State Senator Jim Hendren (I- Gravette) is the figurehead of a liberal funded and liberal supported organization to elect RINOS in the Republican primary who are sponsored by WOKE corporations.

For years Senator Jim Hendren ran on the Republican ticket, but after Republicans became the majority party, he frequently voted with Democrats to stop conservative legislation and to grow government. By 2015, Hendren began to overtly sabotage conservative legislation.  See CFA’s September 2018 article, “Expose liberal voting records and be called a terrorist”  which outlines many of Jim Hendren’s tactics.

When Hendren realized no one considered him conservative enough to run for Governor on the Republican ticket, he dropped his campaign for Governor, dropped his charade of being Republican, and in February 2021 declared himself an Independent.

Although he is no longer in the Republican party, he has not stopped trying to derail conservative Republicans who follow the party principles and platform. Hendren and his liberal friends have recruited for the 2022 election cycle RINOS to run against Republicans who actually “have” conservative voting records.

Even though Trump won Arkansas by more than 62% in 2020, Hendren and his corporate, liberal friends have decided that “if you can’t beat them, pretend to join them” is best.  They will work to elect candidates in Hendren’s image through the liberal funded and liberal run organization “Common Ground.[i]”  Their material is infused with many of Hendren’s feel good policies he often describes as “commonsense” and “pragmatic.” We have found through experience, that in the end, those feel-good terms mostly mean, “Shut up and do what my liberal big government friends say.” 

Summary: 

We are focusing on Senator Jim Hendren to show what you will get if you elect Common Ground recruited or supported candidates in the 2022 Republican Primary.

Understanding Voting Records. Before we begin, there are a couple of things we will explain to help you understand the list.

Sometimes a legislator will try to kill a bill without going on record voting “No.” To do this, some walk off the floor to miss the vote or sit quietly without voting. Another tactic used to help kill a bill without voting “No” is to vote “Present.” Not voting or voting “Present” are not neutral actions. Regardless of whether a legislator votes “No”, doesn’t vote, or votes “Present” each action has the same effect of making it harder for the legislation to get enough votes to pass.

When a legislator has an excused absence from the Capitol, the legislator can still vote on any issue. An absent legislator can vote using a simple procedure called “Pairing.”  As a common courtesy a Senator who is voting the opposite way will agree to have his or her vote paired with that of the absent legislator.  The absent legislator can see the agenda for the day and select which bills he or she wishes to vote on through pairing.

Since pairing is available, when scoring votes, we do not make a distinction between being present and not voting versus being absent and not voting; however, for clarity, if he was absent we will state “failed to use pairing to vote.”

JIM HENDREN’S ANTI-CONSERVATIVE VOTES

Obamacare (We are listing this category first to highlight Jim Hendren’s use of deceptions and lies used to pass legislation.)

• Sponsored a bill with a title saying the bill was prohibiting the creation of an Arkansas run Obamacare Exchange, but the title of his bill was a LIE. Instead, the bill protected authorization to create an exchange UNLESS the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Obamacare. If the court had done that the exchange would no longer be a possibility anyway. The lying title got people to vote for something that in reality did nothing instead of another bill that would have actually ended the authorization. – SB343 of 2015 For more see CFA 2017 article “Special Session item puts spotlight on Senator’s Hendren’s 2015 lie“
• Sponsored a bill to study Arkansas’ Obamacare Medicaid Expansion. Hendren claimed doing a study first was the only way to end Obamacare Medicaid Expansion. But the claim was false and was the exact opposite of what his bill was doing. The study the legislation required was not to determine whether to keep or repeal the program, instead the scope of the study was only on how to KEEP the program. Even the consultant, the Stephen Group, hired said his study acknowledged it its report it was limited by this requirement.[ii] Hendren’s deception drew support away from another bill that would have actually repealed the program before Arkansas taxpayers would have to pay part of the cost. (What is Obamacare Medicaid Expansion? It is a health entitlement primarily for ABLE BODIED WORKING AGE ADULTS WHO CHOOSE NOT TO WORK Which added approximately $20 million to the budget and put one-third of Arkansans on Medicaid.) – SB96 of 2015
• Sponsored a bill to continue Obamacare Medicaid Expansion under a new name. (Having used deception to save the program from repeal he sponsored legislation to make it permanent. – SB1 of 2^nd Sess. 2016

Abortion

• Voted PRESENT on the bill to ban abortion – SB6 of 2021
• Failed to use pairing to vote on bill to prohibit public schools from entering into deals with abortion providers – HB1592 of 2021

Value of Life

• Cosponsored a resolution proposing a Constitutional Amendment which included putting a price tag on human life in lawsuits – SJR8 of 2017

Children

• Voted against prohibiting the chemical castration and gender reassignment surgery for minors – HB1570 of 2021

Fairness in Sports

• Voted against fairness in women’s sports to prohibit genetic males from competing in girl sports – SB354 of 2021

Sex Offenders

• Voted against prohibiting Level 4 Sex Offenders from living near a church – HB1164 of 2015

Taxes

• Cosponsored the Internet Sales Tax paid by Arkansas consumers – SB576 of 2019
• Voted for internet sales tax on previous attempt to pass – SB140 of 2017
• Cosponsored gas and diesel tax increase – SB336 of 2019
• Sponsored $100 million tax increase for use in a redistribution of wealth scheme – SB571 of 2019
• Cosponsored $300 million tax sales tax increase proposal for roads – HRJ1018 of 2019
• Voted for increased tire taxes – HB1267 of 2017
• Voted for tax increase on cell phone bills – HB1564 of 2019
• Voted for tax increase on water bills – HB1737 of 2019
• Voted for increased fees for state parks use – SB418 of 2021

Freedom

• Voted against bill to protect the U.S. Constitution from federal government overreach concerning the right to bear arms in the state of Arkansas; and concerning other constitutional rights – SB298 of 2021 and on veto override vote

COVID

• Voted against bill to prohibit vaccine passports in Arkansas – SB615 of 2021
• Voted against bill to prohibit the government from requiring a vaccine mandate and failed to vote on emergency clause– HB1547 of 2021
• Voted against bill to end mandatory face coverings – SB590 of 2021
• Voted against bill to return COVID19 fees assessed on Arkansas businesses – SB301 of 2021

Regulation/ Deregulation

• Voted for new regulations and fees on ride sharing apps (UBER/LYFT) at airports – SB686 of 2021
• Voted against bill to exempt hair stylists from cosmetology licensing – HB1746 of 2021
• Failed to vote on bill to allow nurse practitioners to practice to the full scope of their education and training – HB1258 of 2021
• Failed to vote on bill to expand the scope of practice for optometrists – HB1251 of 2019

Elections

• Voted against bill for election integrity in provisional ballots – HB1112 of 2021
• Voted for electronic voter registration (which jeopardizes election integrity) – HB1517 of 2021

Ethics

• Voted against bill for Medicaid disclosure transparency which would have required Medicaid providers to disclose business relationships with legislators and other public officials – SB175 of 2017

Privacy

• Voted against protecting private information of nonprofit organizations (like tithes to churches) – SB535 of 2021

Firearms

• Failed to vote on bill for protecting the enforcement of federal government gun bans – HB1957 of 2021
• Voted against bill for the interstate firearms protection act to prevent the United States government from regulating the manufacture, assembly, and trade of firearms and ammunition within the borders of Arkansas – SB59 of 2021
• Voted against stand your ground 2^nd amendment protections – SB24 of 2021

Access to Government Information

• Voted for FOIA exemption for government attorneys – SB373 of 2017
• Failed to vote on bill for recording of government meetings – HB1928 of 2019

Other Important Legislation

• Failed to vote on bill for a resolution to propose an amendment to support traditional marriage – SJR7 of 2017
• Voted against bill to prohibit an economic development office in communist China – SB252 of 2021
• Failed to vote on bill for welfare program integrity – SB295 of 2021
• Failed to vote on bill to promote work for welfare food stamps recipients – HB1512 of 2021

POOR SCORE ON ECONOMIC FREEDOM FILTER

Conduit for Commerce scores the votes of legislators based on Conduit’s Economic Freedom Filter.  The Economic Freedom Filter analyzes bills that do the following:

• Increase or decrease the size and scope of government
• Increase or decrease dependency on government
• Spend money we do not have
• Increase or decrease transparency in government

He scored poorly on the Conduit for Commerce Scorecards. Below is a breakdown on his showings on the scorecard, released after each regular legislative session.

2022 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY

The Republican primary is May 24, 2022, and early voting begins May 9, 2022.

Although Senator Jim Hendren is not running for election, as the figurehead for Common Ground, he is busy supporting candidates who are likeminded with him and predictably will reflect his own voting record. An example of such support was on display recently when he sponsored a table at the Republican Party of Benton County 2022 Reagan Day Dinner and hosted candidates, Peter Christie and Jim Tull, who are running against two House Republicans with solid conservative voting records seeking to move up to the Senate.

If you are a Republican, do you want someone supported by Jim Hendren or his “Common Ground” to represent you as a Republican nominee?

[i] https://commongroundar.org/about/

[ii] The Stephen Group: Volume 1 Executive Summary – 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY VOLUME II