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Sen. Kim Hendren: Without a Teleprompter! (UPDATE II – Hendren’s New Explanation)

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

hendren The talk in conservative circles this week has been about Sen. Kim Hendren’s appearance last week at the Pulaski County Republican Committee meeting. Several Republicans on hand were live twittering the event which quickly spread the word that Sen. Hendren was “getting eaten alive” by the attendee’s questions. These whispers soon spread across the blogs, tweets, and old fashion phone calls as to what went down.

So what really happened? Unfortunately, I was not on hand with my flip cam so I have no direct film to offer. Instead, I had to go all old school and actually speak directly to several people who attended the meeting - most importantly Sen. Hendren himself – to try a sort it all out. Sen. Hendren was surprisingly (or unsurprisingly if you know him) candid about the meeting.

Much of the meeting’s discussion centered on Sen. Hendren’s vote to increase taxes while in the state legislature, particularly his recent vote in favor of the cigarette tax increase. “Some people at the meeting felt that anyone who votes for a tax increase is wrong,” said Hendren. Attempting to explain his vote, Hendren said, “My first reaction was no, we don’t need another tax.” But after meeting with Gov. Mike Beebe and Arkansas Surgeon General Joe Thompson, he was persuaded to vote in favor of it. He said that this is primarily due to the $500 million dollars that he was informed the state incurs from smoking related health costs. He on to say that he did not mind defending this vote saying “that is how I voted and I don’t mind being held accountable.”

The criticism also centered on Hendren’s refusal to sign the “no tax pledge” supported by the American for Tax Reform. “I can’t sign a no tax pledge because that vote does not belong to me,” he explained, “it belong to the people I represent.” Hendren went on the say that he feels too much attention is given to taxes and not enough focus is placed on spending. “If the ATR would like for me to sign a no new spending pledge, that is something I would consider.”

The other talk of the meeting involved some of Hendren’s trademark off the cuff remarks, which on this occasion included comments regarding Sen. Charles Schumer and illegal immigration. Hendren explained, “I don’t use a teleprompter and occasionally I put my foot in my month.” At the meeting, Hendren addressed the comments that Sen. Schumer made shortly before last week’s meeting. Sen. Schumer, appearing on MSNBC’s Rachael Maddow Show, said “The hard right, which still believes that when the Federal Government moves, we chop off its hands, still believes in the traditional values kind of arguments, in strong foreign policy, all that is over.” Hendren told me, “At the meeting I was attempting to explain that unlike Sen. Schumer, I believe in traditional values, like we used to see on ‘The Andy Griffith Show.’ I made the mistake of referring to Sen. Schumer as ‘that Jew’ and I should not have put it that way as this took away from what I was trying to say.”

Hendren also told me that some in crowd did not like what he had to say about illegal immigration. “I believe we should enforce our existing immigration laws but unfortunately there are many companies who are taking advantage of illegal workers as we recently saw in Springdale. I don’t think we should be turning a blind eye to this.”

Although Hendren admitted he felt some people had shown up at the meeting with an agenda, he felt the “lively discussion” was a healthy one for the Party. “I want to introduce myself for who I actually am. I will no doubt stick my foot in my mouth many times in the process but this is who I am.”

In the day where many politicians try to noance and spin their every word, for better or worse, Hendren makes no attempt to be politically correct or mask what he really thinks on the issues. If you want to know where he stands, ask him and he will tell you. The question now for Republicans is he our candidate and will anyone step forward to challenge him, particularly Sen. Gilbert Baker or Tim Griffin. But that is what primaries are all about. If the early events are any indication, this will certainly be a fun one to watch!

UPDATE - According to the New York Daily News, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) was asked about Hendren’s comment and said “Apology accepted.”

UPDATE II - Sen. Hendren offers a slightly different explanation to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette saying that he referred to Sen. Schumer as a Jew because he had trouble remembering his name. He also insists that while he called him a Jew, he did not call him that Jew.

I stand by my original quote but someone is going to have to explain the difference to me. By the way, Hendren did not mentioned having problems recalling Sen. Schumer’s name to me and the individuals I talked to at the meeting did not recall this being the way it went either.

And a little bit of press…

Video of ABN’s Zack Stoval on MSNBC’s the Rachel Maddow Show.

Video of Brad Reed Reporting for KNWA