- Linda Poindexter Chesterfield
The Butler Did it……by Adam Butler
If you weren’t paying attention to the election cycle in Arkansas recently, you missed one of the more despicable acts of political desperation in recent years.
I’m not unmindful of the fact that all is fair in love, war and politics, but Linda Poindexter Chesterfield, who beat Jay Barth to win the Democratic nomination for the Senate District 34 seat took dirty politics to another depth to help get it done.
Chesterfield ran a deplorable radio ad ( barthad) that first aired last Thursday (four days before the election). The spot starts by trumpeting Barth’s sexual orientation, but worse than that, ends by accusing Barth of playing to a racial stereotype that blacks are lazy–because Barth had the gall to point at her voting record as a legislator (Chesterfield is black).
Per an article in today’s Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Barth claimed during the campaign that Chesterfield missed almost 1,300 votes at the Capitol.
Ironically, in addition to being unconscionable, the ad very well may have been completely unnecessary. Chesterfield received 4,578 votes to Barth’s 2,763, despite being outspent through early May by Barth’s campaign by a whopping $193,712 to $42,353.
A couple things: Barth knows politics, and he had to know his sexual orientation would be in play at some point. What he could have anticipated, but may not have really believed, is that Chesterfield would not only play the Race Card but would play the whole deck.
I am sorry, but if Chesterfield did, indeed, miss that many votes, and didn’t have a serious illness as an excuse, then Barth wasn’t playing to stereotypes–he was simply relying on Politics 101 and hammering his opponent with her record (which makes sense, as Barth is a Professor of Politics at Hendrix College in Conway. Ironically, Chesterfield was the first black graduate of Hendrix College).
No, the only stereotypes I see at play here are the ones that Chesterfield–through her actions–has fostered–that black people are homophobes who play the race card at the drop of a hat.
Those stereotypes are ugly, asinine and untrue and that’s why Chesterfield’s actions are so reprehensible.
She could learn a thing or two from Joyce Elliot–a true difference-making Arkansas legislator (and black woman) who is running (well) for the 2nd Congressional District seat and is doing so on her record. But clearly, she lacks a characteristic of which Elliot has an abundance–class.
BlogHawg Birthday
Posted by Brett Kincaid on May 21, 2010
Posted in Commentary | 2 Comments »