Pearce resigns as first vice chair of Arizona GOP
Former state Sen. Russell Pearce, who has recently served as the Arizona Republican Party's first vice chair, resigned his post late Sunday over remarks he made about requiring women on public assistance to use contraception.
The Republican Party announced his resignation around 11 p.m. Sunday -- hours after GOP candidates expressed their displeasure with his remarks and a day after the Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director DJ Quinlan noted Pearce's comments in a news release and pressed his party's candidates to denounce them.
ROBERTS: Russell Pearce implodes (again)
Quinlan's statement, issued Saturday, highlighted remarks Pearce made on his talk-radio program on KKNT 960 AM. According to the statement, Pearce talked about changes he would make to the state's public assistance programs and was quoted in the Democratic Party's news release as saying:
"You put me in charge of Medicaid, the first thing I'd do is get Norplant, birth-control implants, or tubal ligations…Then we'll test recipients for drugs and alcohol, and if you want to [reproduce] or use drugs or alcohol, then get a job."
more:
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/2014/09/14/pearce-contraception-remarks-denounced/15645837/