Helen Mansfield hmansfield@baxterbulletin.com
After the January meeting was postponed due to poor weather, members of the Baxter County Republican Committee (BCRC) meet at 6 p.m. tonight at the Miser Lodge and Event Venue in downtown Cotter to discuss the election and installation of officers for record the next two years and appoint two of the three commissioners of the Baxter County Election Commission (BCEC).
About two years ago, BCRC membership began to change, with the addition of members who identify as constitutional conservatives and formed their own political action group.
According to a member of that group who identified himself as a spokesman to The Baxter Bulletin, its membership consists of Republicans, Libertarians, Independents and others — who, according to their website, are “concerned, committed, active citizens of north-central Arkansas, which are not only fed up, but realizing that we are dangerously close to losing the American way of life.”
Before the Mountain Home Public Schools special election in August 2022, voters opposed to the Millage became vocal critics of the school district and its finances, attacking the Mountain Home School board of directors and public school superintendent Dr. Jake, personally to Lange, in an attempt to thwart the measure.
The mill was narrowly defeated by 16 votes, with 1592 voting in favor and 1608 against. These voting totals include Marion County voters who live within the boundaries of the Mountain Home School District (MHSD).
The current school board member, Bob Chester, was originally supported by the political action group and was elected to the school board in May 2022. As the Millage election drew near, Chester appeared to be falling out of favor with his membership as he took to social media to campaign for his support of the mill. The 2.25 millage proposal was designed to fund overhaul and renovation of electrical, plumbing and foundation overhauls at Mountain Home High School.
During a special school board meeting in early January, Chester called out members of the opposition for spreading misinformation, saying: “…our opposition has done nothing but lie about what we do. When they do it in San Francisco, they blame us and wrongly accuse us… If that’s how they want to be. But they can be anti-child and anti-school, and we paint them that way.”
In a post several weeks old on the group’s social media page, someone asked if Chester “forgot he used to attend group meetings.” The administrator responded that he “stopped visiting when we wanted to hold him accountable and ensure that the parents and children come first and not the whims of the school board and superintendent.”
Chester told The Bulletin he didn’t run for school board because it was on his personal wish list, but because “I felt compelled to do so. God doesn’t always force you to do what He asks you to do, sometimes He just wants to know if you’re ready. In this case, I made a four-year commitment to ‘every child, every time’.”
“I don’t want to get involved in partisan politics, but many of the attacks on Mountain Home Public Schools are unwarranted and politically motivated,” Chester added. “There is no desire among some leaders of this very ‘right’ movement to understand the truth as it does not fit their agenda.”
The same group spokesperson recently told an online media outlet that some of their members had been spreading misinformation and that they were working to stop the practice.
Longtime members of the BCRC, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Bulletin that they estimate more than 100 members of this political action group have joined the BCRC and will take up senior positions after Thursday night’s elections.
Current officers include:
• Chairman Rick Pelger
• First Vice-Chairman Nelda speaks
• Treasurer Ed Toscano
• Secretary Jan Lowery
Of the faction, only Pegler has indicated that he intends to stand for re-election.
“Having served as treasurer for more than 10 years, I think it’s about time someone else took the job,” Toscano told The Bulletin. “My decision has nothing to do with the last elections. The Baxter County Republican Committee has a wealth of enthusiastic talent to draw from.”
The former Arkansas Rep. Speaks — from the former District 100 that was redistributed ahead of the 2022 Arkansas general election — has served as the conservative Republican voice for the Twin Lakes area for several decades.
She said in an interview with The Bulletin that she decided against re-election to her BCRC position because the committee’s new membership “doesn’t like me”.
“I don’t like the direction they’re taking the committee, so I’ve chosen not to be a part of it,” she said.
Speaks added that she believes any existing officer would be defeated, citing that previous membership “doesn’t have the numbers to nullify it.”
Speaks served as Baxter County Treasurer from 1996 to 2012 and Justice of the Peace for Baxter County’s 7th Circuit from 2013 to 2014. She was also a former vice chair of Arkansas’ 3rd congressional district. In addition to being a member of the BCRC, she was also a member of the National Rifle Association. She was also elected Vice President of the Twin Lake Republican Women’s Group.
Speaks has been described as a popular, respected civil servant whose career appears to have met an unspectacular end.
Attempts to reach Minister Lowery for comment have been unsuccessful.
In addition, members of the BCRC told The Bulletin that they expect both of BCEC’s current Republican commissioners — Judy Garner, member of position one, and Gary Smith, member of position two — to be replaced. Several members of the BCRC have stated that they tried to persuade the group to keep Smith in order to have a commissioner with previous electoral experience.
The three-member electoral commission consists of a Democratic commissioner, Bob Bodenhamer, who was recently reappointed to another two-year term by members of the Baxter County Democratic Committee.
Investigators with the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners recently concluded an investigation that BCEC Commissioners Garner and Smith violated state election laws during the May 2022 primary by opening a secret ballot along with BCRC Chairman Peglar. Bodenhamer was not part of the investigation.
Garner said she will run for reappointment to the commission, a position she was appointed to in 2017 and says she “loved.”
According to Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners Director Daniel J. Shults—hypothetically speaking—if members of the political action group were elected to BCEC, they could not prevent the MHSD from scheduling a second Millage election in 2023, with the reason they don’t support it.
“The role of a district election commission is ministerial in almost all cases,” Shults said. “This means that when an election has been lawfully called or established by law, the county electoral commission has a duty to conduct that election and to determine, announce and certify the result of that election.”
On the political action group’s social media, the site administrator has made posts saying the group opposes the use of electronic voting machines and wants to return to hand-counted paper ballots.
A recent graphic published on the site claims that the devices offer no transparency, no accountability, no way to verify accuracy and that they operate on vulnerable software, hardware and networks.
Regarding Baxter County’s elimination of electronic voting machines, Shults said all counties must have “available voting machines that would allow disabled voters to cast a ballot unaided under federal law.”
“The Quorum Court has a role in determining the extent to which this equipment is used for other voters; however, the CBEC [County Board Election Commission] is required to use the process established by state, federal and county law,” he added. “The district election commission could not unilaterally stipulate that tabs are not used in the count.”
Arkansas Secretary of State Chris Powell’s press secretary agrees.
“A County Board of Election Commissioners (CBEC) does not have the authority to refuse a special election or to regulate the use of voting machines over paper ballots,” he said. “The Quorum Court is the only authority that can authorize the use of voting machines over paper in elections.”
