Bitter, expensive fight for Arkansas court seat to drag on

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A bitter and expensive fight for an Arkansas Supreme Court seat that drew more than $1 million in outside spending and a flurry of attack ads will drag on for another six months, with an incumbent justice heading into a runoff in November against an attorney backed by an out-of-state Republican group.

Justice Courtney Goodson and David Sterling, the chief counsel for the state Department of Human Services, advanced to a runoff in the November election for the state's highest court in Tuesday's non-partisan judicial election. The two were the top candidates in a three-person race for Goodson's seat, with Appeals Court Judge Kenneth Hixson finishing third.

Goodson had faced a barrage of attack ads and mailers from the Judicial Crisis Network, a Washington group that had targeted her during her unsuccessful bid for chief justice two years ago. The group, which doesn't disclose its donors, spent more than $935,000 on TV ads bashing Goodson and Hixson, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which tracks judicial campaign spending.

"Today was a huge victory for honest people who are fed up with the lies dark money is spreading about me," Goodson told The Associated Press Tuesday night.

The ads led to a court fight over whether they should be broadcast and Goodson said she planned to continue that legal battle. Days before the primary, a state judge ordered Little Rock area TV stations to stop airing one ad, while another judge said the spot could resume running in northwest Arkansas. Goodson has filed a similar lawsuit aimed at halting the lawsuits in the Fort Smith area. Some media and free speech advocates have opposed Goodson's lawsuits, saying judges should not decide what is broadcast during elections.

The ad that sparked the court fight criticizes Goodson over gifts received from donors and a pay raise the court requested last year. An Associated Press Fact Check of the ad found that some of its claims are misleading

Another group, the Republican State Leadership Committee, spent more than $564,000 on TV ads and mailers in support of Sterling. The group's ad touted Sterling, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for attorney general in 2014, as a "strong conservative." In campaign materials, Sterling has promoted his membership in the National Rifle Association and the conservative Federalist Society. Sterling has said he had nothing to do with the outside groups' involvement.

"I'm sure it had an impact, but as far as whether it helped or hurt, I don't know if that's real clear one way or the other," Sterling told the AP. "I was just concentrating on keeping my positive message out there and letting the different groups that were getting involved do what they were doing, but I didn't have any involvement in that."

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Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo

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