Posted by
Steve on Friday, September 30, 2011 11:47:46 AM
Here in Arizona, we have the opportunity to recall our elected representatives for just about anything. The State Senate President is being recalled. His district is in Mesa. I do not live in his district so I do not have any dog in this hunt. He has a main challenger and one that most people believe is a “ringer”. One “funny” fact about Russell Pearce and Jerry Lewis is that they both are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and belong to the same Ward (local unit). That would make it difficult for members of the ward to decide who to vote for.
The Senate President is Russell Pearce. His main challenger is Jerry Lewis. The candidate everyone is questioning is Olivia Cortes. She has been unavailable for comment for the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, she had to show up in court to tell why she is a “real” candidate and not a “sham” candidate.
She does have a web site, but she could not tell the court the person who developed the site. When someone at KFYI checked who owned the site, it came back owned by a company that protects the identity of the person who owns the site.
During questioning, Olivia was very vague in her answers. She did not really seem to know what was going on. When questioned by reporters after the hearing, she just told them to go to her web site which would have all the information. Something just does not smell right about her candidacy. There are too many loose ends for her to be a legitimate candidate.
The question then becomes who put her up to be the candidate? The most obvious answer and one that the news media and talk show hosts have grabbed, is that Russell Pearce or his supporters got her involved. That does make sense. If she is a candidate, she could siphon votes away from Jerry Lewis and help Russell Pearce win the election.
There is one thing that makes me question that assumption. Russell Pearce has won this district handily for years. His election has never been in doubt at any time. Why would he jeopardize his re-election just to pull off a stunt like this? It does not make sense to me. On the other hand, what if Jerry Lewis put her up to it? Everyone will assume it was Russell Pearce, so he gets off scot free. He can claim to be the victim and make Russell Pearce look like a bully. Jerry Lewis has everything to gain and almost nothing to lose if Olivia Cortes is on the ballot. He only loses if her candidacy actually goes through to the election unquestioned. On the other hand, Russell Pearce only wins if her candidacy goes through to the election with no questions. If there are any questions, Russell Pearce loses. So, it makes more sense for Jerry Lewis to put her name up to run than it does Russell Pearce.
I am not accusing anyone of anything. I do not live there and have no ax to grind. I am just looking at this race from the outside and questioning what is happening. To me, it makes more sense that Jerry Lewis put Olivia Cortes up for the election than Russell Pearce. I could be wrong, but on most scenarios Jerry Lewis wins and Russell Pearce loses. In only one scenario does Pearce get a win and Lewis loses.
This recall election has been full of rancor and intrigue since it was first started. I will be glad to have it over with and settled. Things like this are never good for the operation of good government.