USA Today: The Arizona lawmaker who wrote the state's controversial immigration law goes before voters tomorrow in a historic recall election.
Russell Pearce, president of the Arizona Senate, faces fellow Republican Jerry Lewis on Tuesday in a suburban Phoenix district.
Citizens for a Better Arizona, which describes itself as seeking a "more civil tone of respect and decency," has been pushing the recall of Pearce since January. The organization says on its website that Pearce is "unwilling to focus on the most pressing issues confronting Arizona."
Pearce wrote the Senate legislation known as SB 1070, which was signed into law by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. The law requires Arizona law enforcement to determine the immigration status of suspects that have been pulled over, detained or arrested if there is a "reasonable suspicion" the person is in the country illegally.
The immigration law is on hold. The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit, saying the state "crossed a constitutional line" by interfering with the federal government's authority to enforce immigration laws.
Pearce has said the Obama administration has "failed so miserably" to protect the U.S. border and enforce immigration laws.
Lewis told the Los Angeles Times that the immigration law has hurt Arizona's economy because it sends the message that the state is anti-minority.
"People outside of Arizona see us as something akin to 1964 Alabama," Lewis told the Times in the interview. "We are not that way at all. We have a gap as to who we really are and how we are perceived from the outside."
Pearce and Lewis are locked in a dead heat, according to a recent poll by the Arizona Capitol Times and ABC15, a Phoenix TV station.
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