What's the Deal With Russell Pearce?

Well, the day is coming and the local media is more excited than a gaggle of tweens at a Justin Bieber concert. Their favorite “lightning rod of controversy” who has been “ensnared in ... controversy” because of his “controversial political stances”, yes even Russell Pearce, “one of the state's most powerful and controversial politicians” is now subject to a recall election in November. (Note to reader: all the preceding quotes came from the Arizona Republic. And no, not from a collection of articles...all from the same article)! While it’s easy fun to laugh at journalists’ overuse of meaningless adjectives, at some point we serious citizens have to take a step back and consider what to do about the whole affair.

After all, hasn’t Russell Pearce been wasting time on illegal immigration bills instead of focusing on more important issues? And what’s the thing with some Fiesta Bowl scandal we keep hearing about? And why does he always look so angry in them photographs?

Before the campaigns get into full swing now may be a good time to consider what Pearce has actually done as a legislator and what this election means in context of other considerations.

Sure, we already know that he gets high ratings from groups for being a “Hero of the Taxpayer” and having a 100% pro-life voting record, but what about dealing with the urgent fiscal issues facing Arizona?

Sometimes the Arizona legislature will have to go into special sessions in order to deal with budget issues that don’t get resolved until the last minute. Kind of like the federal government is doing right now. But under Senate President Pearce’s leadership the budget was finished within 100 days of regular session. Difficult decisions were made to come up with a budget that would put Arizona on more stable financial footing.

But what about the cuts to education and health care? Here’s where it gets interesting and makes it look like Pearce has been onto something for a long time. Education—overall enrollments are down so it’s a reasonable move (even though painful) to make during hard economic times. Health Care—AHCCCS paid for 20,000 births in 2007 but only for 7,000 in 2010. Why the sudden drop in state-funded births and students? At least part of the answer is SB 1070, the immigration bill that has made Pearce so notorious.

Pearce has helped the state reduce its costs by pushing an immigration law that prompted many illegals to voluntarily leave. What’s not to like about that?

Hot Roddin'

We finally took the boys to the Hot Wheels races tonight. These races take place every Friday night in the Ace Hardware parking lot on the southwest corner of Gilbert and Baseline.
The way it works is that they set up a really long, 2-lane track and participants race their Hot Wheels cars. The races go in heats with the winners moving onto the next race. The winner and runners-up get prizes! To participate, you pay $1 and the organizers give you a brand new, in-the-box Hot Wheels car. You must only use that car in the race, and the cars are randomly assigned to
the racers.




One of the gentlmen there kept giving out cars to the kids so although we showed up with just one car that Dallin had in his pocket we came home with about 10. Even Owen got into the act. The most difficult thing was to keep him away from the track when it wasn't his turn to race. And even though his car litterally wobbled down the track for a loss he was so excited to see the cars go.

People start showing up after 6pm, but the actual racing doesn't start until about 7:30-8:00pm.