It's always a lovely day down at the Arizona state Capitol, when you run into state Senator Russell Pearce's chief toady, state Rep. Carl Seel and ask him what it's like to smooch up to a racist bonehead like Pearce 24-7.
Actually, I was there to attend the press conference of Sal Reza's Puente Movement, which was kicking off its caravan to D.C. to participate in the big pro-immigration rally coming up on March 21 in the nation's capital.
Reza talked about how the Puente caravan would stop in various cities, like El Paso, Houston, and elsewhere, and how his group planned to make Pearce and the apartheid-like legislation that the Mesa muttonhead sponsors the target of their vitriol. The idea is to demonize Pearce, and hold him accountable in the same way they've done Arpaio.
And they should. Anyone who gives money to Pearce or does
business with him or supports him in anyway should be tainted by the
association.
"We want to send a message to Mr. Russell
Pearce," said Reza, "that this is the beginning of the end. We're going
to concentrate on him the way we concentrate on Sheriff Joe Arpaio. And
we're going to do actions, all the way from civil disobedience to
electoral politics, until he gets out of there."
Granted, Puente's press conference didn't draw a lot of Dems out of hiding. Oddly, the only one I saw nearby was state House candidate Ruben Gallego.
Maybe he was trying to make up for taking a contribution from the
nativist police union PLEA, which happens to be one of the groups
supporting Pearce's SB 1070/HB 2632.
That's the bill that
would make it a "trespassing" offense to be in Arizona sans papers.
Among other things, it would grant cops broad power to arrest anyone
they believe is in the country illegally, and make local police
agencies subject to civilian lawsuits if they don't enforce federal
immigration law.
As far as I can tell, Gallego hasn't given back
the campaign contribution. But he should. He skedaddled before the
presser was over, so I didn't get a chance to buttonhole him.
Nearby,
on the state House lawn some lobbyist group was having a cookout,
handing burgers and hot dogs out to representatives. Two of those
chowing down were state Reps Steve Montenegro and Carl Seel. Seel's a
minuteman who once took his marching orders from Chris Simcox, so you
know what his views on immigration are. During a recent committee
hearing for HB 2632, Seel told Russell Pearce, during the latter's
presentation, that Pearce was his "hero."
Pearce told Seel he'd
campaign for him in his district anytime. My advice: These two nativists should
really take advantage of a local Best Western, and keep the PDAs
(Public Displays of Affection) to a minimum.
Montenegro, on
the other hand, is nominally Hispanic in the way that Alan Keyes is
nominally black. Montenegro's fellow GOP representatives delight in
Montenegro's presence because he votes their way and thereby gives them
cover for their bigoted legislation.
Not so much his fellow
Hispanics, some of whom had encircled Montenegro and Seel as another
reporter was asking Montenegro about HB 2632. Montenegro was obviously
nervous, his voice quavering.
"This [bill] isn't telling [local
cops] to go after [illegals]," Montenegro asserted. "It's not saying,
`Police officers go and do the job.' It's preventing anybody from
preventing police officers from doing their job."
That's as disingenuous as Dick Nixon with a day old beard, and Montenegro knows it. Either that or he hasn't read the bill.
The
bill allows any right wing twit to sue a law enforcement agency that
does not pursue the undocumented "to the full extent permitted by
federal law."
So if a law enforcement agency doesn't have their
gendarmes running around after brown folk every sec of the day, they are subject
to a civil claim.
When I started to point this out to
Montenegro and make the point that the bill is unconstitutional because
the federal government has plenary power over immigration, Montenegro
took off like a scared rabbit.
The goofy, jug-eared Seel lagged
behind gnawing on his burger. I asked him how it compared with the
taste of his hero's metaphorical backside.
"I don't appreciate
your dis-characterization [sic] of a man who has served out country
well," Seel shot back, adding, "I don't appreciate your character
assassination."
It ain't character assassination to point out
the obvious: Pearce's white supremacist links; Seel's membership in
Chris Simcox's disgraced minuteman org; and their mutual
legislative war on the brown.
These are, alas, facts, Carl, as is your sickening sycophancy.
I
let Seel go at the House elevator after pointing out the
unconstitutionality of Pearce's legislation, legislation Seel supports.
He had no argument there, as there is no argument to make. He just
denied -- incorrectly -- that my point was true.
Outside, I ran
into House Minority Leader and candidate for state AG David Lujan, who
expressed the opinion -- one I accept -- that Pearce and his allies are
jamming racist laws through because they know this is their last chance
before Terry Goddard (eventually) takes the governor's seat, leaving
such legislation subject to a veto. (Whereas, on the other hand, Jan Brewer will sign it.)
So what can the Dems do, I
wondered? What will they do to bar the door when HB 2632 is being
debated on the House floor? Can they filibuster?
He admitted it
was a possibility, and that he would talk to his caucus about it. He
conceded it would not stay the bill's passage, but at least it would be
a symbolic effort of resistance.
It's more than symbolic. It
gives people hope, and it creates an example others will follow: Stand against what is obviously wrong; do not let racists enact such
legislation without a fight; hit them hard with the nefariousness of
their own deeds; in other words, make them pay, and leave a mark in history that someone rose against
this unjustness and said, "No."
