OPINION - Editorial

For Bruce Westerman

In Arkansas’ Fourth Congressional District

When reading the stories, the many stories, generated by Bruce Westerman's primary opponent, we had to keep looking at the dateline of the paper--just to make sure this wasn't Louisiana. Taxes paid and unpaid, clergy exemptions in Texas, that video of him telling a congregation that people talking about his properties should shut up.

Shut Up isn't much of an election slogan.

But today we didn't come to bury Bruce Westerman's primary opposition. (The voters will get around to that.) Today we've come to praise the sitting congressman from southern Arkansas, who deserves this primary victory, and endorse him in the May 22 race.

The Republican congressman has his conservative bona fides in order. Bruce Westerman received the delegation's highest score from the American Conservative Union last year. He isn't afraid to cast votes against the president and his colleagues when they pass spending bills that blow out the budget. And he sponsored a bill to help veterans exposed to toxins during the Vietnam War.

This congressman might be the only elected politician in Washington to have a master's degree from Yale--in forestry. Which is why his voice is important when it comes to all things forestry, and why he leads with bills to help manage the nation's forests--instead of spending billions, yes billions, on fire-fighting every single year. And for an Extra Added Bonus, some of his legislation annoys attorneys for the greens. (He sponsored a bill that would try to end the endless litigation they use to shut down forest management.)

The Fourth District, a sweeping congressional district ranging from above the Arkansas River in Clarksville to all along the Louisiana line, is mostly rural, with a few medium-sized cities thrown in here and there. No doubt it's the most conservative congressional district in the state. Which means Bruce Westerman fits it nicely. And there's no question of his legal residence, voter registration address or the like.

Republican voters in that district should give Bruce Westerman a spot on the November ballot again. He's one of them.

[Click here for all NWADG Endorsements]

Editorial on 05/09/2018

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