Following the Money in District 18

The Tribune reports that four groups have pumped over $38,000 into their efforts to defeat Russell Pearce. From postcards to TV commercials, this appears to be an unprecedented effort to defeat a legislative candidate. The story says:

"The most generous donors to the campaigns to block Pearce's nomination make their living in the fast-food industry."

To that point, TheRealKevinGibbons.com made the following connections:

Franchisers spend $33,780 attacking Russell Pearce and his Employer Sanctions Law
"Mesa Deserves Better" and "Stop Illegal Hiring" Bankroll Campaign for Cheap Labor

MESA -When it comes to attacking Russell Pearce and his employer sanctions law, fast food franchise owners Jason Levecke and Mac Magruder have taken a three pronged approach: fund Pearce's opponent, subsidize a misleading personal attack campaign, and finance an initiative to weaken laws.

In all, the proponents of punishing Pearce and gut his employer sanctions law have directly spent $33,780. Here is their latest spending:

Magruder Family
$780 to Kevin Gibbons, Pearce's opponent
$10,000 to Mesa Deserves Better
$9,500 directly to Stop Illegal Hiring

Levecke Family
$4,000 to Mesa Deserves Better
$9,500 directly to Stop Illegal Hiring

"Now that the curtain has been pulled back, it's clear that these fast food franchisers are only looking to line their pockets. I think it's disturbing that they are spending so much money to attack me," said Rep. Pearce.

According to campaign finance reports, Magruder and Levecke's personal donations make up nearly half of the funds given to "Mesa Deserves Better," the controversial group targeting Pearce with misleading personal attacks. Affiliates of their "Stop Illegal Hiring" campaign donated the remaining funds, along with giving an additional $1,860 in donations to Kevin Gibbons.

Their ill-fated "Mesa Deserves Better" personal attack campaign on Russell Pearce and his family has been decried by hundreds of supporters, the East Valley Tribune, the Arizona Republic, and even Governor Janet Napolitano.

Russell Pearce is being challenged for the Arizona State Senate by immigration attorney Kevin Gibbons, who has outspent Pearce through donations from special interest groups. Democrats, and proponents of weakening the employer sanctions laws.

"The ultimate goal of this group is to roll back immigration policies and weaken Arizona's Employer sanctions laws by any means necessary," said Pearce. "Their proposed law eliminates required use of E-Verify and its 99.7% accuracy rate in favor of the Federal I-9 process, which is prone to more fraud. They want to gut the law and make sure I am not around to do anything about it."

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So, not only are these guys trying to attack Pearce, but they are trying to make changes to the current employer sanctions laws. You can read the language from their initiative for yourself here and you can see who is donating to their campaign here.