The three Republican Washington County justices of the peace and the five Democrats who voted for pay increases for county employees may be targeted in the upcoming elections, officials of a “Tea Party” political movement said.
Local political activists who have organized following the Taxed Enough Already (Tea) Party protests held last year are looking for candidates.
David Keller of Lincoln, Washington County chairman of the Tea Party, said his group is looking for candidates for all types of political offices, including justices of the peace.
“We are encouraging our people to run for anything that’s open to make sure we have representation,” Keller said.
The county’s justices of the peace drew the attention of local Tea Party activists because they voted earlier this month to give 2 percent raises to county employees at a time when many American workers were either getting no raises or losing their jobs, he said.
“The fact that they voted to raise salaries really got a lot of people unnerved,” said Keller.
Three Republican justices of the peace — Butch Pond, Gary Carnahan and Mary Ann Spears— voted with the six Democratic justices of the peace to pass the budget. Four Republican justices of the peace — Micah Neal, Rex Bailey and Joe Patterson, all of Springdale, and Tom Lundstrum of Elm Springs — voted no.
Keller said that so far, his group has not found anyone to run for justice of the peace, but the search continues. He expects the subject to come back up at the group’s Jan. 11 meeting at 6 p.m. in the Springdale Public Library.
“We do have a candidate committee that is out there trying to recruit,” he said.
So far, the group has identified potential candidates for secretary of state, the U.S. Senate and the District 87 House of Representative seat held by Mark Martin, R-Prairie Grove, who can’t run again because of term limits.
Pond said that he would not be surprised if the Tea Party fields a candidate to run against him. He said a Tea Party supporter called him before the budget vote.
Pond said he explained that he supported the pay hike because he remembers when the county’s pay was so low that it became a training ground for employees who later went to cities where they could make more money. He does not want to get back in that situation.
“We got the pay up so we could keep some of these folks,” Pond said.
Poll Shows Support
Even though the Tea Party is not an official political party, a national poll released earlier this month shows it draws more support than Republicans and is not too far behind Democrats.
“In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36 percent of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23 percent, and Republicans finish third at 18 percent. Another 22 percent are undecided,” Rasmussen reported on its Web site.
The Tea Party does even better with Independents and draws away support from the Republicans, the poll shows.
Jim Laubler of Fayetteville spoke on behalf the Tea Party against pay raises before the Washington County Quorum Court in December. He said the Tea Party is not interested in choosing sides between the Democrats or the Republicans. They are looking for conservative candidates who will show fiscal restraint.
“We have no malice toward anybody. ... We are looking to fill all elected seats with people who believe in the Constitution and fiscal responsibility,” Laubler said. “Freedom isn’t found in debt.”
Christine Keller said that Tea Party supporters are often wrongly labeled as a “bunch of Republicans,” which she said is simply not true.
“We are mad at both parties,” she said.
Janine Parry, a University of Arkansas political science professor, said that while the polls may show generic support for the Tea Party, they face the same uphill battle as other minor parties because of ballot access rules.
“The reality is the way our institutions are structured, most minor parties are a flash in the pan,” Parry said. “Ballot access rules make it real hard for a new party to establish itself over time.”
Parry said that support of so-called Tea Party candidates speaks to “kind of frustration and some fragmentation in the Republican Party.”
She expects Tea Party candidates to siphon support from Republicans.
“It’s similar to the threat the Green (Party candidates) pose to the Democrats,” she said.
AT A GLANCE
Tea Party Poll: Rasmussen survey of 1,000 likely voters on Dec. 4-5.
Question: “Suppose the Tea Party organized itself as a political party. When thinking about the next election for Congress, would you vote for the Republican candidate from your district, the Democratic candidate from your district or the Tea Party candidate from your district?”
Democratic 36 percent
Tea Party 23 percent
Republican 18 percent
Not sure 22 percent
Source: www.rasmussenreports.com