Pearce Recall Update: Olivia Cortes takes the stand and pulls the Sargeant Schultz defense, “I know nothing!”

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"King" Russell Pearce's stalking horse "sham" candidate, Olivia Cortes, took the stand today in the case of election fraud brought against her by a Mesa resident. Ms. Cortes has evaded voters and the media who have wanted to speak with her about her "campaign" for weeks, not something an actual "candidate" would ever do.

In this sketchy court reporting from the Arizona Republic, it does not appear that Ms. Cortes helped her cause. Cortes denies being a sham candidate in Pearce recall election:

During her testimony, Cortes said she is paying for her campaign but admitted she hasn't yet spent any money. She said that [paraphrased for clarity]:

• She does not know who paid professional circulators to collect the signatures to get her on the ballot.
• She does not know who paid for the signs with her name on it that were put up around West Mesa.
• She does not know who created her Web site.

Ah, the classic Sargeant Schultz defense: "I know nothing!" Yeah, she's a legitimate candidate – Not! This poor woman is clueless. She has clearly been taken advantage of and manipulated by political operatives. What they have done to this poor woman is despicable.

Cortes said she was not forced or paid to run. She said East Valley Tea Party leader Greg Western is the only one helping her with her campaign and as a political novice, she has left many decisions to him.

Western is scheduled to take the stand later in the day.

Plaintiff's attorney Tom Ryan needs to tear this teabagger a new one on the stand. Hopefully the reporting on this hearing will be greatly improved over this initial reporting, which is less than satisfactory for court reporting.

In the meantime, the Arizona Republic weighed in on its editoral page today about this case. Who is 'candidate' trying to fool?:

Zealots backing recall target Russell Pearce have a word for you, the voters of District 18.

Contempt.

Supporters – indeed, relatives – of Pearce are attempting to game the Senate president's recall election by cynically propping up a ghost candidate, Olivia Cortes, to draw away voters from Jerry Lewis, a conservative Republican who is running a genuine effort to unseat Pearce.

The depths to which they have sunk would leave a conventional libertine speechless.

Cortes, a registered Republican and allegedly an avid supporter of Pearce himself, has never spoken or appeared in public. Virtually every media organization in the Valley has made multiple pilgrimages to her doorstep, to no avail. The door has never opened. There is no indication she has made any effort to raise or spend campaign funds. She has no campaign headquarters. Yet, campaign signs touting her Hispanic lineage – prominently displaying the phrase "Sí, se puede!" made famous by Cesar Chavez – are mysteriously proliferating in the district.

If Pearce opponents are right in their objections – and we have seen nothing proving them wrong – Cortes is a "candidate" only in the sense that her presence on the ballot is intended to draw Hispanic voters away from Lewis, thus saving the Senate president from ignominious recall defeat that his cynical posse are proving he so richly deserves.

They are contemptuous of the law that expressly states it is illegal to "directly or indirectly" deceive voters.

They are contemptuous of the recall process and of the right of voters to determine, in a fair contest, who should represent them in the state Senate.

And, most brazen of all, the supporters of the author of Senate Bill 1070 are displaying their absolute contempt for the Hispanic citizens of District 18 – dare we say legal voters all – by shilling for a non-campaigning Hispanic candidate, in the obvious hope of drawing away their anti-Pearce votes from Lewis.

The chairman of the East Valley Tea Party, an enthusiastic supporter of Pearce, actually turned in Cortes' signature petitions to qualify her for the ballot. Two of Pearce's own nieces have collected signatures on Cortes' behalf, as have numerous other Pearce enthusiasts. Pearce himself has denied knowing Cortes or having done anything to get her on the ballot. Of course not. Practically every Russell Pearce supporter in east Mesa is racing around declaring "Sí, se puede!" on Cortes' behalf. But that doesn't mean the beneficiary of their rabid, cynical efforts has a clue.

This sham campaign is all about contempt for you, the voter. And these are the clever folks who think they can fool you.