By Conduit For Action
The State Committee of the Republican Party of Arkansas meets on August 19th in North Little Rock. One of the items to be considered is a resolution calling for candidates for judicial races to be allowed to run as political party candidates. It is an important resolution.
Currently, judicial candidates run as nonpartisan candidates. The idea was to take some of the politics out of judicial elections. What it has actually done is to hinder transparency and openness in judicial campaigns. Knowing what party the candidate aligns with tells the voter much about the candidate. A candidate who is a Democrat is far more likely to become a liberal activist judge. Such judges are more guided by liberal philosophy than the constitution and laws. But you don’t have that information under nonpartisan elections.
Nonpartisan judicial elections allow Democrats to hide from the voters. “What is my political party preference? I can’t have a preference because I am nonpartisan.” Baloney!
It has been said that until Governor Sarah Sanders recently filled a vacancy on the Arkansas Supreme Court, the court has been a majority liberal court. With the appointment, the Supreme Court is now considered a majority conservative court. Most voters would be shocked and surprised that they had elected liberal justices on the Supreme Court.
If the resolution before the State Committee is adopted, that is only a beginning. If passed, the resolution is a call to legislators in the Arkansas Senate and House of Representatives to propose an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to allow judicial candidates to run as partisan candidates. If the Arkansas General Assembly proposes such a constitutional amendment, it must then be voted on by the people.
The resolution should be adopted to bring transparency to judicial races. Your support could make the difference in whether the resolution passes. Then your support is needed to convince your State Senator and Representative to sponsor and vote for a proposed amendment to the constitution.
