Pearce Recall Update: Olivia Cortes to remain on the ballot

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Just as I predicted, Judge Edward Burke ruled that "King" Russell Pearce's stalking horse candidate Olivia Cortes can remain on the ballot, but not before skewering East Valley Tea Party chairman Greg Western. Olivia Cortes will remain on ballot in Pearce recall election, court rules:

Recall candidate Olivia Cortes will stay on the Nov. 8 ballot despite allegations that her campaign is part of a fraud, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled.

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Burke wrote that no one during the all-day hearing last week "impugned Cortes' honesty or integrity."

"The court finds that she is genuinely opposed to what she believes is Pearce's harsh legislative treatment of and comments about illegal Hispanic immigrants," Burke wrote.

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In his ruling, Burke did skewer East Valley Tea Party chairman Greg Western, a Pearce supporter who has been helping Cortes with her campaign.

"His testimony that he has no idea who designed, posted, and paid for campaign signs supporting Cortes or who paid the professional circulators is too improbable to be believed," he said. "The court finds that Pearce supporters recruited Cortes, a political neophyte, to run in the recall election to siphon Hispanic votes from Lewis to advance Pearce's recall election bid."

Burke said without the support of Pearce supporters, Cortes would have had no chance of qualifying as a candidate or running any sort of political campaign, but reiterated that the court found no wrongdoing by Cortes herself. He said the courts should not, in most cases, be the final arbiter of the motives political candidates have for running for election.

"Divining candidates' motives and acting on them is more properly the role of the voters," Burke said. "Plaintiff's remedy is through the ballot box and not the courts."

He said the fact that many petition gatherers honestly told signers that signing Cortes' petition would help Pearce makes it additionally difficult for him to find fraud.

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Western said despite the judge's criticism, he stands by what he said in court that he does not know who paid for Cortes' signs or petition gatherers. He said his intentions for supporting Cortes are honest.

The judge's ruling

The next act in this political circus will be Olivia Cortes participating in Thursday's candidate forum hosted by the Mesa Chamber of Commerce. Bring the popcorn!

Laurie Roberts writes at the Arizona Republic, Laurie Roberts' Columns & Blog – Cortes to remain on ballot:

Burke found no wrongdoing by Cortes but he said Western was not credible. He particularly cited Western's testimony that he had no idea who put up Si,Se Puede campaign signs or who paid for petition circulatorsas  "too improbable to be believed."

In other words, he thinks the guy's a liar.

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"The court assumes that candidates have run for office for less than the noble motive of serving the public, which could include getting  a better paying job, pension benefits, achieving a position of perceived importance, boredom, or no reason at all. Divining candidates' motives and acting on them is more properly the role of the voters. Plaintiff's remedy is through the ballot box and not the courts."

So the judge's bottom line:

Cortes is a sham candidate.  And that's OK under Arizona law.