Remember Russell Pearce

 

Russell Pearce

A veritable Energizer Bunny of hate, Russell Pearce rode a wave of unbridled anti-Mexican nativism to become Arizona’s powerful state Senate president in 2011, only to be successfully recalled in his deeply red Mesa district later that same year by a coalition of moderate Republicans and pissed-off Latinos.

Russell Keith Pearce (June 23, 1947 – January 5, 2023) was an American far-right^[1][2][3][4] politician who was a Republican (GOP) member of the Arizona State Senate. He rose to national prominence as the primary sponsor of Arizona SB1070, a controversial anti-illegal immigrant measure that was signed into law in 2010. 

• He was elected President of the Arizona Senate when the Senate began its January 2011 term but then suffered a dramatic reversal of fortune when he was ousted in a November 2011 recall election, the first legislator in Arizona history to be so removed from office.^[5] 
• Pearce was also criticized for his association with the homicidal white supremacist J. T. Ready.^[32] 
• Pearce endorsed Ready for Mesa City Council in 2006^[33] and appeared with him at several rallies. 
• In addition, church documents revealed that Pearce ordained Ready into the LDS priesthood in 2004.^[34] Pearce has since claimed he was unaware of Ready's neo-Nazi affiliations at the time he made the endorsement.^[32][34][35]
• He served as Vice-Chair of the Arizona GOP, but he resigned the position in September 2014 after controversy over a eugenicist comment about forced sterilization of poor women on Medicaid.^[6]

Prior to his election to the Arizona Senate in 2008, Pearce served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2001 to 2009, and worked in law enforcement for more than twenty years.

• Foreshadowing the rhetoric used by President Donald Trump, Pearce called Mexican migrants to the U.S. an “illegal invasion,” blaming them for a rise in crime. 
• He called for a redo of the Eisenhower-era deportation program “Operation Wetback,” 
• He circulated antisemitic conspiracy theories from a white supremacist hate group and 
• He befriended and inducted into the Mormon faith Valley extremist J.T. Ready, a virulent neo-Nazi who ended up slaughtering a family of four in a 2012 rampage before offing himself.

Pearce backed a number of racist bills and referendums targeting immigrants, the most notorious of which was SB 1070. 

• The legislation made “attrition through enforcement” — aka ethnic cleansing — Arizona state policy. 
• Passed in 2010, it also required local cops to become de facto immigration agents, investigating possible immigration violations when there was “reasonable suspicion” to do so — in effect, meaning whenever the police stopped anyone brown.

The backlash to the law resulted in boycotts, massive demonstrations and costly court challenges, which were only partly successful.

 Pearce died in January 2023 at age 75. 

His name will be forever associated with the ethnic strife and hate that he spawned.

Source: Phoenix New Times

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POLITICS

Dirty Dozen: Meet 12 of the worst politicians in Arizona history

From Joe Arpaio to Russell Pearce, Kari Lake and Paul Gosar, the state boasts a rich history of disreputable and dastardly people.

By Stephen Lemons

January 17, 2024

Joe Arpaio's reign as Maricopa County sheriff included terrorizing Hispanic neighborhoods with law enforcement sweeps and retaliating against political enemies. Illustration by Emma Randall using Midjourney