Pearce recall update

by David Safier

The latest from Phoenix is, with 9,942 of the total 16,949 signatures on the Pearce recall petitions checked, 6,067 have been considered valid. The magic number is 7,756 valid signatures, so, barring the unforeseen (which you can never bar), they have plenty of cushion for the recall to happen. Lookin' good.

As a lovely piece of theater, Randy Parraz held a mock unemployment check made out to Russell Pearce, dated December 5, 2011. Parraz is hoping the sigs will be OK'd soon enough for a November election, which should happen unless Brewer pulls a stall. That means, if the ballots go for the candidate-who-is-not-Russell-Pearce, the most powerful politician in Arizona will be out of work for a month by December.

My feeling is, if the right had cut that check and brought it to the Capitol — especially if it was the Tea Party — Howie Fischer would put it in a story. But according to the Phoenix New Times' Feathered Bastard (AKA Stephen Lemons), Fischer said " the action was only newsworthy if Parraz got arrested." Nice. He's gotta break a law to get press for something like this. I image the headline would be "Parraz arrested at the Capitol," and the story would feature a quote from Pearce taking about the lawbreaking extreme left wing anarchists who want to throw a true patriot out of office.