Justice hopeful rips ‘dark money’ attacks

Calls distort his record, Hixson says

Arkansas Supreme Court candidate Kenneth Hixson on Monday denounced “dark money” ads that have vilified one of his opponents in the race while extolling another opponent.

The ads, which hit airwaves late last month, have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and are being paid for by out-of-state political organizations that do not disclose their donors, earning them the moniker “dark money.”

“Over the past couple of weeks, special interest dark money has flooded the airwaves, dredging up things about Justice [Courtney] Goodson and distorting my record as a judge through anonymous and unethical phone calls,” Hixson said in a news release, referring to anonymous robocalls that state residents reported last month.

Goodson, the incumbent justice on the court, is running for a second eight-year term against Hixson, a Court of Appeals judge, and David Sterling, the top attorney for the state Department of Human Services.

While candidates in judicial races are officially nonpartisan, the two outside groups spending money on the race have a track record

of supporting Republicans: the Judicial Crisis Network and the Republican State Leadership Committee. Both groups are based in Washington, D.C.

The latest ad released Monday was paid for by the Republican State Leadership Committee in support of Sterling, at an initial cost of $200,000.

Sterling is touted in the ad as “a strong conservative to defend Arkansas values.” The ad also makes reference to — without drawing any clear connection to Sterling or the work of the Arkansas Supreme Court — the White House Correspondents’ Association, the MSNBC network, CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper and U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Asked why national Republicans are getting involved in a nonpartisan state judicial race, a committee spokesman pointed a reporter to a statement by the group’s president, Matt Walter, about “opportunities to support

conservative judicial candidates who will interpret our laws, not write laws that usurp our legislatures.”

The spokesman could not say what claims about the “fake news media” and “political insiders” had to do with the work of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Sterling has repeatedly said he is not coordinating with outside groups and expressed his desire for a positive campaign.

During his unsuccessful 2014 run for the Republican nomination for attorney general, the Judicial Crisis Network ran negative ads against Sterling’s then-opponent, Leslie Rutledge, similarly comparing her to Pelosi. The Judicial Crisis Network this year is funding ads against Goodson.

During a brief phone interview Monday, Sterling said he had yet to see the new Republican State Leadership Committee ad. Asked about twice having his opponents attacked by the Judicial Crisis Network, Sterling noted that the group also opposed Goodson when she ran for chief justice in 2016, a race he was not involved in. Goodson, while

serving as an associate justice, unsuccessfully ran for the chief justice position.

“They obviously want to communicate a message about her. I’m not involved in that,” Sterling said.

Sterling added that he’s been focused on producing his own radio ads, which he said will start today.

In his Monday statement, Hixson questioned the intentions behind outside support for Sterling, who has never served as an elected judge.

“Why are D.C. special interests now spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect someone with no judicial experience to our state’s highest court?” the release says. “What are they expecting in return?”

A spokesman for Goodson did not respond to a phone call seeking comment Monday. The justice spoke out last week against the ads attacking her.

Early voting in the Supreme Court and other judicial elections began Monday. Election day for nonpartisan judicial races, as well as the party primaries, is May 22.