[4] While in office he earned the ire of the Los Angeles Record editorial board for his vote opposing the metropolitan water district bill.

[8] A week after he had officially resigned, Pierce attended a police commission meeting regarding LAPD Red Squad raids preceding and following an unemployment protest on March 6, 1930.

[15] He was allowed to stay in a hotel and go out for meals but was interrogated via interpreter for hours a day by Kobe police the rest of the time.

[16] His stay in Japan was apparently extended because his luggage included evidence that he had been appointed a Kentucky Colonel,[17] which the Japanese presumed to be a legitimate military rank rather than a paper-only honorary title.

[18] In 1944 he was again a candidate for State Assembly, this time from the 61st district, Pierce cited his experience being "thrown into a stinking jail" in Japan in 1935 as a qualifying credential for election to office during the Pacific War.