Great crowd at the 2nd District Meeting yesterday morning discussing local election efforts. #arpx pic.twitter.com/sXCaxLVovo
— David Sterling (@Sterling4AR) September 30, 2018
A note on the heavy influence of partisan politics in David Sterling’s race to unseat Associate Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson, a position that is officially non-partisan. Sterling is running as a Republican, overtly and frequently.
Sterling, who made an unsuccessful race as a Republican for attorney general and now is nominally general counsel at Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson‘s Department of Human Services (his heavy campaigning has to require some leave time from the $124,000 job), is branding himself as a Republican candidate.
His social media accounts, such as Twitter, show him making a nearly unbroken series of appearances at Republican functions.
Better still as an indication of who he’ll favor on the bench is the outside money being spent to support him.
In the primary, he benefitted from $744,997 spent by the Republican State Leadership Committee Judicial Fairness Initiative. The filings show the money was spent
According to Secretary of State Mark Martin’s online financial disclosure website (not wholly reliable), the Republican group is far and away the biggest single independent spender so far in Arkansas elections this year. Independent
The judicial initiative began in 2014 and has spent huge sums around the country to elect state court judges — the better to protect state legislation produced by Republican legislatures. Who contributes the money? You won’t find that information in
Sterling is a crucial court vote for Republicans. Justice Shawn Womack is a former Republican state senator and remains intensely political with frequent legislative lobbying through Republican colleagues. Justice Rhonda Wood has used former Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee in her political campaigns as a
Would the Republicans who insist Judge Wendell Griffen is unfit to hear death penalty cases based on his religious beliefs in opposition to the death penalty suggest that some of these jurists might have a problem hearing cases involving the Democratic Party or people identified as Democrats?
It was an honor to see VP Mike Pence in Little Rock last night. Lots of dignitaries assembled to roll out the red carpet for him. #arpx pic.twitter.com/OV7wu4WcAl
— David Sterling (@Sterling4AR) September 22, 2018
Side note, according to the state’s online portal, Sterling has outraised Goodson $120,000 to $90,000 so far.
Sterling’s top contributors? From the website:
Stephens, Jack T.
Stephens, Angie
Murphy, Madison
Stephens, Warren
Morton, Michael
Enough said.