After Russell Pearce ouster, Arizona may alter recall process

Nothing rattles a bunch of politicians like the ouster of one of their own. So a few months after Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce was booted from his Phoenix-area seat, his former colleagues introduced a bill that would tinker with the recall process.

An immigration hard-liner who wrote SB 1070, Arizona’s controversial immigration law, Pearce was defeated in November by Jerry Lewis, a fellow Republican who advocated working alongside the federal government to curb illegal border crossings.

Pearce probably would have crushed Lewis in a primary, which tends to attract fewer and more politically fervent voters. “The ideologues all go to the polls and they elect ideologues -- the Russell Pearces of the world,” Arizona political scientist Bruce Merrill told The Times after the election.

But in a recall, Democrats and independents can weigh in, giving a boost to more moderate candidates. That’s why Pearce -- long considered Arizona's most powerful politician -- equated Lewis’ victory with “going through the backdoor.”

Under the bill, the recall process would shift substantially, the Arizona Republic reported. The legislation, which survived a state Senate committee vote this week, would add party primaries to recall elections.

If that system had been in place during the Pearce recall, only Republicans would have cast ballots in the GOP primary. And because there were only two candidates vying for the seat, no runoff would have been required. 

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--Ashley Powers in Las Vegas
Twitter.com/ashleypowers

Photo: GOP state Sen. Russell Pearce of Arizona, the force behind the state's controversial law targeting illegal immigrants, speaks at a news conference in November as results in the vote to recall him come in. Credit: Joshua Lott/Reuters

Warren Jeffs: Lawsuit says polygamist leader ordered break-in

The onetime spokesman for Warren Jeffs has filed a $100-million lawsuit against the polygamous sect leader, saying Jeffs asked him to falsify church records and arranged a break-in at his excavating business when he refused.

The lawsuit offers a window into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the reportedly vicious politics of Jeffs, who was recently sentenced to life in prison in Texas for sexually assaulting two young girls whom he said were his spiritual brides.

Former sect spokesman Willie Jessop said in court papers that Jeffs asked him last year to put a letter containing false information in church records, which the sect considers sacred, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. The letter was intended to cast doubt on allegations that Jeffs had married two different underage girls in Texas.

Jessop said he knew the information in the letter was false and refused to add it to the records, according to the lawsuit. In response, Jeffs had him excommunicated and demanded he leave the sect's enclave, which straddles the Utah-Arizona border. Jessop wouldn’t budge.

In April, Jessop said in court papers, someone broke into his excavating business and stole computers, hard drives and other files, the Tribune reported. Jessop blamed Jeffs and his associates. Jeffs is well-known for aggressive acts of retaliation, including expelling hundreds of teenagers -- the so-called “Lost Boys” -- reportedly to reduce competition for the sect’s women.

A few months after the alleged break-in, Jeffs was sentenced to prison in Texas. He remains the sect’s leader, however, and recently ordered members to hand over their personal possessions to church officials, who’d determine if they're worthy of getting them back.

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-- Ashley Powers in Las Vegas

Twitter.com/ashleypowers

Photo: Warren Jeffs watches his attorney speak in court in St. George, Utah, in 2007. Credit: Jud Burkett/Associated Press

Arizona high court: Limited-English candidate won't be on ballot

Alejandrina Cabrera, a candidate with limited English skills, will not be on the upcoming City Council ballot in San Luis, Ariz., the state's Supreme Court decided Tuesday.

Cabrera, who was born in Yuma, Ariz., but raised in Mexico, had spent 10 years working as a political activist in San Luis, an agricultural border town of 25,000, and decided to run as a City Council candidate there.

But Mayor Juan Carlos Escamilla filed a lawsuit in December challenging Cabrera's fluency in English.

In a case that involved the testimony of an Australian linguist from Brigham Young University, Yuma County Superior Court Judge John Nelson ruled that Cabrera's grasp of English was not strong enough for her to hold public office.

Cabrera and her lawyers argued that she knew enough English to represent San Luis residents. Almost 99% of the town's residents are Latino, and Spanish is spoken virtually everywhere. 

The Arizona Supreme Court took up the case over the weekend. The court didn't hear oral arguments,  but instead based its decision on briefs submitted late last week. The initial deadline to print San Luis' ballots passed last week but was extended through Tuesday to await the court's  ruling. 

Many said the legal challenge to Cabrera's candidacy was motivated by the town's fierce political infighting. Cabrera has twice filed unsuccessful recall petitions against Escamilla. 

Another candidate, Juan Castillo, who is backed by Cabrera supporters, has already declared his intent to replace Cabrera on the ballot.

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-- Ricardo Lopez

Photo: Alejandrina Cabrera speaks with reporters in San Luis, Ariz., after her attorneys filed their appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court. Credit: Ricardo Lopez / Los Angeles Times

Jared Loughner making 'progress' toward standing trial, judge says

Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner has made “measurable progress” toward recovering mental competency to stand trial in the deadly rampage, a federal judge said Monday in ordering another four-month commitment at a prison mental hospital.

U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns said there was “reason for optimism” that Loughner could be brought to trial in the foreseeable future on the 49 felony counts stemming from the Jan. 8, 2011, shootings that left six people dead and 13 wounded, including former Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Burns cited a psychiatrist’s report from the mental hospital in Missouri where Loughner has been forcibly treated with anti-psychotic drugs for almost a year. The report says Loughner, 23, has become more cooperative with prison and hospital staff and has been taking part in group therapy sessions.

The judge referred to Loughner’s unruly and bizarre behavior at earlier court appearances before him in Tucson in observing that “there was no way in my judgment then that he could have meaningfully participated in any kind of group therapy.”

Attorneys for the government asked Burns to give them access to the prison psychiatrist’s notes from discussions with Loughner. Burns said he was prepared to grant the request after reviewing the reports to delete any information that might be subject to Loughner’s attorney-client privilege.

Excerpts of the mental health reports read by the judge painted a picture of a much-improved defendant, who was deemed incompetent to stand trial  in May.

Loughner has undergone two four-month commitments for treatment, during which his attorneys have waged a legal battle to spare him from being medicated against his will with drugs they say could harm or kill him.

Loughner could face the death penalty if convicted. 

Burns indicated that the new four-month commitment would possibly be the last.

While hailing the progress made over the last four months, Burns said the prison doctors believe “he is not there yet” in terms of being capable of assisting in his own defense. The judge said the court might have to "try something else" if Loughner isn't ready for trial by the June 7 end of his latest commitment.

Neither Loughner’s lead attorney, Judy Clarke, nor Assistant U.S. Atty. Wallace Kleindienst, appearing for the government via videoconference from Tucson, made new arguments to Burns for or against his stated inclination to give the government four more months to work on Loughner’s mental capacity.

-- Carol J. Williams in San Diego

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Photo: Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner in January 2011. Credit: Pima County Sheriff's Department 

Arizona candidate with 'survival English' fights to get on ballot

Alejandrina Cabrera, a city council candidate in Arizona, is appealing a lower-court decision that barred her from seeking office because a judge determined that her English was too poor, one of her lawyers said Saturday. 

Cabrera's lawyers filed a notice to appeal late Friday, and will likely file an appellate brief Monday, Ryan Hengl, one of her attorneys, told The Times.

Cabrera hopes to run for City Council in San Luis, a small town of about 25,000 residents about 20 miles southwest of Yuma. 

Her case, believed to be the first of its kind in Arizona, has sparked much debate over how English-proficient a candidate for public office must be, particularly in border towns where much of the population primarily speaks Spanish. 

In San Luis, the population is almost 99% Latino and is predominantly of Mexican heritage, according to U.S. Census data. 

"Alejandrina definitely reflects the town," Hengl said. 

The challenge to Cabrera's candidacy was filed in December by San Luis Mayor Juan Carlos Escamilla, who has said himself that his English is far from perfect. 

Some have speculated that the lawsuit was politically motivated because Cabrera has filed two recall petitions against Escamilla in the past, Hengl said. 

Last week, Yuma County Superior Court Judge John Nelson, relied, in part, on an evaluation by an Australian linguist from Brigham Young University to make his decision. William Eggington, hired by the city of San Luis, conducted interviews and other assessments with Cabrera to evaluate her English. In Egginton's opinion submitted to the court, he said the candidate had "basic survival English," but not enough conduct city business.

Her lawyers, who say they work with their client in English, disagree. 

Most states, including Arizona, require that public officials speak, read and write in English, but state law does is not specific, Hengl said. 

"It doesn't specify levels of English," Hengl said.

He added: "It's not up to the court to determine English levels. It's up to voters. If voters don't think she is qualified, they won't vote for her."

A date for oral arguments has not been set, but Hengl said her legal team is hoping to schedule a hearing soon -- before the Feb. 2 deadline for the printing of San Luis' ballots. 

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-- Ricardo Lopez