With so many interesting races this election season, it’s easy to miss some of the fascinating contests that appear a little further down on the ballot. Sometimes, for example, it’s worth watching contests for state attorneys general.
I was convinced the best A.G. race is in Nevada, where Republicans nominated a man named Adam Laxalt. One local report noted that his law firm conducted a performance review of his work in private practice two years ago and found that Laxalt is “a train wreck” who “doesn’t even have the basic skill set.” And now he’s the Republican nominee for the Nevada Attorney General’s office.
But there’s another A.G. story brewing in Arkansas that may be just as good.
Republican attorney general candidate Leslie Rutledge isn’t a registered voter in Arkansas according to a report in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette (ADG). […]The publication reports Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane has cancelled Rutledge’s voter registration after learning she was registered in multiple locations. Crane told the ADG Rutledge was also registered to vote in Washington, D.C.
On the surface, it’s a bit of a problem when a candidate in Arkansas can’t vote in Arkansas, but state Democrats are raising an even larger concern: under the state Constitution, in order to hold public office in Arkansas, one must be “lawfully registered to vote in the election.”
And if that were Rutledge’s only trouble, it’d be pretty significant, but the story actually gets a little worse.
The Arkansas Times reported earlier this week that there are allegations that Rutledge and her team coordinated campaign activities with the Republican Attorneys General Association, in violation of state elections law.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, meanwhile, published a report last week on a controversy surrounding Rutledge’s tenure as a state attorney.
Leslie Rutledge, who faces Democrat Rep. Nate Steel, abruptly left her job in late 2007 after 14 months as a child welfare attorney for the Department of Human Service to join Gov. Mike Huckabee’s 2008 presidential campaign.After her resignation, DHS officials placed Rutledge on the “do not rehire” list due to what they classified as “gross misconduct,” but DHS officials have not said why Rutledge was barred from ever returning to the agency.
It’s a reminder that the most interesting races aren’t always at the top of the ballot.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."