Mail deluged with political endorsements
For those of us overwhelmed at the amount of money being spent on television ads by outside interests in the contest for Arkansas’ Supreme Court Chief Justice, the following information may be interesting. It seems every time you turn the television on there is an ad pointing out the campaign contributions given to Justice Courtney Goodson. The ads, containing the list of contributions and contributors, all seem to be coming out of the Judicial Crisis Network in Washington, D.C. The campaign contributions being referred to come primarily from out of state donors. Perhaps a little like the kettle calling the pot black or however that old saying goes. What it really points out is there is an enormous amount of money involved in our electoral process.
And, it seems mailings from various candidates for numerous county and state offices are in abundant supply. That list also includes the Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court mentioned in the first paragraph.
By actual count, through Saturday, Feb. 27, we had received 29 pieces of campaign literature with a combined weight of almost three-quarters of a pound. They covered three contests for offices in the nonpartisan races for judges, two Republican races for county offices and one state Republican House District seat. The results provided some insight into outside of state activity in direct mailings as well as the previously mentioned television ads for Justice Goodson.
The county offices of county judge and sheriff didn’t draw any activity from out-of-state interests. We received three mailings for the justice of the peace (Barry Moehring) opposing the incumbent county judge and no mailings from the incumbent (Bob Clinard). Both were heard on the radio, however and both relied on the daily newspaper for campaigning which is probably more effective when combined with yard and road signs. In the sheriff’s contest, with an incumbent and three challengers, we received three direct mailings. Two came from Major Holloway, one from Siloam Springs Officer Filbeck and no mailing from the incumbent or Lieutenant Pillaro. Like the county judge candidates, the sheriff candidates made up for mailings with yard and roadside signs.
It is interesting that the greatest number of mailings came from the contestants for State House District No. 95. A total of 14 mailings came in this race accounting for almost one half of the total received. Five of the mailings came from Americans for Prosperity (with a Little Rock address) opposing incumbent Sue Scott. Three opposed her voting on Obamacare and two opposing her stand on the gas tax issue. One mailing came in her support from Arkansas State Chamber (also of Little Rock), and it contained an endorsement from Governor Hutchinson. We received no mail directly from Sue Scott’s campaign, but we received a total of eight pieces of literature from Austin McCollum’s campaign. He also went door-to-door in our neighborhood. It should be interesting to see how this particular election turns out. Door-to-door is unusual these days and direct mailing is expensive. With his support from Americans for Prosperity providing a lot of personal details and his active campaigning, he might succeed in unseating an incumbent Republican state representative — a major task.
In the non-partisan contest for district judge in Rogers, we received two mailings from Chris Griffin and no mail from incumbent Judge Paul Bridges. The candidates chose radio and other means of getting their message out.
Also, as mentioned earlier, the non-partisan campaign for chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court seemed to be handled on television rather than through the mail. We received two mailings from District 16 Judge Dan Kemp (Mountain View) and one mailing from Washington, D.C., based Judicial Crisis Network pointing out gifts from campaign supporters to Courtney Goodson. There were no mailings from Courtney Goodson supporting her campaign.
In the final non-partisan election, Shawn Womack mailed one piece of literature from his campaign seeking a position as justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court and we also received two mailings in support of Womack from Republican State Leadership Committee in Washington, D.C. We received nothing from his opponent.
There were no mailings from candidates for the U.S. Senate held by Senator John Boozman. And, our county justice of the peace district did not have a contest.
There is no way of knowing what effect a mailing has on the outcome of an election if any. Many factors contribute to a candidate’s success including how the voter responds to any personal encounter, television ad or any printed literature. At least we still have freedom in the process even if we can’t always wade through the barrage of television, direct mail, phone calls and signs with our sanity still intact.
••• Editor’s note: Leo Lynch is an award-winning columnist. A native of Benton County, he is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at prtnews@ nwadg.com.