pearce team would go in order to undermine Lewis's candidacy -- from lying smears, to fake news articles, to meaningless legal maneuvers. None of which paid off.
But it was the Cortes sham that caught the attention of both the mainstream media and the public, demonstrating to voters how deceitful Pearce and his flunkies are. They thought Cortes's name on the ballot would siphon votes from Hispanics and women, many of whom hate Pearce's policies, but the strategy has clearly backfired. Pearce and the Tea Party were made to look like the goons they truly are: a gaggle of lying, corrupt, arrogant, ends-justify-the-means pinheads. Unfortunately for Senator Pearce, the debate from now until November will be about this -- not his fear-mongering over immigration.
It's no longer speculation, it's proven: The Tea Party and other GOP operatives recruited Cortes to run, paid for petitioners to collect signatures to put her on the ballot, created and monitored her website, wrote and sent her news releases, and posted her campaign signs -- all without her knowledge (she says) or her money. For her part, Cortes, a retired single mother with absolutely no political experience at any level, comes off as a useful idiot. In the one TV interview she granted and during Friday's court testimony she appears as a bumbling fool who has no understanding of what she's involved in, and no knowledge of the issues that concern voters in District 18. South Carolina's Alvin Greene looks downright polished by comparison.
Score one for the good guys. Now let's hope that this controversy, combined with the other hullabaloos surrounding Senator Pearce's anti-immigrant, homophobic, anti-women, anti-healthcare, anti-education, and piss-poor economic development policies will send him packing on November 8.
Recall Pearce