Comments ‘Wrong’ On Split In Execution Stay

No one ever said State Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, has a long memory, or that he is shy about sharing his opinions.

One has to really wonder, however, if Hester “wakes up in a new world every day.”

This was especially true, recently, after his fiery Twitter rants over the recent 5-2, Arkansas State Supreme Court decision on halting last week’s death sentence for Jack Greene.

Jack Greene, is without a doubt, a double-murderer. He is also, without a doubt, mentally ill. Arkansas officials have been doing all they can to execute him for a 1999 Johnson County murder.

But Hester’s tweets are not helping. And Hester’s memories about a court decision helping him out of a legal jam are all but forgotten.

It was less than a fortnight that the same Arkansas State Supreme Court upheld a long tradition of not requiring elected politicians to make their emails, paperwork and other discussions on the floor of the state Senate or the Arkansas House subject to discovery in state court filings.

Hester and some of his legislative partners, in filing several bills against “sanctuary cities” and “individual-rights protections,” notably for gay, lesbian, transgender people, were subpoenaed to appear and give sworn depositions about the origin of such ideas and how the legislation became a bill.

The case sought to prove, at least from one aggrieved party, that the Arkansas laws were some “rubber stamped” legislation manufactured by a rights hate group and supplied to the Arkansas lawmakers to enact as laws.

These accusations are easily proved, as many other states do not have the same protections as Arkansas’ legislature.

It has been proven often that such “targeted” legislation is conceived by groups and fawned off on legislators in an effort to affect change on a widespread basis.

Few things frighten an Arkansas elected official as much as the thought of being dragged into a lawsuit — or having to tell the truth, under oath, with a written transcript following the testimony.

But such a thought, however, causes folks like Hester some brief, awkward pauses in their unending ranting and ravings.

Hester will never admit it, but the outcome of the Supreme Court, asked to intervene in the discovery motion, was a relief when the Court ruled the papers, conversations and depositions could not be in the lawsuit.

And it may have caused Hester to think he was ironclad in his relationship with the Arkansas Supremes.

He ruined that this past week. Hester called out Chief Justice Dan Kemp of Mountain View — a candidate Hester supported in 2016.

Hester tweeted, “Silence from @judgedankemp as he continues to side with the worst among us. I apologize to the victims and their families for the lack of leadership at the AR Supreme Court in providing Justice….”

And there is more: “Word is that @judgedankemp has such a mess at court he can’t get justices around the table to discuss issues. Not even on capital punishment. People of AR deserve better….”

But Hester may have tipped his hand on the source of his information, as internal struggles at the Justice Building are seldom public matters.

One of the two dissenting votes — a vote to continue the execution — came from Justice Shawn Womack of Mountain Home (a former state senator and friend of Hester). Could Hester be quoting his old political pal?

Another “insider” whom Hester may be quoting is Justice Rhonda Wood.

There is also the fact that Hester is related to another member of the Arkansas State Supreme Court.

But oddly enough, that relative apparently voted against Hester’s wishes in the 5-2 decision for a speedy execution.

I’ll bet that makes for an awkward holiday dinner table conversation to come, don’t you think?