Illegal immigration has been a dividing line between two factions of the Republican Party, pitting grassroots conservatives opposite certain business interests. Up to now the two sides had mostly been sizing up each other. The conflict just went thermonuclear. Espresso Pundit has posted a copy of a flyer sent by Mesa Deserves Better that targets Russell Pearce. The hit piece dredges up accusations from a 28 year old divorce filing. In a July 2008 New Times story, LuAnne Pearce denies the alleged abuse and says the incident never occurred. That did not stop Mesa Deserves Better from putting together a flyer based on the accusations from 1980.

The implications go statewide. The chairman of Mesa Deserves Better is listed as Nathan Sproul on the Secretary of State web site. Nathan is also working for CD 8 candidate Tim Bee. So one of Tim Bee’s primary campaign consultants is savagely attacking a fellow Republican member of the legislature. During the CD8 primary in 2006 candidate Randy Graf was also attacked pretty hard but not on the same level as the current mailer on Pearce. During the toughest part of Graf’s campaign one of his closest allies was Russell Pearce. We cannot imagine this type of attack on Pearce will engender warm feelings among Graf supporters toward anyone associated with Sproul.

Aside from his association with Sproul, Tim Bee has run a weak campaign up to this point. He stayed in the legislature when he should have resigned to focus on the campaign. Then he was stuck with the budget mess and worked to pass the governor’s version, a budget with major spending increases financed by accounting gimmicks, raiding accounts, photo radar, and increased lottery tickets. Bee also originally sponsored the marriage amendment and then backed off from it. He was the deciding vote and then issued a thinly veiled attack on the Center for Arizona Policy. The Bee campaign sends out e-mails attacking Giffords but Tim Bee rarely say what policy he does support. One has to wonder does Bee even want to win? The question may be moot. In the current political war within the party Bee is stuck in no man’s land with both sides in attack mode. Bee is sending out flyers touting his 2006 Ally of the Taxpayer rating from Arizona Federation of Taxpayers. Bee fails to mention his 2007 Needs Improvement 55% score, one point above Mark DeSimone. It may be painful to see his 2008 score. I wonder if the Giffords team will be shrewd enough to exploit this gaping hole in Bee’s record?

The Maricopa County Republican Party has already endorsed Russell Pearce. We do not know if the state party will get involved but based on their view of the world it must be difficult for them to side idly by and watch what is happening. When certain party forces attacked Graf in 2006 he was no longer in the legislature. Pearce is still a member of the Arizona House of Representatives. Will forces from the Republican house caucus sit on the sidelines while a stalwart conservative like Pearce is being attacked by Sproul? Stay tuned.