Benton County GOP Disavows Remarks

Responsible Parties Resign, Chairman Says

A man and his wife resigned their posts Monday on the Benton County Republican Committee after he expressed a desire to shoot legislators in a committee newsletter.

The comments prompted a review by the Arkansas State Police, who decided there was no credible threat to lawmakers, a spokesman said.

Committee Chairman Tim Summers said he requested the resignations of author Chris Nogy and newsletter editor Leigh Nogy, who are married. The article deplored “turncoat” state lawmakers and said their actions inspired a desire for “a quick implementation of my Second Amendment rights to remove a threat domestic.”

Leigh Nogy allowed her husband, a frequent contributor to the newsletter, to put the 1,818-word article “Scathing” into the April edition that went out Saturday. The article criticizes the decision of some Benton County lawmakers to support the “private option” expansion of health care coverage using federal taxpayer dollars.

The article said: “If we can’t shoot them, we have to at least be firm in our threat to take immediate action against them politically, socially, and civically if they screw up on something this big. Personally, I think a gun is quicker and more merciful, but hey, we can’t.”

The article was online Monday afternoon at http://www.nogy.net/bcgop/Apr_2013/index.html

The county committee will ensure editorial control to prevent similar incidents in the future, Summers said.

“To suggest violence as a response to a vote of our elected legislators is simply abhorrent,” Summers said in a statement. “Moreover, I can say that the many members of the county committee with whom I have spoken, without exception, similarly reject the theme presented.”

Chris Nogy stands by his statements, but regrets that the delivery method “went haywire,” he said Monday.

“Do I regret writing this? Yeah. Am I changing my mind about calling for strong action in regard to what happened this week? No. I still believe if the thugs run the government, then none of us can benefit,” Nogy said.

“If it had been kept internal, it would have caused some rants, some raves and a whole lot of conversation that might have led to a plan,” he said.

Nogy said he is putting on hold any consideration of running for public office in 2014.

State Police looked into the article and other communications such as e-mail and Twitter posts, spokesman Bill Sadler confirmed. The state police determined that there was no credible threat to lawmakers by the communications’ authors, Sadler said.

Rep. Sue Scott, R-Rogers, confirmed Monday that she was one of the lawmakers who received e-mails and other communications. Nothing she received in private communication, including messages from Chris Nogy, was as overt as the article that went out Saturday, she said.

The Arkansas State Police visited him Friday morning and left satisfied that there was no threat, Nogy said.

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