PEARCE COLLEAGUE: OUSTER 'DEEPLY DISTURBING'

posted by Michael Chihak

Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs said Tuesday night he found the recall of colleague Russell Pearce "deeply disturbing."

Fellow Republican and state Rep. Eddie Farnsworth said that in ousting Pearce in Tuesday's recall election, the voters had "traded the most successful legislator in the country for somebody who will be very unsuccessful.”

Both made the comments in interview with the [Arizona Capitol Times]'(http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2011/11/08/lewis-winning-early-votes-in-pearce-recall/) Luige del Puerto, the state Senate reporter who will appear on Arizona Week Friday to discuss the story.

Pearce, the state Senate president and widely regarded as one of the two most powerful elected state officials, was defeated by fellow Republican Jerry Lewis, 53 percent to 45 percent.

Pearce's loss makes him the first politician in Arizona's 100-year history as a state to be removed from office by recall.

Pearce is known nationally for his authorship of one of the country's strictest anti-immigration laws, SB1070, major parts of which are on hold while appeals over them work their ways through the courts.

His defeat likely won't change the conservative nature of legislative leadership, but it might take the edge off some of the rhetoric on both sides of the immigration debate.