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.
Rapert is the head of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, a far-right organization that regularly holds conferences at which Republican leaders, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, and religious-right activists plot strategy about how to enact their radical political agenda throughout the nation, largely through model legislation that is specifically designed to be taken back home by participating state legislators and turned into law.
From the start of his term on the state library board, Rapert regularly clashed with his fellow board members over their refusal to support his far-right agenda, prompting him to complain that he was a victim of a "hostile work environment” because he is “a Christian white male.”
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.
Predictably, Rapert is celebrating his victory, declaring that "my mission was accomplished":
VICTORY!
The Arkansas State Library Board will be completely reconstituted with all new members after over one year of inaction by the liberal members of the board who refused to protect minor children from sexually explicit materials. This is a victory. Thank you to the #Arkansas legislature for taking action and passing SB640 by Sen. Dismang and Rep. Beaty. My mission was accomplished. Now hopefully we will get a new state library board that knows it is wrong to allow sexually explicit materials to be accessible by children. Special thanks to Sen. Dan Sullivan for fighting the good fight and for all the members who voted for the legislation. I hope this signals to all concerned that we are tired of the woke ideologies of the political left in our state. It is just common sense to keep sexually explicit books out of the reach of children.
