Yesterday at the Arizona State Capitol, Citizens for a Better Arizona (CBA), the group behind the recall of Senate President Russell Pearce, attempted to deliver a $212 unemployment check to the big bully. The check was dated Dec. 5, 2011, a day after the recall election will likely take place, when hopefully Pearce will need that unemployment benefit. According to Stephen Lemons, the recall group ...
went to the second floor of the state Senate building, but were denied access to the politicians who presumably represent them. A security guard called Pearce's office, but he was too busy to come out, natch. The security staff guy reluctantly called the office again, to inquire if anyone from Pearce's staff would come out and take the "check." New Times
CBA left the check with security, who said they'd deliver it. Pearce, whose entire career has been spent on the public dole, is fortunate to get his $212 weekly assistance payment, the highest amount Arizona offers. On the same day CBA attempted to deliver the big cardboard check to the author of SB 1070 and other mean-spirited legislation, the Arizona legislature adjourned a special session called by Governor Jan Brewer to extend jobless benefits without taking any action. They couldn't be bothered to change one word in Arizona's enabling legislation to trigger millions of federal dollars that would extend unemployment benefits another 20 weeks, a move the Feds had already approved.
Fuck you assholes. The extension from 79 to 99 weeks would've cost Arizona nothing. Providing this extremely minimum safety net to thousands of living-on-the-edge families had the support of the Governor, who believed (wrongly) that the legislature had agreed to the deal, and called the session a "meltdown." Those pinko bastards at the Arizona Department of Economic Security also backed the extension, emphasizing the $3.2 million that the jobless program pumps into the state's economy every week.
Still, Pearce and his hateful minions, who said unemployment benefits "make people lazy," ended the special session without doing a damn thing -- meaning that 15,000 people will be dropped from the program this week, and another 30,000 soon afterward. The knuckle draggers at the legislature had time this session to pass a bill designating an official state weapon, they had time to debate and pass legislation creating a Tea Party license plate, but when it comes to the welfare of tens of thousands of their struggling constituents -- eh, not so much.
"The issue isn't unemployment," said Senator Sylvia Allen, a bulb so dim you'll never see it without night-vision goggles. She must patent "WTF Moments at the Legislature." The wackadoodle legislator, whose rural district has an unemployment rate approaching 16 percent, earned her 15 minutes of fame last year with her "Earth is 6,000 years old" brain fart during a committee hearing. Now, it's not unemployment that's the "issue," she says, it's unemployment benefits and other "socialist principles" that are behind Arizona's plunge into a very deep and smelly economic cesspool. The friggin' "issue" for Allen is not the people out of work; it's the obligation of the other two legs of the democratic stool, government and business:
"The real issue [Allen said] is we have destroyed thousands of jobs in Arizona and America because of progressive, socialist principles that have been in place for years." Arizona Republic
Allen is a realtor in the White Mountains, so she knows a little about the socialist programs that provide incentives for developers in her region, the tax write-offs her homeowners depend on, the agricultural and mining subsidies she champions, and the federal dam-building projects that make the dang state possible. However, it's not those welfare handouts that Allen, Pearce, and the other loonies want to end. It's not handouts from government to corporations that are the "issue," it's those damn jobless benefits to people that "make them lazy" (because $212 a week is such a whip-ass incentive to not look for work). Allen's district is also near the now-largest fire in Arizona's history, so maybe the Senator, whose re-election website shouts "For the Love of the Land," would be hunky dory with sending home those Marxist fire fighters and emergency responders. This is what government is for first: to serve those in need. From firefighters to unemployment officers.
Sylvia Fucking Allen is one of the biggest goddamn balls of crazy in state government. Check out her response to the "6,000 Year" controversy, and then smoke on this: she sits on the state's Education Committee! Allen was appointed to the legislature, with little relevant experience, to replace Jake Flake when the Big Man died. I didn't agree with Jake on most things, but he was a good old boy who loved Arizona, and if you stayed in that arena, he was a tremendous ally. Like a lot of those big-belt-buckled old-timers with stuff on their shoes, he could play rural dumb but wasn't. Allen doesn't play dumb. She breathes it and belches it in your face. She and other lunatic legislators from northern Arizona would love to turn the whole damn place over to corporate loggers, miners, builders. Clear-cut those friggin' trees anyhow, then there won't be fires! Really, that's the pitch we're hearing.
Pearce Recall Signatures Filed
Meanwhile, CBA submitted more than 18,000 signatures to the Secretary of State, of which only 7,756 valid John Hancocks are needed to schedule a recall election for Pearce's seat. Even though a few thousand signatures were tossed by the Secretary of State's Office when the petitions were received, after examining slightly more than half of the list,
Officials have informally verified 6,067 of the 7,756 signatures needed to call a special recall election for Senate President Russell Pearce, according to the Maricopa County Recorder's Office. Arizona Republic
So far, it looks like more than 60 percent of the signatures checked are valid; extrapolate this and it's safe to say 10,000 or so will be approved, far more than the 7,756 needed. Governor Brewer, then, will have 15 days to call an election, once the final tally is authorized.
For his part, Senator Pearce has been blaming the recall on "outsiders," which is a load of malarkey, since the leaders behind the recall are from Arizona, if not Pearce's own district, and the overwhelming majority of CBA donations came from Arizonans:
Recall organizer Randy Parraz said his group, Citizens for a Better Arizona, had not accepted corporate funds and doesn't plan to. He said the recall effort had raised more than $25,000 from individual and political-action committee donations, with more than 90 percent coming from Arizonans. Arizona Republic
Still, two weeks ago Pearce told Fox's Greta Van Whats-her-face,
"These are far leftwing anarchists...they're after Joe Arpaio, they're the folks that are against all enforcement with extreme measures and distortions, you know it's sad." Fox10.com
There goes Pearce's McCarthy hand puppet again with its "folks that are against all enforcement with extreme measures and distortions." Yup, your critics are all a gaggle of "extreme" open border freaks who oppose any regulation, "distort" reality, and suck Stalin's balls. I shared a closet with Patty Hearst. Listen to one of Pearce's interviews, and it's a big barrel of paranoia sketched by Escher-like maddening logic. Yeah, Russ, let's look at the "outside anarchists" behind your recall:
Chad Snow, the recall campaign's chairman has lived his whole life in Arizona. All of his family dwells here. He attended Glendale Community College, went on to ASU, and got his law degree there.... As far as the volunteers involved in gathering signatures, all of them have to be registered voters. Many of the signature collectors I've spoken with are from Pearce's district. And many are Republicans. Some are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, just like Chad Snow. (Note: LD18 is heavily Mormon.) New Times
According to Campaign Chairman Chad Snow, who sounds like he sits around nights reading from Che Guevara's books, he ...
has support from people you'd think would be Russell Pearce's base, elderly people, Republicans, members of the LDS church across the board are very fed up with his policies where he is taking our state. Fox10.com
There's Arizona's leftwing conspiracy for you (Pearce called it a "cartel"): Elderly Republican Mormon voters from the Senator's own district. Many were already fed up with and embarrassed by his Mexican hate-mongering; this latest kick in the teeth to the unemployed only amplifies Pearce's pettiness. Real Christian. But then we remember that he is a disciple of moon-barkin', communist sniffin', John Bircher and Mormon end-of-timer Cleon Skousen, not exactly the lamb of god. It's not too difficult to draw a very straight and solid line from Skousen's white, male, Mormon theocracy to Pearce's authorship of SB 1070.
At the same time this criminal and bigoted blowhard was whining to Greta's Fox toadies that "outsiders" and "anarchists" are behind the recall, he sought an opinion from the AG about whether he could accept outside corporate funds to fight the recall! Fellow anti-immigrant traveler Tom Tancredo even sent an email (illegally perhaps) asking for contributions:
Team America, a political-action committee headed by former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., sent an e-mail blast Friday soliciting corporate and private donations for Citizens Who Oppose the Pearce Recall. Arizona Republic
I hope the Coen brothers have bought the rights to this story. It's got it all: Nazis, wife beating, criminal children, campaign finance fuckups, mouth-frothing racism, forgery. The Pearce Saga is loaded, an AMC series perhaps, like "Breaking Bad." Goddamn Faye Dunaway would make us believe in Jan Brewer's headless bodies. I wish Rod Steiger were still here to play Pearce. Throw in the great Edie McClurg (rental car agent in Planes, Trains ... also in Ferris Bueller) as Senator Sylvia Allen, and you've got yourself an Emmy winner. The proceeds of which should be shared (socialistically) with the people who've had to swallow this garbage. Hey, if Alaska can sell its crude to benefit everyone, we should be able to market our stupidity.