Yeeow! Russell Pearce seems to have a spousal abuse, and stalker pattern. But Mesa Republicans, and the media still love him.
Posted by: Donna
From Stephen Lemons. He found evidence of Pearce menacing his first wife, Karen.
Voila, the police report. http://media.phoenixnewtimes.com/2444720.0.pdf
I had wanted to post this but for some reason it got stuck in my draft file. Since then, I’ve learned that Russell Pearce still enjoys a tremendous advantage in the polls in his district. He didn’t even have to bother showing up to a recent candidate forum.
Debate or not, a majority of District 18 Republican voters favor Pearce in his quest to grab the state Senate seat, according to an Arizona Opinion poll also released Tuesday. Fifty-one percent of registered voters surveyed in the Mesa district said they would vote for Pearce, 13.3 percent favored Gibbons, 4.8 percent wouldn’t vote for either candidate and 31 percent were either undecided or did not answer.
Some Democrats I know are shocked by this. I’m not. They’re forgetting that Republican primary voters are a different breed from their Democratic counterparts. Whereas Ted Downing gets ousted for voting against a spousal rape bill in the 2006 primary, Russell Pearce’s previous domestic violence transgressions will not be held against him this year. The reason is not because Republican voters are necessarily more apt to abuse their spouses or approve of wife beating and/or stalking. It’s because they are more likely to be traditionalist, religious, and authoritarian. They tend to view things like this as a personal family matter. As such, they’re not appreciative of nosy government agencies and reporters meddling in the dealings between a patriarch and his family.
Additionally, you have the IOKIYAR factor, particularly where the local media is concerned. It’s Okay If You’re A Republican. The so-called liberal media in Arizona has been in the thrall of the GOP for so long it’s become instinctual for them to maintain the status quo and be protective of their politicians. Even when, as was evident in the Republic OpEd defending Pearce, they realize that his employer sanctions don’t sit well with the corporate masters. It’s just that if they stop giving Republicans passes for things they excoriate Democrats for, that could set a bad precedent.
Judah Nativio, the ball is in your court now.
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Please look at the poll closely. It is a bias poll. It was commissioned by Stan Barnes an admitted Russel supporter. Also, its states that the pollster deduces that the negative campaigns have taken a toll? How is that possible since it was an auotomated poll and it was done before the campaign got negative. Stan just started this group to protect Russel.
First off,Downing didn’t vote against the spousal rape bill but rather offered an amendment against false charges by a partner. Donna’s use of this example shows how false charges can follow an upstanding candidate who fought on behalf of his district. The second point is that for Republicans, politics is like high school football, they root for the home team irrespective of their behavior or abiding by the rules. Family values? They don’t count, they only know to root for the home team.
Biased poll or not, I’m predicting Gibbons will get spanked in that primary.
And Jerry, I’m familiar with Downing’s actions in that spousal rape bill. Rape apologists and other defenders of male privilege have successfully perpetuated the myth that false rape charges are so rampant that laws pertaining to it must contain unique concessions to protect poor innocent men from lying, scheming women. Of course this is nonsense. It would be readily apparent in, say, legislation penalizing car theft. No legislator in his/her right mind would propose an amendment to protect suspected car thieves against “false charges” since lying to the police and perjury are already crimes. So while you may be technically correct that Downing didn’t vote against the spousal rape bill, he was clearly doing his utmost to neuter it by inserting that “false charges” amendment.
Ted Downing did vote against the spousal rape bill. I was there.