Sanders pushed the Attorney General to lie to Arkansans. What else is she forcing administration officials to lie about?
Late last week, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette published an investigation revealing the Sanders administration knowingly lied about Arkansas-based companies, alleging they were owned by the Chinese government. Here’s a link to the ADG story, but if you can’t get past the paywall, here’s a quick summary:
- Sanders asked the Attorney General’s office to push claims that businesses were owned by the Chinese Communist Party, the ruling party of China, telling the AG’s office that, should the claims prove false, the administration “would rather have a media hit and have to walk it back later.”
- The AG’s office also used subpoenas to “scare off” a potential land buyer, Jones Eagle, in Sharp County and were then sued by the digital asset mining company. This lawsuit revealed the texts between the AG’s office and the Sanders administration.
- The most damning quote comes from deputy AG Ryan Owsley: “Comms before substance.”
- Former Sanders press secretary Alexa Henning pushed the AG’s office to investigate Risever Machinery for violating 2023’s Act 636, despite no evidence that the company had done so.
This kind of deception won’t surprise anyone who has followed the Sanders administration for long, but we think two things make this particular lie different.
First, the focus on international affairs that don’t normally fall under the purview of state law caught our attention. Sanders has made banning Chinese-owned companies a legislative priority, but this is a relatively new trend amongst governors seemingly sparked by President Trump’s anti-China rhetoric. Arkansas operated a trade office in Shanghai from the late 2000s until 2020, when relations between the US and China deteriorated as a result of President Trump’s first-term sanctions.
Why focus on external matters best left to the federal government when hurting Arkansans beg Sanders to focus on issues closer to home? Because she wants to leave us high and dry and run for president; since the very beginning of her administration, we’ve had our suspicions about her ultimate motives. If not president, then she’s got John Boozman’s Senate seat in her sights.
Lots of governors want to be president, so this in itself isn’t a surprise. This investigation, however, shows that Sanders willfully uses the power of her office to crush important economic investments in the state to cater to national conservatives. Why not prioritize solving problems Arkansans face every day? Most Arkansans don’t care about China because they can’t put food on the table or afford to have children safely.
Second, the particular brazenness of this lie sticks out. Sanders has had a loose relationship with the truth since her days as Donald Trump’s press secretary, but now that she has the power of a governorship behind her, lies like this should make every Arkansan very, very nervous. If she’s willing to lie, despite knowing the truth, what else has she lied to Arkansas about?
It’s also worth pointing out that Sanders touts her faith constantly, including in her new book Unapologetic (another sure sign of a future presidential run, incidentally). We’re not biblical scholars, but “thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” does ring a bell. One might be forgiven for thinking that a governor who signed a bill requiring classrooms to display the Ten Commandments would avoid blatant, intentional falsehoods.
In this case, however, Sanders clearly doesn’t care. She’s trying to use national anti-China sentiment to whip up the entire conservative base, and she doesn’t care who she stomps on to do so. This state is a stomping stone for her to strip bare while she targets national office. These companies could have brought jobs and money into Arkansas – particularly Risever – but Sanders only cares about economic development when she gets to pick the winners and losers. Arkansans aren’t the winners.
“Comms, before substance.” We think Arkansans deserve substance, not poll-tested comms targeted at 2028 Republican primary voters.
Speaking of: Sanders hasn’t even cracked the top ten in most polls for the GOP frontrunner.
