Unable to get the Arkansas State Library Board to enact his right-wing agenda, Christian nationalist Jason Rapert got the Arkansas state leg
Kyle Mantyla at People For The American Way's RWW:
In 2023, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders appointed Christian nationalist activist and a zealously anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice former state senator Jason Rapert to the state library board. [...]
Eventually, Rapert grew so embittered that he declared that the other members of the library board "probably should be tarred and feathered," and began urging state legislators to simply abolish the board entirely. On Tuesday, Arkansas legislators acted on Rapert's advice, passing a bill that fires every member of the board and gives Gov. Sanders the power to replace them all:
[State lawmakers have voted to remove the entire Arkansas State Library Board. Members of the Arkansas House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 640 in a meeting Tuesday. The bill fires all seven members of the board, directing Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to appoint their replacements. Conservative lawmakers and activists have called on the board to do more to protect library-goers from “sexually explicit” materials, though librarians say no such materials exist in libraries. A previous bill would have dissolved the library board and the Arkansas State Library entirely, moving their responsibilities to the Arkansas Department of Education.]
Prior to this legislation, members of the Arkansas State Library Board were appointed by the governor to staggered seven-years terms, which had been a source of Rapert's frustration, as he complained that it "will take years for Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to replace enough members on this board to make a difference." Now, in one fell swoop, Gov. Sanders has been given the power to replace the entire board and presumably fill it with Rapert and other far-right ideologues who will do his bidding.
Right-wing Christian Nationalist Jason Rapert finally got his wish: The Arkansas State Library Board members will now be appointed by the governor without staggered 7-year terms in the past, meaning a wholesale cleanout is now possible.
