Wingnuts

Worst Persons

Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce and state Senator Lori Klein for this.

Two Arizona lawmakers set off charges of racism after one instructed the other to read a controversial letter on the state Senate floor last week during a debate over five immigration bills.

The letter, allegedly from a man who works as a substitute teacher in Glendale, said that Hispanic students "hate America" and only want to become "gang members and gangsters," according to ABC News. [...]

"Most of the Hispanic students do not want to be educated but rather be gang members and gangsters," State Sen. Lori Klein said, reading from the letter at the prompting of Senate President Russell Pearce.

"They hate America and are determined to reclaim this area for Mexico."

"If we are able to remove the illegals out of our schools, the class sizes would be reduced and the students who wanted to learn would have a better chance to do so and become productive citizens," the letter continued. "Thank you for standing up to this invasion."

Following demands for an apology and accusations that the letter was a hoax, Russell Pearce said he stands by the teacher who wrote the letter, Tony Hill, and said that he is "shocked that Members of the Minority are so quick to defend the actions of these troublemakers, and mock the frustration many teachers feel in bringing order to the classroom."

Unfortunately for Pearce, local television station KGUN 9 contacted all five school districts in Glendale, AZ and could find no record of a Tony Hill working for the district.

Earlier this week, Russell Pearce told a group of Tea Party supporters that they are citizens of Arizona, not the United States.

Russell Pearce may be the Worst Person of the entire week, not just today.