‘Papers please’ ex-legislator booted from AZ Mexican restaurants in fundraiser flap

Source: Raw Story

‘Papers please’ ex-legislator booted from AZ Mexican restaurants in fundraiser flap
By David Ferguson
Friday, June 15, 2012 14:02 EDT

Arizona state senator Russell Pearce (R-18), the lawmaker who crafted the state’s controversial anti-immigration law, SB 1070, also known as the “Papers, please” law, was thrice denied a venue for a fundraiser scheduled for Thursday afternoon, June 14. According to the Arizona Capital Times, the former legislator asked two Mexican restaurants and a public school library to host the event, only to be told to please campaign somewhere else.

Pearce was carried into office on the tide of Tea Party fervor that dominated the 2010 elections. In January of 2011, he was sworn in and held that office for nearly a full eleven months before he lost a recall election in November of 2011 and was ousted from the Arizona State Senate. That hasn’t stopped him, however, from running again to win back his seat as the representative of Arizona’s District 18. The Mesa area is currently represented by Republican businessman Jerry Lewis, who won against Pearce in the recall.

The fundraising event was originally planned to be held at Macayo’s restaurant in Phoenix, but the plan was scuttled by activist Dee Dee Garcia Blase of Arizona’s Tequila Party, a conservative Latino group formed in reaction to the deportation-happy Tea Party. Garcia Blase organized a protest to be held outside the restaurant during the event and contacted Macayo’s corporate offices, which led the restaurant to cancel the event on Thursday morning.

Arizona state senator Russell Pearce (R-18), the lawmaker who crafted the state’s controversial anti-immigration law, SB 1070, also known as the “Papers, please” law, was thrice denied a venue for a fundraiser scheduled for Thursday afternoon, June 14. According to the Arizona Capital Times, the former legislator asked two Mexican restaurants and a public school library to host the event, only to be told to please campaign somewhere else.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/15/mexican-restaurants-library-decline-to-host-fundraiser-for-papers-please-az-lawmaker/