Next week's U.S. Senate immigration subcommittee hearing on Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 is shaping up to be more exciting than initially billed -- at least as "exciting" as something aired on C-SPAN can get.
Ousted state Senate President Russell Pearce, the author of the bill, has already committed to being in attending to defend it.
Now state Senator Steve Gallardo, the author of the bill to repeal 1070, has also confirmed his attendance.
New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, the chair of the aforementioned subcommittee, has been planning this hearing out for a while, since publicly inviting Governor Jan Brewer in February.
Brewer's spokesman dismissed the invitation as a "publicity stunt," but Pearce raised his hand and offered to show up as the next-best option.
Schumer issued a statement saying yeah, Pearce can come along, but he really wanted Brewer to go.
"Other Arizona officials responsible for this law are willing to come and defend it, but not Governor Brewer," Schumer said. "The governor is the one who signed this bill into law; she shouldn't leave the defense of it to others."
Still no dice on that one, but now Gallardo's been pegged to go against his former fellow senator.
"Senator Gallardo has a unique perspective on the irreparable damage that this law has caused in Arizona," Schumer says in a statement from his office. "He can offer a first-hand account of the impact that this statute has had on the state's economy and on local communities."
Gallardo and Pearce aren't exactly huge fans of one another (at all, really), so this hearing might be the biggest get-your-popcorn-ready moment on CSPAN all week.
Schumer's office says additional witnesses to the hearing will be announced in "the coming days," so we'll see if they can get a whole Arizona soap-opera cast together.
The hearing is scheduled for April 24, the day before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the law.
