No, he's not that Jerry Lewis, not that it wouldn't be fun, watching the nuttiest professor and the nuttiest legislator debate one another. But for folks in Arizona's District 18 in Mesa, today's strong hint that school executive, Mormon leader, Republican, and 30-year Mesa resident Jerry Lewis will challenge Senate President Russell Pearce in the November 8 recall election provides voters a clear choice ... and a tremendous headache for the author of SB 1070.
"It's just been a real groundswell of support from so many people wanting to have a positive image for District 18, a positive image for the state Arizona, that have come to me," Lewis said Tuesday in a phone interview. "Frankly, I agree with their request and that's the only reason why I would even consider going against anybody." ... Lewis said he’ll make a decision today whether to run and he is scheduled to hold a press conference about it Wednesday. He has, by all means, already sent enough signals confirming his candidacy. AZ Capitol Times
Given District 18's very conservative bent -- they've re-elected numbnuts Pearce a half dozen times after all -- there is no way a Democratic challenger would have a prayer in hell of unseating the bigoted buffoon. For that reason, no credible Democratic candidate has emerged, because the party does not want to siphon off anti-Pearce votes from a more credible Republican. And that's what Lewis is, the perfect Republican challenger, which is why Pearce's goons are already oiling the machinery that will be used to smear the man.
Last week, for example, Governor Jan Brewer sent an email blast touting Senator Pearce as a great American hero: there will be "no hope" and "no peace," the hair-on-fire Governor wrote, without Russ back in the legislature. Pearce has made Brewer's tenure a living hell with his far-reaching immigration bills -- some even too extreme for his own party to pass. But the Governor does owe her current position to Pearce, since she climbed aboard his anti-immigrant express during the 2010 campaign and rode it into the Governor's Office.
On the same day Brewer emailed her fear-mongering drivel, Pearce's attorneys filed a claim to halt the November 8 election because, they said, the grassroots drive to collect signatures was not completed on appropriate petition forms. Stephen Lemons has countered Pearce's lame-ass, Hail Mary arguments point-by-point, but it comes down to this: the Secretary of State's Office designed the recall form and verified the 10,000+ valid signatures (roughly 7,700 were needed). To argue that the forms and process were incorrect is to say the Secretary of State's Office doesn't know its job. Oral arguments for the case will take place August 8, but since the Secretary of State and the Maricopa County Elections Department will both speak in support of the recall process, it's unlikely the November 8 election will be delayed.
At the same time, rightwing blogs and media have been busy, arguing that the success of the recall was due to "massive voter registration fraud." This ludicrous story from the Sonoran News was repeated verbatim in winger websites here and across the country, even though it's full of malarky. There were precisely two cases of fraud mentioned in the article, out of more than 18,000 signatures submitted, and one of them turned out to be an innocent woman who the rightwing websites smeared as an "illegal." She isn't, she's an American citizen.
Other twits have been dropping threatening hints that any Republican who challenges Pearce won't get the party's support, even if they win:
Constantin Querard, a political consultant who will run an independent expenditure group to help Pearce keep his seat, said a successful challenger would also be considered a "pariah" by fellow Republicans and would be an ineffective legislator. AZ Capitol Times
Bullcrap. Sure, there are enough goobers in the legislature who want to see King Pearce remain in power. But it was clear during the March vote on several extreme immigration bills that Pearce introduced, when many in his own party defected, that there are more than a few GOP legislators, and certainly more than a few Republican business leaders, who'd love to see the blowhard booted from office.
But the wingnut machinery keeps rolling on, and this week we learned that one of Pearce's staunchest allies in the war against brown people, former Congressman Tom Tancredo, filed papers to set up a group to aid the Senator:
Thursday, the "Committee To Oppose Recall of Russell Pearce" filed paperwork with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office, allowing it to raise money to save Pearce's hide. It's headquarters? Vienna, Virginia, 12 miles away from Washington, D.C.
Both its treasurer and its chairman are non-Arizonans: The latter is ex-Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, and the former is Angela "Bay" Buchanan, sister of wingnut Republican Pat Buchanan. Tancredo and Buchanan are co-chairs of the Team America PAC, a rabidly nativist organization that just loves bashing Mexicans and supports any politician doing likewise. New Times
Google "Team America" and the first thing you'll see is a page of links to the movie of the same name, made by the creators of South Park. Farther down the page is the link to Tancredo's Team America cartoon, which isn't so funny. His website's front page blasts Obama for any Hispanic program he's supported; calls La Raza "a racist, anti-American organization"; and labels Hilda Solis a "pro-amnesty advocate." And you'll find links to some mighty fine organizations like VDARE, FAIR, and the Center for Immigration Studies, all far-right anti-immigrant mouthpieces.
During the recall drive, Senator Pearce regularly accused Citizens for a Better Arizona, the group that led the recall, of being a hand-puppet for "outside" extremists. The truth is that CBA's co-directors are both Arizonans and many pavement-pounding volunteers came from Pearce's conservative district. Of course, every one of the more than 10,000 valid recall signatures were from Pearce's own district, not sprinkled over the petitions by some "outside" voter fairy. Further, CBA refused to accept corporate money and more than 90 percent of the donations they received were sent by Arizonans. Pearce and his toadies just can't handle the truth that thousands of citizens in his own district, many of them Mormon Republicans, can't stand the peckerhead's guts.
In early June, before they had even filed papers, Tancredo's group sent an email blast nationally, begging for cash to help Russ:
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.
"Russell needs a quick infusion of funds to get his campaign started," said the e-mail, from Team America co-chair Bay Buchanan.
"Because it is a recall effort corporate funds are welcome and contributions are unlimited!!" Arizona Republic
I bolded that last sentence to show what corporate ball-suckers these guys are. Whereas CBA ran a grassroots campaign that collected almost all of its donations from private citizens here in Arizona, Team America knows they need the Kochs and similar corporate a-holes in order to compete against the will of the people.
I also bolded it because it's flat-out wrong! Arizona elections law prohibits corporate and union money in political campaigns. So any corporate donations Team America received from that June email blast cannot be used to help Pearce. Further, any donations they received, from businesses or people, cannot be used, because the numbskulls had not filed the proper paperwork to establish their pro-Pearce circle jerk before sending the email!
Pearce complains that CBA is run by outsiders when it's his campaign that's being supported and managed by DC-based goonballs and "outside extremists" like VDARE. Pearce complains that the recall drive did not use proper forms, when it's his campaign that can't get its paperwork right.
Wait for it: By tomorrow Pearce's machine will start smearing Jerry Lewis as an "outside" agitator and an open-border extremist. No doubt they'll also mention that the French really like his movies, and we know how they are.