Common Ground AR – The left’s effort to elect RINOS

Conduit For Action

Democrats, like any known “Progressives,” aren’t going to win many races in Arkansas. That is why the left has turned its attention to recruiting and electing left leaning candidates on the Republican ticket. This effort is spearheaded in Arkansas by “Common Ground AR.” Similar left-wing efforts have arisen in some other Republican dominated states under different names.

“IDEAS OVER IDEOLOGY” OR JUST AGAINST CONSERVATIVE IDEAS?

Common Ground AR says it “supports leaders who put good ideas and the good of Arkansans ahead of partisanship.” Common Ground would like you to think political gridlock in Arkansas is keeping good ideas from passing. Gridlock has nothing to do with Arkansas politics. Unlike Congress where little gets done because Congress is nearly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, the Arkansas legislature is more than three-fourths Republican, yet too often we get blue results in our red state because some legislators ignore their promises in favor of following woke corporate donors.

One of Common Ground’s catch phrases is “Ideas over Ideology.” That might sound appealing until you think about it.  With Arkansas being heavily Republican the only ideology the organization wants to ignore is the Republican platform and principles, which are the promises Republicans make to voters. (Click here for the full Principles and Platform of the Republican Party of Arkansas.)

Common Ground (like their friend, the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce) wants to elect corporate sponsored RINOS who will ignore the principles and ignore specific promises in the platform. Instead of a true conservative, Common Ground wants someone who will work for bigger government, corporate welfare, and who is willing to accept liberal social policies pushed by woke corporations.  The irony is that while they work for bigger government and less individual freedom, they use the catch word “conservative” while campaigning for election.

You only need to look at the statements and actions of the officers of Common Ground AR to see the ideology the organization supports – a strong left-wing bias. It is obviously a progressive left organization.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMON GROUND AR

Misty Orpin – Executive Director Common Ground AR

TEN BOARD MEMBERS

Board members who are politicians or lobbyists

  1. LeAnne Burch (D)- Board Member
  1. Davy Carter- Board Member
  1. Jim Hendren- Founder-Board Member
  1. George McGill – Board Member
  1. Nate Steel– Board Member
  1. Archie Schaffer III– Board Member

The Other Four Board Members

  1. Veronica Gromada – Board Member
  1. Mark Isbell – Board Member
  1. Andy McNeill -Board Member

10. Sam T.  Sicard – Board Member

WHICH EX-LEGISLATORS ENDORSED COMMON GROUND?

Since the election of Donald Trump, there have been rejected/dejected Republicans in Arkansas join Democrats and US Senator Mitt Romney to move Arkansas away from Republican platform policies. Our footnotes include quotes from four anti-Trump ex-Arkansas legislators.  Reading these quotes, along with the history of these particular ex-legislators, is very telling about the true nature and purpose of Common Ground—to rid Arkansas of its hope for economic freedom and increased individual freedoms.  (See Conduit News for information on ex-legislators such as:  https://conduitnews.com/2019/01/29/former-state-rep-nate-bell-delays-ahim-bill/ )

WHO DOES COMMON GROUND REALLY REPRESENT?

Common Ground (along with its partners at the State Chamber of Commerce) serves the interest of woke corporations. In 2021 big woke corporations successfully lobbied the legislature to not pass legislation that would have banned racist indoctrination of school children through programs such as Critical Race Theory. Woke also support the sexualization of school children and also tried to stop legislation which prohibits chemical castration of children and other gender altering procedure on children. They lost that fight, and the ban was passed but their fight has now gone to the courts.

Common Ground (like the State Chamber) also serves the interest of corporations that want big government programs to create more business for them at taxpayer expense. They also want a bigger slice of taxpayer funds in the form of grants (giveaways) and tax breaks to add to their bottom line and help them have an advantage against Arkansas small business. They defend these giveaways despite economists criticizing some of these programs as not providing a benefit to Arkansans.

COMMON GROUND ROLE WITH CANDIDATES

So far the two primary roles of Common Ground have been: 1) to recruit big government left leaning candidates to run as Republicans against conservative candidates who have a true conservative legislative voting record which agrees with the Republican platform and its principles, and 2) to partner with the State Chamber to line up campaign donors representing big corporations who want more corporate welfare and corporate donors who embrace a woke ideology which thinks of any conservative legislation as bad for business.

Common Ground has recruited candidates, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will publicly endorse candidates. Why? Because Common Ground’s disguise as middle of the road is thin and that is not helpful to candidates running in the Republican primary.

You will have to listen to and question candidates to try to get a straight answer (detailed answers) to find out whether a candidate stands with the promises of the Republican Party or with the fake conservativism of Common Ground and their friends at the State Chamber.

A candidate’s words may sound nice but there is no substitute for reviewing how a politician voted on issues.  If the candidate served in the Arkansas legislature you can find out how the candidate voted in 2021 by looking at the Conduit for Commerce 2021 Scorecard. You may also want to look on Conduit News to see if the candidate has done an interview to discuss the candidate’s positions. You might also want to check Conduit News to see if the candidate has been the subject of a Platform Heroes article or an Ignoring the Platform article.  Also find out who were the big campaign donors to the candidate in 2020 by reviewing Conduit for Commerce’s Follow the Money Report.

 

[i] https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2021/02/25/misty-orpins-never-ending-quest-to-figure-it-all-out

[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_McGill_(Arkansas_politician)

[iii] https://talkbusiness.net/1998/01/cushy-pr-job-takes-back-seat-to-criminal-investigation-charges/

[iv] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2-tyson-executives-convicted/

https://m.hpj.com/archives/clinton-pardons-tyson-executive-in-espy-investigation/article_5e1fe729-85a6-5eea-9378-5cd430f3878e.html

[v] https://www.arkansasstatechamber.com/about-us/ascc-officers-directors-2021/

“Meeks, who served eight years as a Republican representative from Conway, said ….

“I basically consider myself a Republican in exile at this point and hope that through this group that we can again turn the tide or turn the conversation back to where it needs to be,” he said.

[Nate] Bell said the group’s purpose is, “The Republican Party will return to its founding principles … the principles of conservatism, and if they don’t, we’re making preparations to prepare an alternative.”

[Bruce] Maloch, the lone Democrat [defeated in 2020 by a conservative Republican] among the state’s signatories, said he agreed with the group’s founding principles.

“I just don’t see how anybody can disagree with those,” he said. “Truth, ethics, civil responsibility, opportunity – I agree with those principles and think that’s what both parties ought to work toward.”

Among the more than 150 signatories were former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who opposed Trump in the Republican Party primary in 2020 but won only 2% of the vote in Arkansas; White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci; and George Conway, the husband of former Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway.[v]

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