Alabama gives birth to a new civil rights movement
With State Senator Russell Pearce’s dramatic recall in Arizona behind us, the nation’s immigration watchers turn their eyes to Alabama, now home to the nation’s fiercest immigration laws.
With State Senator Russell Pearce’s dramatic recall in Arizona behind us, the nation’s immigration watchers turn their eyes to Alabama, now home to the nation’s fiercest immigration laws.
Former Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce — one of the most recognized architects of that state’s immigration enforcement law S.B. 1070, and who recently lost a recall election — writes Tuesday that his defeat had nothing to do with S.B. 1070.
Arizona voters, polled after last week’s election, said they voted to recall Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce because of his divisiveness and because they want Arizona’s legislature to focus more on the economy and job creation and less on immigration.
The times they are a changin’. It seems like only yesterday, Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce was considered the most powerful politician in Arizona and a man whose counsel was sought by legislators in Colorado and around the country.
It’s hard to see how this helps Rick Perry in a brutal Republican primary contest, but former President Bill Clinton on Monday defended Perry’s position on immigration and his support of the Texas Dream Act.
If you are Arizona State Senate President Russell Pearce, one of the best known small-time politicians in the country, and you’re facing a recall election that centers around your sponsorship of SB 1070, the granddaddy of single-state immigration bills, what do you do?
Immigration is an important issue in the United States, but is it something the GOP nomination for president should hinge on? Is there a reason that as unauthorized immigration from Mexico to the U.S. steadily declines, the rhetoric becomes ever more charged?
A Superior Court judge on Friday rejected a challenge filed by Arizona State Senate President Russell Pearce’s attorney, and ruled that the recall of Pearce could proceed. Pearce’s attorney had argued that many of the signatures collected were invalid and that signature collectors may have misled signers.
It didn’t take long for Arizona State Senate President Russell Pearce’s opponents to gather enough signatures to force a recall election. More than 8000 signatures have been certified already, several hundred more than were needed.
You only have to wonder what took so long. On Tuesday signed petitions were turned in to launch a recall against Arizona State Senate President Russell Pearce, the author and chief promoter of Arizona’s SB 1070–the granddaddy of all state anti-immigration measures. Today, Tom Tancredo’s Team America PAC sent out an email soliciting funds to help Pearce defend his seat.