Arkansans split on ads' effect in high court race

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson and David Sterling
Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson and David Sterling

The heap of money spent in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas this spring on TV ads pummeling Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson -- and elevating one of her opponents, David Sterling -- never reached Randall Tuggle, a farmer in faraway Chicot County.

"I live in the county, got an old antenna, and I don't get Channel 7," said Tuggle, the chairman of the Chicot County Republican Party chapter.

Tuggle said he decided to vote for Sterling on a simpler premise: "He's a conservative."

Both Goodson and Sterling emerged from May's nonpartisan judicial general election bound for a Nov. 6 runoff to decide the Supreme Court Position 3 seat. Early voting starts Monday.

With strict judicial rules limiting what either candidate can pledge to do as a justice, the campaigns have adopted different tones in their final weeks.

In a recent online ad, Goodson called out the "bullies" she accused of attempting to influence the race.

Sterling, the top attorney at the Department of Human Services, who promises to be a conservative voice on the court, has denied any involvement with the two groups that have purchased TV ads and mailers depicting Goodson as a wealthy "insider."

"I wouldn't say the things that they're saying; I wouldn't run my campaign the way that they're running their campaign against Justice Goodson," Sterling said. "I haven't said anything critical of Justice Goodson in the, what, entire nine months I've been out on the campaign trail."

Asked whether that was true, Goodson responded, "He has others say it for him."

It's unclear to what extent the ads have affected the race.

Unlike Tuggle, a plurality of voters in Chicot County voted in May for Goodson, who benefits from having the title "justice" printed in front of her name on ballots. Goodson won in the majority of the outlying counties around the state -- where ads purchased in Little Rock often don't reach -- and in Washington County, where she lives.

Sterling earned his victories in many of the state's central counties and Little Rock suburbs.

The third-place finisher, Court of Appeals Judge Kenneth Hixson, won Pulaski County, the state's largest. (As a current judge, Hixson is barred from endorsing anyone in the runoff.)

Janine Parry, a professor of political science at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, said attack ads often serve as the primary source of information for voters in lower-profile races, such as those for judicial offices.

"Attack ads are particularly effective in nonpartisan races," Parry said. "When they are effective, it depresses the vote share for the incumbent, who is usually the target."

But in an interview Friday, Goodson said she believed the ads were causing a "backlash" from voters.

"People are offended by the ugliness and the negativity," Goodson said. "They want to get off these mailing lists; they don't want to see these television ads."

At the Grady Fish Fry in August, where Tuggle stood waiting to shake hands with Sterling, other voters said they were meeting the candidates for the first time as they mingled with the crowd under a canopy of pecan trees. Several voters said they had already formed opinions.

"It's pretty bad, all the dark money," said Wardell Thomas, a retiree from Pine Bluff who said he usually votes for Democrats.

"I think I ended up voting for [Goodson] because of the negative ads," Thomas said, adding that the ads were "dishonest."

For another retiree from Pine Bluff, the ads were more of a distant memory by the late summer.

Brenda Norsworthy, a retired church professional, had just shaken hands with Sterling -- who she said seemed to be "unbiased" -- when she offered a reporter her perspective on the race.

Months after seeing the ads on TV, Norsworthy recalled that "it was sort of hard to decide what was true." But the self-described "liberal Democrat" added that "it made my doubts [about Goodson] more."

One of the biggest purchasers of attack ads in the weeks leading up to the May election, the Judicial Crisis Network in Washington, D.C., has yet to run any ads since the primary. Goodson took several Arkansas broadcasters to court in May for airing the ads, which she called defamatory, and successfully had the ads pulled in Little Rock. That case is now on appeal to the Supreme Court.

Judicial Crisis Network leader Carrie Severino and her representatives have not responded to repeated requests for comment in recent months.

The latest six-figure ad buy is from the Republican State Leadership Committee, which is airing a spot touting Sterling as the candidate who "shares President [Donald] Trump and Gov. [Asa] Hutchinson's conservative agenda."

Sterling said last week that he has nothing to do with the ad, promising, "I'm not going to stand on the side of one elected official or another."

Hutchinson, a Republican, has not endorsed either candidate in the race. In a statement, he said he plans to remain neutral.

In addition to the public accusations that have been made over the airwaves, both candidates have been subject to other complaints.

A citizen's complaint filed with the Pulaski County prosecutor's office last week alleged that Sterling failed to schedule leave time from his state job at the Department of Human Services while attending a rally held by Vice President Mike Pence in Little Rock in late September. Sterling said he was not concerned about the complaint, adding, "I've been keeping up with all of my time."

The Republican State Leadership Committee, in a news release announcing its recent ad, also called into question Goodson's own advertising. The group said a Goodson ad in which the justice appears in her robes in the Supreme Court chamber appears to violate a judicial rule against the "use of court staff, facilities, or other court resources in a campaign for judicial office."

Goodson said Friday that she didn't break any rules in filming the ad, noting that the Supreme Court chamber is open to the general public to film. Her campaign added that the justice owns her own robes.

"That's my reality," said Goodson, who was first elected to the high court in 2010. "It's something I'm proud to show."

Goodson's campaign manager, Linda Napper, said the campaign will air on cable TV a separate ad featuring Goodson's eldest daughter. She said the buy cost less than $100,000. Sterling said his campaign is also planning its first TV ad buy.

A few weeks ago, at Pulaski County's annual Honey Festival, Janyl Johnson of Benton pondered the effect the advertising had on him. As a truck driver crisscrossing the state, Johnson said, he was familiar with attack ads blaring from the radio.

"I don't really pay attention to the mudslinging," said Johnson. As for whom to vote for, he said he had yet to make up his mind.

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