Friday, July 15, 2011

Does Pearce challenger know what he is getting into?

Channel 12 is reporting that a challenger has been found to run against Russell Pearce in the LD 18 Recall Election. What is interesting is Channel 12 characterized his potential run as "a product of a search by Mesa residents." See for yourself.

That doesn't really appear to be true. This recall election is the product of Pearce opponents who do not like his policies. How is that the appropriate use of a recall election? Isn't that what regularly scheduled elections are for? How is this not considered some sort of trickery?

More to the point, is anyone who would be willing to face Pearce ready to handle all of the baggage that comes with this recall? Thoughts on Mesa did a good job exposing the recall committee, but the bigger point is, no matter how "conservative" the candidate is, he or she is going to have to defend the records of the people who made this election happen.

By default, whoever runs against Pearce stands with Randy Parraz. How is a conservative mormon going to stand with Parraz who is ardent supporter of gay marriage? Not even civil unions, mind you, Parraz wants full fledged gay marriage.



Didn't the church actively promote marriage amendments in California and Arizona?

How is a candidate going to talk tough on immigration, when his supporters are proponents of the DREAM act?



How is the candidate going say that he is a fiscal conservative when his supporters have deep union connections?

There has been a lot of talk about who the ideal candidate would be to take on Pearce - they want a conservative, mormon male who is tough on immigration. Someone who can be "Pearce light" but without the national attention. The candidate will try to decry the recall and humbly say that they share the same values, just with a different approach.

The problem is their approach is all wrong because the recall is wrong. There will be no ability to do the "wrong" thing for the "right" reasons. To run in the recall election means you endorse what the recall election stands for. It means you endorse what the recall committee stands for. It means that you support trumping the election process and targetting people you don't agree with.

If you are wrong about the recall, how can you be trusted on anything else?

No comments: