Shakeup in Stone County Arkansas GOP - Activism May Help Other Counties

Bill Smith, Editor: On many fronts, Arkansans is seeking to return Arkansas to its conservative roots abandoned by the controlling Arkansas Democrat Party.  Not only has the Arkansas Democrat Party left its roots, it also has fostered many positions anathema to most Arkansans.  At the same time, the Republican Party of Arkansas, which offers a big tent to conservatives, has needed people to serve even the grassroots precinct level. However, Change is Happening! People are getting active in the the GOP in counties which& have not offered much "resistance" to the liberal agenda of state democrats.

In the past, people voted on generational perceptions verses beliefs and values. Most Arkansans have conservative values in their worship, jobs and homes, but when voting, many vote for the candidate from the Democratic party which does not represent their conservative values. Why - because grandma and grandpa were Democrats. Folks, our grandparents wouldn't even recognize today's Democratic Party. It is now the party supporting the agenda of the east and west coast liberals.

Change is Happening! People have awakened via the TEA Party, grassroots movements, or just realizing that the President, Pelosi, Reid and others do not represent Arkansas. People are upset and are expressing a willingness to get involved in shaping Arkansas political future. While the long term effects of this involvement is unknown, it is expected that over the short term, 2 to 4 years, change can be expected in Arkansas politics.

The efforts of citizens in one Arkansas county have been noted by the Canadian Free Press:

Arkansas patriot group “We the People,” headed up by Stone County conservative Jim Diamond [an active Republican precinct member] is one of thousands of loosely associated patriot groups across the country, made up of local citizens who had become fed up with an increasingly intrusive and abusive government that seemed completely deaf to the will of the people it was established to serve. They were searching for a way to have a real impact.

As “We the People” member Chris Romero describes events, - “We were a group of angry citizens disgusted with the direction of our government, as well as both political parties.”—“I had pretty much given up on being able to save my country from a tyrannical government, and had certainly given up on the two political parties.”—“The group was committed to supporting only third party candidates as a result.”

But then National Precinct Alliance state coordinator Jacque Martin [a Republican committee precinct member in another county] entered the picture. Jacque had been engaged in patriot efforts across Arkansas for years. Back in early December ‘09, as the newly appointed State Coordinator for National Precinct Alliance, Jacque attended a “We the People” meeting in Stone County and presented the National Precinct Alliance strategy to Diamond’s “We the People” organization.

Diamond and his group studied the NPA strategy and when Mrs. Martin showed up at the group’s January 7, 2010 meeting, the group had decided to abandon the third party idea and focus on retaking constitutionally conservative control of the Stone County GOP. Martin asked for a volunteer and Chris Romero became the Stone County NPA Coordinator who would lead the charge.

Five days later, on January 12, 2010, Romero and Diamond led their “We the People” group into the Stone County GOP meeting, in which the existing GOP leadership agreed to resign and make room for constitutionally conservative leadership, determined to force change.

As Romero states, - “We walked in not knowing what to expect and walked out in control of the Stone County GOP.” Less than a month after first learning the NPA strategy, Arkansas patriots had success with the strategy. They elected a new Chairman on the spot and Romero now serves as the Stone County GOP vice-chair, as well as the Stone County Coordinator for National Precinct Alliance.

But this is just the beginning of the story . . . Martin, Romero and Diamond have already moved on to share the NPA strategy in five adjoining counties, and last night, they had a state-wide meeting of conservative activists from every county, as they move to take control of the Arkansas GOP.

Some items were not noted in the story. One was that the expansion of and growth of precinct members in Stone County and surrounding counties have been supported by Republicans from other counties. One such county is Baxter County, Arkansas - a conservative hotbed. To win elections, state-wide and US Senate and the 1st District conservative candidates must travel to Baxter County in North Central Arkansas which has one of the largest involved Republican committees in the state. Numerous members of the committee are involved in other support groups and patriot efforts in the state and nationally including the Ozark Tea Party which hosted the largest TEA Party events in Arkansas.

Two Baxter County Republicans committee members are leaders in the 1st Congressional District (which includes all counties previously mentioned).   Benny Speaks, 1st District Republican Chairman, and Joe Leblanc, White River Region Republican Chairman have traveled thousands of miles each year helping other counties like Stone County organize and increase their precinct members.

While the NPA strategy is valid, the claim that being a precinct member of a political party committee means that you get to endorse who will be the party's candidate in a primary election is not correct - at least not in the Republican Party in Arkansas. Precinct members and County Committees do not dictate -- they serve! In Arkansas, the County Republican Committees do not decide who will can be or cannot be Republican candidates for office. Endorsements and financial support of candidates by the Republican committee are not permitted until after the Primary elections. Also, delegates to the RNC National Conventions are not picked by the precinct members of the committee. The process is much more complicated.

As conservatives, we expect "the people" to decide if they wish to run for elected office. To do otherwise would not represent the people. In Arkansas, voters do not register to vote by political party. We have open primaries. For a Primary Election, a voter may chose to vote in any political primary (but only one) - thus crossing party lines for the primary election. Precinct members represent their constituents; they do not control or dictate the lives of other free people. Thus the GOP remains a big tent of conservatives from varying conservative viewpoints.

People interested in representing their precinct as a Republican on their local Republican County Committee, should read the following items, The U.S. Constitution, What Republicans Believe, and the current GOP Party Platform. Then contact your local County Committee. In Arkansas, the filing period for office as a precinct member is next month.

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