Arizona Lawmaker Called Racist After Reading Controversial Letter on State Senate Floor

[TomCADem]

Source: ABC News

An Arizona state senator has set off a hot debate over racism and taxpayer-funded education of illegal immigrants with her public reading of a constituent letter that said most Hispanic students "hate America."

"Most of the Hispanic students do not want to be educated but rather be gang members and gangsters," said State Sen. Lori Klein on the chamber floor Friday, quoting from a letter by a Phoenix-area substitute public school teacher sent to Senate President Russell Pearce. "They hate America and are determined to reclaim this area for Mexico."

Klein, a Republican, was speaking in support of a bill which would require the Arizona Department of Education to collect data on students who cannot prove their "lawful residence" in the U.S. in order to better estimate the cost of educating illegal immigrants.

* * *
The presentation drew an impassioned rebuke from Democratic State Sen. Steve Gallardo, who questioned the authenticity of the anonymous letter, and called the reading of it into the public record deplorable.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/illegal-immigration-arizona-teacher-letter-hispanic-students-sparks/story?id=13197243

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Of course, the mainstream media buries the fact that the person who read the racist letter into the Legislative record was a Republican. If it was a Democrat, that fact would be in the headline. Nonetheless, watch the mainstream media run a series of feel good stories about Republicans making nice with the Hispanic community prior to the 2012 election. Remember the photo-ops of Republicans Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina in California with a mariachi band drinking shots of tequila?

[panader0]

1. An earlier post on this letter points to it being a fake.

[pampango]

2. KPHO-TV: "Pearce Won't Apologize For Circulating Email"

http://www.kpho.com/politics/27282770/detail.html

State Senate President Russell Pearce said an email written by a substitute teacher describing conditions in Arizona classrooms is legitimate.

Pearce also refused to apologize to lawmakers, who say he circulatedthea factually suspect letter about Hispanic students during a debate in hopes of getting his immigration bill passed.

Early Tuesday, Latino lawmakers at the Arizona state Capitol called for an apology from Republican Sen. Lori Klein and Pearce after Klein read what they called an offensive email on the floor of the Senate last week.

Her willingness to associate herself with an anonymous letter that contains explicit racial connotations clearly reflects her views of Latinos, or her lack of maturity and ignorance," Rep. Catherine Miranda said. "The idea that this state senator would label all Latino students as gangsters is narrow-minded and comparable to labeling any convicted DUI person to a worthless alcoholic. It's comparable to that."

[tpsbmam]

8. "factually suspect" What bullshit language.

"suspect?" How about factually wrong, inaccurate, impossible, contradicted by facts, far-fetched, inconceivable, preposterous....

"Suspect" gives this absolutely inane allegation way more credibility than it deserves. God, when I think of the youth who are fighting to stay in this country, the ones who came with parents when they were very young...they're working, in college, trying to build futures for themselves.....this REALLY pisses me off.

How about, instead of "suspect," this factually inaccurate letter, which only a fucking Nativist right-wing moronic bigot who leaves her KKK robes at home when she goes to work would try to pass off as "factual."

I guess all of those kids were the ones responsible for leaving all of those headless bodies in the desert, right?


:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[denverbill]

3. I think they need to subpeona the letter writer to testify under oath.

Maybe fear of jail will bring out the truth. Dollars to donuts he immediately recants.

[speltwon]

7. That would have a chilling effect on the first amendment

to put it mildly and I doubt it would be legally enforceable. You are asking to subpoena somebody who is neither a suspect of a crime, nor a material witness to one. Under what authority could you subpoena them?

The guy's a racist, shitstirring fuckstick and (the one who read the letter) and hopefully is now recognized as such

[denverbill]

9. Maybe a chilling effect on people who publicly lie.

This asshole has made a claim that illegal alien students behaved horribly. If his letter is deserving enough to be read into their House record as testimony for or against some piece of legislation, it's certainly legitimate to call him in to testify as to the authenticity of that testimony.

I seriously do not see how that would 'chill' first amendment rights. It may make some assholes think twice before making shit up and publicizing it. If so, good. The right to falsely and publicly impugn the character of an entire group of people is not protected speech, imo. He did not commit a crime, yet. But if he goes before their legislature and sticks to this story and the story is later proven false (ie. he never taught in any of those schools) then he should suffer the same fate as Barry Bonds. Barry Bonds didn't commit a crime either, until he allegedly lied under oath.

[speltwon]

11. If you can't see how it would chill the first amendment, I don't know what to tell you

He has written a letter to a congressmen, one of the most obvious examples of political speech- seeking a redress of grievances by writing one's congressperson.

He is a suspect of no crime. Period. Subpoena'ing him goes against everything the first amendment stands for. It is de facto punishment of a sort - making him/her come forward and answer to congress for daring to express his/her views. It's odious. The best thing to do with people like that is ignore them or ridicule them. Using the power of congress to subpoena because somebody said something you disagree with is abominable. The cure is far worse than the disease.

[denverbill]

19. How is giving him an open public forum to 'redress his grievances' chilling his speech?

Slander and libel have never been protected speech.

If this asswipe was telling the truth he'd be more than happy to testify about it publicly, or he should be.

If I write a letter to my Congressman claiming you and your family are embezzling state money, that's fine, as long as I have some proof, or even some reasonable suspicion perhaps. But if I'm making shit up out of whole cloth just to make you look bad, that's sure as hell not right. I don't have a first amendment right to lie.

He is not expressing an opinion. An opinion is "I think all illegal immigrants are criminals". "I taught a class full of illegal immigrants who all claimed to want to be criminals" is not a statement of opinion. He is declaring something to be to a fact.

I'm sure there are thousands of people with actual, true, legitimate grievances who would LOVE to have the opportunity to testify and seek to get their grievances redressed in a public forum. That should be the goal of any legitimate petitioner. If what this guy stated was true he would JUMP at the chance to testify.

[speltwon]

21. A subpoena is an order, not an offer

a subpoena ORDERS him to appear and testify. It does not offer a chance. It compels testimony.

Second of all, this is neither slander nor libel. Our speech laws do not recognize any concept of group libel. If you say "John Smith is a pedophile" that is civilly actionable as libel/slander. If you say "white people are the cancer of society" or "white people are racist" that is not. This is elementary const. law and free speech and I should not have to explain it to somebody.

There is no law making it a crime, assuming arguendo everything he says is a lie and a provable lie, made with knowledge thereof, to send a letter that is full of lies to a congressperson. It is not sworn testimony, and it is not obstructive to an active investigation. Again, const. law 101.

If you send a letter to congress claiming that "Every republican in congress is a thieving whore" that is not criminal. And you cannot be compelled to testify to it.

You keep conflating two things. Being offered a chance to do X, and being COMPELLED to do X. A subpoena is the latter. It is govt. force.

Fwiw, I am considered a professional witness, and I have been subpoena'ed in both civil and criminal trials scores of times. I have also subpoenaed others to testify in civil suits I filed myself. I am not speaking from a vacuum here.

Congress has every right to GIVE HIM A CHANCE to express his views before congress, at which point he can be questioned, his veracity tested, etc. There is nothing wrong with that. There is everything wrong with him being subpoenaed to do so, which is not being OFFERED A CHANCE, it is being ordered to appear and cooperate/testify lest he face govt. prosecution

Have you no shame? (McCarthy era)

[JonLP24]

18. The reason why Bonds was under oath

is because BALCO was committing crimes. He was on record as a customer through his trainer Greg Anderson.

Now Clemons is entirely different. He was called under oath because Congress was trying to determine if the Mitchell Report was true or not. I hope Roger beats his case whether he lied or not.

Now Fox News has a first amendment right to lie and they have told much more outrageous and damaging lies. Fair is fair, I say.

[greiner3]

10. The writer is not suspect;

But the content and WHO wrote it. If it is in fact from a neutral party then by all means it should stand. If it was written in the context of say Nixon's dirty tricks campaign then I say expose it for all the gains it would rouse.

As to the ability to subpoena an anonymous writer, I feel your faith in the conspiracy theory that the government has total power to be somewhat humorous.

[speltwon]

13. It would be a total abuse of the power of subpoena

It is govt. power run amok. It is orwellian. He/she wrote a letter seeking to express an opinion to congress and redress grievances. And anonymous complaints, under tons of legal precedent always get far less credence. Most newspapers require a name for letters to the editor for just that reason.

Engaging in a raw display of govt. power to punish somebody for exercising their 1st amendment rights is odious. Shun the ideas, and ridicule the congressperson. That violates no amendment nor does it abuse govt. power or chill speech

[Bandit]

15. BS.. people are subpoenaed all the time to give testimony

Either on something they have seen or said.. It is in no way a punishment. If one wants to enter the public realm by writing, either letters, or articles they should expect to be questioned on the merits of their charge..Unless they LIE under oath they have no fear of any punishment...Especially if what they say is being used in the making of legislation..

[speltwon]

20. BS... a subpoena is an order to appear backed up by men with guns

In a free society we do not force people to submit themselves to congress, at penalty of arrest, and to testify (a subpoena compels testimony except for that which could incriminate the respondent, at which point if immunity is offered they still must testify) merely because they are an assmunch, or they wrote a letter to a congressperson that expresses racist views.

It is odious and contrary to everything our nation stands for, and our first amendment was designed for. It is just as ridiculous as subpoenaing a guy who was holding a sign at a public protest to testify to his position. Imagine a guy holding a sign saying "the CIA is a murderous organization" and congress then subpoenaing him to answet to his claims. And those are actually alleging criminal violations.

Did you learn NOTHING from the McCarthy era? Have you no shame?

Congress can ASK him to voluntarily testify and if he/she declines they can rightfully conclude that the person is full of crap. That is way to go about it that does not infringe on his right to be "left alone" same being the very essence of the 4th amendment - leave people the fuck alone unless you have a REASONABLE cause to seize them

[No Elephants]

4. "Deplorable" is right. So is "heinous."

[47of74]

5. Is it any wonder then...

...that some people in Pima County want to break away from Arizona and form their own state.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Dear lord. If there was ever a reason to look into why Hispanic students are tuning out of school,

it is now. I can list a few reasons, just from personal observation:

(1) In the elementary ages, they come to school tired because they're working, WORKING, to help out at home. Like working at their parent's gasoline stations. (yes, Latinos are business owners, but, sometimes, only barely.)

(2) They deal with animosities from other kids that most children their age shouldn't have to put up with. That's why their groups might be visualized as a "gang." It's their way of keeping everyone off their backs. Unfortunately, the cost of belonging to some of these groups cuts the kid's chances of connecting with what's happening in school. It would be easier to find Hispanic teachers who can connect with the group and reel them all in.

(3) You have a good ole boy mentality in some of these Florida counties which is downright racist. They play a game of, "who needs it more?" when the time comes to bestow recognition. This is the kind of recognition which might make a difference in a kid's life, maybe even encourage them to want to achieve to be more.

What happens, however, is that a pecking order is established early. If a Latin American excels at something, like sports, they also have to want to go to college to get the recognition. Because, the way the process works, you have lots of coaches with military backgrounds and they only bestow the top Athletic awards to the kids who are going to college. The way they see it, that recognition is needed to beef up college applications. That's how, "who needs it more," works.

So everyone at the school is left to wonder what the hell is going on in that school, because they KNOW why the team made it to the finals, and the person who did the most work, was never recognized. You know what message this sends? It teaches every one of those kids that it's okay to step over minorities if there is just one thing that you don't like about them. People, THAT's racism!

[Rozlee]

12. My siblings were illegal aliens who went to school in the U.S.

As business owners and professionals, they've contributed tens of thousands in taxpayer dollars that more than paid back what the government shelled out for their education. This sickens me on their behalf.

[pampango]

17. Well said. Thanks for the post. n/t

[AlbertCat]

14. with a mariachi band drinking shots of tequila?

Jesus... they can't even "make nice" without some racial/national stereotype!

[TomCADem]

16. I'm Serious - Oct 2010 Campaign Event for Fiorina and Whitman

...had them rocking the Mariachi band and tequila.

[Astraea]

22. Don't these people realize how stupid they sound

when they make these fear-based generalizations? Yeah.. wanting to make more than a dollar an hour wasn't the reason they crossed the border... they just wanted join a gang and burn the American flag! Because it's so much easier to be a gang member in the U.S. than it is in Mexico....