Red Wing Daily: August 29, 2024

Aug 29, 2024

Yep, it’s a federal lawsuit: Per Party Rules, over 600 Republican delegates voted to close the party primaries (and made other significant changes) at the 2024 State Convention; however, the RPA Executive Staff and Secretary of State John Thurston then chose to ignore those actions. Now Convention Chair Jennifer Lancaster (and certain other delegates) have filed a federal lawsuit to have the RPA and Secretary of State close the primaries, which they are refusing to do. Check the source for this story; however, there’s a lot of meat here, excepting one key fact NPR omitted: Per the RPA Rules themselves, the RPA, its staff, and the Executive Committee all operate under delegated authority FROM where? The State Convention.
Enthusiasm for Harris? “More than 4,800 Arkansans submitted voter registration forms to the secretary of state’s office following Biden’s announcement to not seek reelection and Harris’ campaign launch on July 21….”

State lawmakers eye firearms policies for 2025: A Legislative Council working committee has finished its study on firearm-related policy recommendations which will influence bills brought forward in the 2025 legislative session.
We’re not Democrat voters! So says Governor Sanders:

About those prison beds again: The Association of Arkansas Counties and lawmakers are working together to shape the medical services contract for Arkansas prisons. “A legislative subcommittee … delayed approval of a $235.5 million medical contract for the Arkansas Department of Corrections after lawmakers voiced concerns about the extent of coverage for inmates and an ongoing dispute over prison bed expansion.” Arkansas counties have been footing the bill for years to house state inmates because of the shortage of space at state prisons.
No big after-office position for you (or is it?) “Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced … he will join the University of Arkansas’s School of Law faculty as an executive in residence for the spring 2025 semester. Hutchinson will teach a course on leadership in state and federal government and participate in continuing legal education and moot court programs.”
Fight for what’s right: The grassroots are fighting a war of independence against the Republican Party. You decide, are the grassroots are finally tired enough of going-along-to-get-along to do something about it?

U.S. “cannot adopt an isolationist stance,” Congressman French Hill said at a recent U.S. Global Leadership Coalition event in Little Rock.
Hill, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the strand of isolationism is evident in the House of Representatives where he serves, in the media and social media, and in regular conversations at home in Arkansas.
While he briefly criticized President Joe Biden for some of his policies, he did not mention his party’s presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, who has advocated for an “America First” foreign policy stance.
Of course they did, but not quite united: “The Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners … approved the use of favorable language regarding electronic voting machines for a future press release, despite pushback from one member … [who] said he thought including the information in a press release would be “making a statement without making a statement.”

The first person to enter the Capitol building on January 6 has received a sentence of just under four and a half years in prison after being convicted by a federal jury on six counts, including interfering with police and obstructing Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.

More broadband internet for Arkansas: It’s “the single largest investment in broadband infrastructure in the state’s history” — $1.024 billion has been distributed to Arkansas as part of the federal government’s 2021 Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program to “expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs.”