2 confirmed racists, one a neo-Nazi, run for high Arizona offices

It’s not enough that the valley of the Sun has its “affected” Gov. Jan Brewer, but now there are two other nutcases, one of them recently forced out of office, that aspire to help run the great state of Arizona.  And it is a great state.  Former Governor Carl Hayden once said, "I built this state. Don't let the GOP destroy it!”  Unfortunately, this statement turned into factual intuition on the part of the author.



Russell Pearce recall



Former state senator Russell Pearce, who is a Mormon and the first Arizona legislator ever recalled (last November), has been elected to the top Arizona GOP Party post of 1st Vice Chairman.  In the face of those folks who unanimously voted to oust Pearce from office, state Republicans decided he was fit to be in the party’s No. 2 leadership role, according to spokesman Shane Wikfors.  On Saturday, Wikfors commented, "I will tell you that the two biggest generators of applause at today's meeting was Russell and Sheriff Joe (Arpaio),"  Pathetic.

Democratic Party chairman Andrei Cherny said, "Arizona has moved past the divisive and corrosive politics of Russell Pearce -- but the Republican Party hasn't," sealing the fact that this pack of fruitcakes does not learn from experience.  There was a movie back in 1948 named The Snake Pit, which portrayed a woman who finds herself in an insane asylum.  I remember scenes from the film as a teenager at the time that depicted patients completely out of touch with reality constantly babbling incoherently.

Following is a must-see Russell Pearce video:

Bingo!  The GOP dominated Arizona state legislature.  These vipers have proceeded to pass laws and practice a type of political suicide that has made the state laughable, placing it at the top of the ‘Who do we ridicule today’ list.  The state’s five Republican congressmen attended the meeting, apparently placing their sign of approval on Pearce’s appointment. 

Russell Pearce was fired from Arizona Motor Vehicles in 1999 for allowing subordinates to tamper with a woman’s driving record.  In 1980 Pearce’s wife Luanne accused him of beating her and said she wanted a divorce.  His two sons have been accused of domestic violence, one, Josh, who allegedly fractured his daughter’s skull and sports a Nazi eagle tattoo on his neck/chest.  Sounds like the perfect Mormon family.

JT Ready 2nd from right

But an even better story is Russell Pearce chum, racist and neo-Nazi J.T. Ready running for Arizona’s Pinal County Sheriff…as a Democrat.  Once a registered Republican, Ready’s answer to why he switched was, "It's the party of Jim Crow, [late U.S. Senator and one-time KKK member] Robert Byrd, and [late Alabama Governor and one-time segregationist] George Wallace.  Exemplary company.  I once asked Ready if he was a member of the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) and he replied he was but behind on his dues.

However, it is Stephen Lemons Feathered Bastard column in the Phoenix New Times that captures the essence of J.T. Ready.  He supports legalizing marijuana and has referred to Adolph Hitler as a "great white civil rights leader."  He once was a member of the National Socialist Movement (NSM) and still marches with them.  As a one-time close buddy of Russell Pearce, Ready is known for his armed patrol in the Arizona desert looking for illegal immigrants.  His committee chairman is NSM member Harry Hughes, another neo-Nazi racist.



Dept of Justice boots Arpaio



And it wouldn’t be right not to give a nod to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is up for reelection in November.  When you talk about racism along with anti-immigration policies, Sheriff Joe ranks right up there at the top.  The U.S. Dept. of Justice has charged the Sheriff with human-rights violations and the Phoenix Human Relations Committee has just unanimously voted to ask Arpaio to step down. 

This basically completes the inner circle of Arizona’s notoriously best known bigots in politics.

Arizona can thank National Football League for Martin Luther King holiday

Russell Pearce, JT Ready

Racism is still rampant in Arizona evidenced by the anti-immigration law SB-1070 passed in 2010 by deposed State Sen. Russell Pearce.  The state finally got rid of the likes of him, surrounded by his buddy J.T. Ready, racist and neo-Nazi from Pearce’s hometown of Mesa, AZ.  Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a Pearce supporter, has his own problems with racial discrimination from his raids on towns in his county for the sole purpose of harassing Hispanics.



Russell Pearce, Sheriff Arpaio



The people of Arizona must agree with this dogma because they elected Arpaio Sheriff in 1992 and he is still in office.  Pearce was elected to the Arizona legislature in 2000 and served there eleven years before he was recalled in November of 2011.  They both come from solid Arizona roots dating back to 1987 when Gov. Evan Mecham rescinded the former Governor Bruce Babbitt’s decision to honor Martin Luther King with an Arizona holiday.

That was almost 25 years ago but the Rev. Warren H. Stewart still remembers the struggle that eventually ended up with a MLK holiday in Arizona.  Stewart, a prominent Phoenix pastor who was the face of the movement then, says the state legislature viewed King as a Black hero but also as an agitator.  In those days African-Americans represented only 3 percent of the population.  But in 1990 voters went to the polls to decide whether or not King should have his holiday.  The proposition failed and Stewart felt he had done all he could.

Below is a must see video of Evan Mecham racism and other stupidity:



But then the football hit the fan.  By now Arizona had a reputation for being a racial battleground.  The state was boycotted by well know musicians and national conventions decided to take their business elsewhere.  However, it was the cancellation by the NFL of the 1993 Super Bowl scheduled to be played in Sun Devil stadium that broke the racists’ backs.  The game was moved to Pasadena, California. 

Rev. Stewart set things in motion again but didn’t like the idea that the change of the state’s attitude was due almost entirely to the loss of the Super Bowl.  Stewart took his dilemma to apartheid activist Leon Howard Sullivan who lived in Scottsdale and who said the Reverend had piqued the consciences of the business community, followed by his admonition to take their money because it was for a good cause. 

Stewart did and ran a campaign resulting in MLK Day being approved by a vote in 1992.  Arizona was the only state that had to put this holiday to a vote after a 1986 decision by President Ronald Reagan naming it as a national holiday.  On the first King Holiday in January of 1993, 19,000 Arizonans celebrated, joined by civil-rights activist Rosa Parks and musician Stevie Wonder.  Phoenix won the Super Bowl for 1996.

Rev. Stewart still believed the King Holiday was only a symbol and much still needed to be done for Arizona to move “from symbol to substance” in the treatment of all races and ethnicities.  Just recently he said that after 20 years this still has not happened.  He mentioned the anti-immigration bill SB-1070 and said the incivility of politics today is turning Martin Luther King’s dream into a nightmare. 

My gut tells me that if Arizona doesn’t wake up soon from this horrible dream and get rid of those in state government that harbor those prejudices, there won’t be enough advertising possible to draw tourists and new business back to the state.