The Empire Strikes Back

Tammany Hall is remembered these days as the Evil Empire.  Forgotten now that they watched out for widows and little children, found jobs for working stiffs who wanted them, and were really good at counting votes.  My grandfather would be proud that I can still count votes and sent this sly epistle to the local newspaper concerning a guy who was trying to make life difficult for poor Mexicans who snuck across the border trying to put food on the table for their families.  The so-called King of Arizona put on such a great show he scared everyone and seemed invincible.

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Arizona Republic - November 5, 2010

The votes are in and as of Thursday, the tallies are:

• Sen. John McCain (my favorite war hero) - 794,939.

• Gov. Jan Brewer (courageous stand on sales-tax increase for schools) - 750,644.

• Secretary of State Ken Bennett (nice guy) - 768,108.
• Attorney General-to-be Tom Horne (lots of degrees from Harvard) - 695,957.
• Treasurer-to-be Doug Ducey (voters give ice-cream guy keys to Arizona candy store) - 685,872.

And the winner in the race for most powerful Arizona politician is:

State Sen. Russell Pearce, with 12,676 votes (about half of what he got two years ago).

You figure.

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Somebody got the message and Russell Pearce lost a recall election 11/8/2011.  He got beat again in the regular election in 2012.

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My neighbor, a Holy Cross grad of the female persuasion, asked me if I wasn't afraid of Pearce and his thugs.  Pearce's thug leader would dress up in a Nazi helmet and flack jacket when he'd lead his tiny band out to patrol the Mexico border.  The helmet was too small for the head on his very rotund body and the guy ended up looking like the cartoon character Hagar the Horrible.  I told my neighbor "no."   He should be afraid of me... and if not me then my "uncle" Louie "The Greek" back in Long Beach.   The scene is completely fictional in the Godfather where Sonny gets gunned down at a toll booth on the causeway to Long Beach where my grandmother had her summer home.   Long Beach was where the Dons' families lived.   It was a demilitarized zone, and fashionable summer retreat in its day.