Arkansas

RWW reported in November on an internal Republican feud in Texas where the Religious Right unsuccessfully tried to push out the Speaker of the House, who is Jewish, in favor of a challenger who was a “True Christian.”

Now, Republicans in Arkansas are using a similar tactic against Democrat Jerry Repham in the race to fill a vacancy in the state legislature. The blog Blue Arkansas found a campaign email from Chuck Chatham, a committeeman of the local Republican Party, which contrasts Republican candidate Bruce Cozart with Repham, who Chatham calls a “pro-abortion Jewish lawyer.” He goes on to say that “this is a very important race to anyone who values Christian principles.”

Tuesday [March 8th is a special election to fill the vacant state legislature seat that was vacated by Keith Krass’s death last year. The election is between Bruce Cozart (R) a pro-life, Christian who has served a number of years on the Lake Hamilton school board and Jerry Rephan (D). Jerry is a pro-abortion Jewish lawyer who specializes in “environmental law” which means his primary clients as such were the Sierra Club and PETA, among others.

Bruce Cozart is pro-second amendment rights and has been an active member of the First Assembly of God church for many years. He has been a local contractor and construction worker for the last 35+ years here in Garland County. We need a contractor/dozer driver instead of another liberal lawyer in the Arkansas state legislature. Please go and vote!! This is a very important race to anyone who values Christian principles.

The 24th district includes most of the area south of highway 27O and west of Central avenue. It extends to the lake near 270 and on both sides of highway 70 west of the lake to near Lake Hamilton school. Your voters card will show if you are located in the 24th district, but if Keith Krass was on your ballot in November, you are in that district. If you don’t live in the district, please encourage your friends that do to go vote for Bruce, just as I am doing for you.

Thanks

Chuck Chatham

The special election will take place on March 8th.

The other day we noted that the Arkansas Family Council is going to be bringing David Barton in to lead a two-day seminar for state legislators and government officials and explain to them that "helping the poor ... is primarily a function of the church," not government.

And indeed, the idea that it is not the government's responsibility to help the poor seems as if it is going to be one of the main points Barton intends to impart, as the AFC's Jerry Cox explained to Arkansas News columnist John Brummett:

Cox told me that Barton will not be lecturing these legislators on imposing Christianity on the government. Instead, he said, this highly polarizing Texan of dubious academic credentials will explain that some responsibilities belong to government, some to families and some to the church.

Quoting Barton from a recent lecture in Garland County, Cox said:

—Justice belongs to the government because a system of church punishment might bear alarming comparisons to inquisitions.

—Child rearing belongs to the family.

—Services for the poor and needy are the rightful responsibility of the church.

Interesting, isn't it, how Barton isn't going to churches with the message that it is their responsility to help the poor but is instead going to legislators with the the message that it is not their responsibility to help the poor?

As the Republican Party lurches farther to the right and comes to the successful conclusion of its Southern Strategy, even the party’s most radical candidates can win elections. In an open Democratic seat in Arkansas, where Republicans made significant gains in the election, Republican candidate Loy Mauch defeated his Democratic opponent. According to the Arkansas Times, State Representative-elect Mauch is a staunch Neo-Confederate who is “a current member of The League of the South,” a white supremacist group, and an avowed opponent of Abraham Lincoln and his legacy. He describes the Confederate Battle Flag as “a symbol of Jesus Christ” and “Biblical government,” and an affiliate of the Sons of Confederate Veterans he led presented a speech entitled “Homage to John Wilkes Booth.” David Koon of the Arkansas Times writes:

For seven years, Mauch was the commander of James M. Keller Camp 648 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He stepped down as commander last year. In 2004, angered by the city of Hot Springs' refusal to remove a statue of Abraham Lincoln displayed in the Hot Springs Civic and Convention Center, the Keller Camp hosted a conference in Hot Springs called "Seminar on Abraham Lincoln — Truth vs. Myth," with a keynote address called "Homage to John Wilkes Booth."

Mauch said that he believes Lincoln didn't follow the Constitution. Of the statue of Lincoln in the convention center, Mauch said: "I didn't think it had any place down in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He wasn't friendly to Arkansas. He didn't have anything to do with Arkansas. Nobody in Arkansas voted for him."

A prolific writer of letters to the editor (Garland County Democratic Party chair George Hozendorf said one of the only things he knew about Mauch was that he recalled a letter to the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record in which Mauch advocated for enlarging the controversial Confederate flag and Confederate soldier statue at the fork of Central and Ouachita Avenues), Mauch took pen in hand in 2008 during the controversy stirred up by Huntsville businessman James Vandiver's decision to respond to the election of Barack Obama by flying a Confederate battle flag in front of his motel.

"The government has lost its moral authority over God-fearing Americans," Mauch wrote to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "I wish more patriots like James Vandiver would take their stand for what the Confederate Battle Flag truly symbolizes."

When asked what the Confederate flag symbolizes, Mauch said: "It's a symbol of constitutional government. It's a symbol of Jesus Christ above all else. It's a symbol of Biblical government."

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s profiles of the League of The South, which calls for Whites to “establish a Christian theocratic state and politically dominate blacks and other minorities,” and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which has ties to extremist groups such as the League and the Council of Conservative Citizens, reveal their radical underpinnings. The SPLC has documented the Southern Republican politicians who have ties to such racist groups, and Mauch appears to be the latest example of a politician who views the Southern Confederacy with nostalgia and praises its history with religious fervor and nationalistic devotion.

Last week we noticed that the Judicial Confirmation Network had unviled a state-level operation in Arkansas seeking to fight Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court.

State-level organizations are obviously going to play a key part in the JCN's anti-Sotomayor campaign as, in the last few days, two new ones have popped up, including one in North Dakota:

With the recent nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, the North Dakota Judicial Confirmation Network is proud to announce their 2009 Steering Committee.

The group will be chaired by Rep. Rick Berg, and will include Rep. Kathy Hawken, Sen. Joe Miller, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Duane, Rep. Chuck Damschen, Bismarck Attorney Robert Harms, Rep. Blair Thoreson, and Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn. The group will continue to add steering committee members throughout the summer.

Reps Berg and Thoreson also served on the North Dakota Judicial Confirmation Network’s 2005 effort. In 2005, Senators Dorgan and Conrad both voted to confirm Justice John Roberts. Senator Conrad also voted to confirm Justice Alito.

“Our goal is to advocate for a responsible and thorough vetting process for Judge Sotomayor—and part of that means ensuring that this process is not rushed. After all, this is a lifetime appointment,” said Rep. Hawken.

The North Dakota Judicial Confirmation Network is affiliated with the national Judicial Confirmation Network—an organization of citizens joined together to support the confirmation of highly qualified individuals to the Supreme Court of the United States. JCN supports judges who interpret the Constitution, and opposes activist judges who legislate from the bench.

A similar group has also be set up in Colorado, and though this article doesn't explicitly mention its ties to the JCN, the fact that I found the article featured at the top of the JCN's website suggests that this is also part of its efforts:

A conservative coalition has formed in Colorado to oppose President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the New York judge is a judicial activist who puts her "personal political agenda" above the rule of law.

"Sonia Sotomayor's statement that a 'wise Latina woman' would generally make better decisions because of 'the richness of her experiences' than a white male reveals the extent to which political and personal agendas have supplanted the rule of law in selecting nominees," former State Treasurer Mark Hillman said in a press release announcing the coalition. "Rule of law requires that laws be written, accessible, understandable and uniformly applied."

Jim Pfaff, coordinator of the state anti-Sotomayor campaign, said it would lobby the Coloradans whose opinions of Sotomayor matter most: U.S. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, who will vote on her confirmation. Bennet told the Associated Press Tuesday that he will support her. A spokeswoman for Udall said Tuesday that "he thinks she's impressive" but has not made up his mind.

Other organizers of the Colorado anti-Sotomayor effort include John Andrews, former president of the state Senate; Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, a conservative Colorado think tank; and Jeff Crank, state director of Americans for Prosperity.

Obviously, the JCN considers the Senators in Arkansas, Colorado, and North Dakota to be key targets for their anti-Sotomayor efforts.