I am white and from Mesa, and I'm proud to say I don't support SB 1070, and I don't support Russell Pearce.
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Russell Pearce Seems Incapable of Telling the Truth, Even About His Own Religion
When a man is so duplicitous as to mislead others about his faith, what does it say about his character?
Stephen Lemons
Russell Pearce faces an uphill battle to become a state senator again.
The question is more complicated in the case of former state Senate President Russell Pearce, because he's been caught fibbing about his religion before, during his failed effort to win in last year's recall election.
Pearce's 12-point loss was a result of many factors, not the least of which were the efforts of fellow adherents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, most of them Republicans.
Fed up with Pearce's bigotry and bullying, and troubled by the black eye his Mexican-bashing was giving their community, Mesa Mormons recruited political neophyte Jerry Lewis, an LDS member who could appeal to conservatives and moderates alike.
Ironically, the Pearce camp was of great assistance in Lewis' double-digit victory.
Because at the core of Pearce's campaign was intrinsic dishonesty. His friends, family members, and supporters engaged in a slew of dirty tricks, foremost being Olivia Cortes' sham candidacy, a shameless attempt to dilute the vote in favor of Pearce.
All this backfired to Lewis' benefit, of course, resulting in the historic recall of a sitting state Senate President, one who had predicted that he would win the contest handily.
Now, just four months later, Pearce has announced his run for the state Senate in newly formed Legislative District 25.
And, again, Mesa Mormons have recruited a political newbie, Republican LDSer Bob Worsley, founder of the lucrative SkyMall catalog, to best the bad seed in their midst.
Arizonans have seen this flick before, and we know how it ends, even if a clueless Pearce seems to be mimicking Bill Murray's role in Groundhog Day.
At a packed meeting of Legislative District 18 Republicans last year, Pearce told his most politically damaging lie yet, claiming that the LDS church had green-lighted his breathing-while-brown legislation, Arizona Senate Bill 1070.
"I got hold of the church headquarters in Salt Lake," Pearce avowed. "And they said they absolutely do not oppose what Arizona is doing."
When video showing Pearce making this statement surfaced, the LDS church smacked down Pearce — hard.
Contacted by Channel 12's Brahm Resnik for comment, LDS spokesman Michael Purdy said that the church had not taken a stand "on any specific immigration legislation in Arizona."
Purdy also said, "We have made our position on immigration clear. The church believes that an enforcement-only approach is inadequate."
But this message meant nothing to Pearce. One week before the announcement of his LD 25 run, Pearce repeated the canard when confronted by a caller on his Monday-night radio show on KFNX 1100 AM, sponsored by the nativist organization Ban Amnesty Now, of which Pearce is president.
"I called [the church's] PR room personally," Pearce contended. "They said they were not opposed to Senate Bill 1070."
Pearce added: "They simply, as a compassionate plea, talked about their concern [for] families. The appropriate thing on their side . . . I mean, the message was a little confusing to a lot of folks. But lie? I have never done that."
I e-mailed Pearce's comments to LDS headquarters, seeking a response. Church spokesman Eric Hawkins wrote back to me with the following reply:
"The church's position on immigration is principle-based and applies universally. Any position adopted by individual politicians or members is theirs alone and does not indicate the endorsement of the church."
He continued, "I know of no communication with Russell Pearce. When asked about our position on immigration by anyone, we have consistently explained that we believe it is important for any legislation to balance the three principles [previously stated by the church] and that 'enforcement only' approaches were not sufficient."
The three principles, as detailed by the church's 2010 declaration of support for the Utah Compact, a document advocating humane solutions to America's immigration problems, include: Jesus Christ's teaching to love one's neighbor, opposition to the separation of families, and the right of every nation to enforce its laws and secure its borders.
Lest anyone be confused by that last point, the church added in the same message that public officials should "create and administer laws that reflect the best of our aspirations as a just and caring society."
In June 2011, the church reiterated its stance in starker terms, demonstrating its concern that "any state [immigration] legislation that only contains enforcement provisions is likely to fall short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God."
SB 1070 is not mentioned, but it certainly falls into the category of enforcement-only immigration legislation.
This is not the only lie Pearce has repeated lately.
On the same radio-show episode where Pearce restated his whopper about the Mormon Church and SB 1070, another caller wondered why he was fired in 1999 as head of the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division.
As he's done before, Pearce depicted his ouster as unrelated to any wrongdoing on his part, making it sound as though he garnered a pink slip because of a change in gubernatorial administrations.
"I was the last Fife Symington appointee to go under Jane Hull," he insisted. "Badge of honor . . . I did nothing wrong, ever. It was simply a political process."
117 comments
I love reading about the polital mess that is AZ. You guys have such interesting people...DA's who charge Judges and others with crimes when there was no investigation YET or lawyers lying to other County attorneys...and it goes on and on and on. If they did a movie about AZ no one would believe any of this stuff.
alot of cia and ,nsa,dia is infected with these goons,,,ex army general is a satanist.....is well known they kill people.....satanists..burn em up,no evidence....also the cia ect is full of nazi's brought over from ww2.....
cia and ex fbi say teens abucucted and sacrificed...its an old evil cannanite thing....of mason elite politcians.... nver walk beaches alone,alot have gone missing,covered up as murders,blamed on families or made up as missing kids....,police join masons globally ,also racist nihilists..
watch towr mormons is a nwo front,they can only go to people doors and hope,philapelhia is there evil hot bed...and utah....where they hide bodies in caves abucted teens...
incapablity brown..... please read my twitter things on nwo illumanti mineerva schoool,,minerva is actually statue of liberty...
Our son was a missionary and he still won't talk about it. He did take the blood oath, dontcha know?
They excommunicated Deborah Laake, award-winning journalist and editor at New Times for exposing their "secret ceremonies." She finally did kill herself over it all. Just learned that recently. Breaks my heart, breaks, breaks, breaks my heart. And speaking of filthy liars, anyone making a Mitt list? Anyone reading about the white horse prophecy? Maybe Russell thinks he is the anointed one. He sure acts like it.
Doesn't his church excommunicate people for moral as well as actual crimes? What about his son? Is that creep still a member? Don't they both have records of domestic violence? Last I heard, the son was in jail. Any updates? And we won't get into fat, power tripper, cop syndrome. Adding Reince Priebus to the list. Subtle upper lip lisp. comparing the GOP war on women to a war on caterpillars. And filthy liar, to boot.
I began studying politicians' upper lips. It began with John Mitchell during the Watergate hearings. Insufficient or distorted, crazy crooked, like their minds and their words. I have quite a list: G.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Ben Nelson, and many others. Russell Pearce is maybe the worst. Even this profile photo reveals the crazy ripple there. Call me kinky or whatever, but my theory is that they were teased in high school and got into politics to get revenge. Just remember, politics is show business for ugly people. Check it out for yourself; make your own list. Most belong to right-wingers and most have what I call the Republican lisp. Watching RP is like pressing on an abscessed tooth for me.
It is time to start boycotting businesses that advertise in this liberal, pro illegal alien rag.
WHEN RUSSEL PEARCE IS SUPPORTED BY THE MORMON CHURCH IN MESA AZ. : Than the Mormons are no church - THEY ARE BIASED BY IDIOTIC DECISIONS - DECISIONS TO STOP ILLEGALS @ THE BORDER, BUT HIRING THEM AT HOME TO REMODEL THE KITCHEN, GARDEN, LANDSCAPE - AND PAY THEM CHEAP DOLLARS. WE ALL KNOW THAT!!!! WE ALL KNOW THAT!!!! A WHOLE AZ INDUSTRY HAS LIVED FROM THEM. CHEAP LABOR. AND GUESS WHAT - NOBODY CAN STOP THEM - IN 25 YEARS THE SOUTHWEST IS HISPANIC - THANKS TO IMMIGRATION.. AND DRUG USE BY WHITE SUPREMACIST AMERICANS AND OLD FAME BORDER ACTORS!
I am no fan of Pearce, but what disturbs me is that a majority of Americans support SB1070 and yet it is being blocked. When I see rallies against SB1070 and Pearce, there is always an abundance of illegals present (they are proud to tell us they are there). If this is truly a Democracy, why not get this out of the courts and just put it to a vote. Then maybe we could get our politicians and courts working on real issues that impact our lives everyday.
Plain language ......sb1070 does not pass constitutional. muster........thats more important than who is for or against. it......
Take a good look at Pearce's picture in this article. I'm seriously wondering about his health. He's looking more and more like Darth Vador.....after they took the mask off.
yet again, this loser is using a variation of my SN..and its been done with others too, Shadeaux, LD19, etc...when doing this, i hope you morons realize how pathetic that makes you look by using our SN and posting opposing views of ours. Im betting you work for the county, more specifically MCSO. that you lil hendershott?
["I got hold of the church headquarters in Salt Lake," Pearce avowed. "And they said they absolutely do not oppose what Arizona is doing."]
You notice he NEVER gives the name of a real, live person he spoke with? That way it's not possible to invalidate his statement.
He certainly did learn well from the Master Spinmaster of all Evil, the MCSO shurf.
Thats pretty funny coming from Pearce considering all he does is lie every time he opens his mouth..
>>But lie? I have never done that."
With a handle like "BJ" one would think it could be the gay sheriff from the south of Phoenix.
what does it say about his family. Well i will tell you. They are fat, ugly , racist and disgusting. A family of white-trash shit. The scum in my shoe is a better person than Pierces family of assholes
I'm black. Want to come and talk to me about it, motherfucker! Name the place, and I'll be there to educate you in race relations.
That's not true. There are a lot of nice Pearces. Russell Pearce just feels entitled to office, and if you disagree with him, he stands ready to call you all sorts of names. Since he is granted office for life by divine power, he feels anything he does or says is justified in pursuit of office.
Russel Pearce is a joke and shouldn't be in office anywhere. There is more scandals that need to be reported. Russel Pearce son was also fired for forging driver liscence's so he and friends are able to be drinking. What about the Fiesta Bowl scandal? He was on that. What about him supposing contributing money to the armed forces and he was a guest speaker? That became a lie as well.
The man is a hypocrite.
Poor ole Elder Pearce, baptized a avowed racist Neo-Nazi JT Ready, and thinks no one will notice he is hob knobing with the white supremacist's!:-) Especially when they have photo's to prove it, cook outs, baptismal events etc.!
I know there's only so much internet in which to document Pearce's lies, but what about his multiple denials of knowing J.T. Ready?
Pearce learned real well from his hero, mentor and savior the MCSO shurf.
Pearce will say "Who's J.T. Ready? I don't recall ever meeting him."
Pearce reminds me of Saddam Hussein's information director Bagdad Bob - completely delusional about the desperate situation unfolding around him. He still believes that the recall was the work of leftists, labor unions, and MoveOn.org. He refuses to accept the reality that Republicans and Mormons abandoned him in droves when presented with a more moderate option. Given the 12 point margin that Jerry Lewis won by, Pearce could not have won a majority of either demographic. Add in the fact that Pearce no longer has the bully pulpit or fund raising advantage of the Senate Presidency, and more importantly the fact that his dirty campaign tactics have been exposed for all to see, and Pearce faces an almost impossible task.
Russell, do yourself and Arizona a favor - take a step outside of your Tea Party echo chamber. You're not very well liked in Mesa or Arizona.
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