Kudos to Candidates Ignoring Family Council Survey

With the Primary Election Day right around the corner, the Arkansas Family Council, Little Rock-based special interest group, is stepping up pressure to have candidates fill out their survey.

Earlier this year, I wrote a story encouraging Democratic candidates to not fill out the Family Council survey since they are essentially an unofficial arm of the Republican Party of Arkansas.

As I previously mentioned, the head of Family Council, Jerry Cox, received the “2011 Friend of the Republican Party of Arkansas Award” back in December. That alone should tell you how the Republican Party of Arkansas and the Arkansas Family Council are intertwined.

Read my previous column for more reasons why candidates should not fill out the Family Council survey.

For candidates, if a voter calls wanting to know your position on any of the Family Council questions, it’s easy, answer the voter’s question. But you’re under no obligation to fill out the survey of a group that is an unofficial arm of the Republic Party of Arkansas.

Recently, the Family Council released the names of primary candidates who haven’t filled out the survey. I assume they released the list in an attempt to pressure or shame non-responsive candidates to fill out the survey.

Therefore, I’d like to take the Family Council’s list of non-responsive candidates and commend the following for not filling out the Republican Party’s ally survey.

Kudos to the following candidates:

Clark Hall – U.S. House 1
Q. Byrum Hurst – U.S. House 4
Gene Yarbrough – State House 10
Lisa Norris – State House 81
Warwick Sabin – State House 33
Efrem Elliott – State Senate 25
Johnnie Bolin – State Senate 26
Gregg Reep – State Senate 26
Eddie Cheatham -State Senate 26
Bobby Pierce – State Senate 27
Larry Cowling – State Senate 11
Monte Hodges – State House 55
David Kizzia – State House 26
Jerome Turner – State House 12
Lowell Hightower – State House 26
Sheilla Lampkin – State House 9
Keith Ingram – State Senate 24
Joe Guy – State House 55
Joyce Elliot – State Senate 31
Fred Allen – State Senate 31
Phynaus Wilson – State House 37
David Whitaker – State House 85
L.J. Byrant – State House 52
Todd Wilcox – State House 52
John Baine – State House 7
Dorothy Hall – State House 10
Tommy Branch Jr. – State House 30
Norith Ellison – State House 30
Lisa McCollum-Smith – State House 37
Mary Broadway – State House 57

Editor’s Note: Michael Cook is an opinion blogger for Talk Business and is a paid political strategist. The Sabin for State Representative campaign is one of his clients.