The recent defeat of legislation that would have created a citizens' border group is driving up support for Arizona militias.

Two Democratic senators walked out of a border security panel this morning after its chairwoman invited an activist who is described by a civil rights group as a “vitriolic Mexican-basher.”

Standing in the shadow of the state Senate building, Sen. Russell Pearce explained to the crowd gathered around him where he got his data on the number of children born to illegal immigrants in this country when a man approached Pearce and held a blue flier inches from his face.

For conservative Arizona politicos, especially those on the forefront of the debate over illegal immigration, connections to hate groups have become an embarrassing pitfall.

Groups whose racist or white nationalist views include vehement opposition to illegal immigration often seek to align themselves with politicians who lead the anti-illegal-immigration movement. But politicians who put themselves in league with such groups — mistakenly or otherwise — usually spend years dealing with the fallout and repairing their images.

Sen. Linda Gray often cites "The New England Primer" while delivering speeches on the Senate floor. In a committee hearing June 10, the Glendale Republican read an excerpt: "I believe in God the Father, Almighty Maker of heaven and Earth, and in Jesus his only Son our Lord, which was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried." Gray was trying to make a point.