Fists flew between a self-described First Amendment advocate and a conservative radio personality at a Saline County Republican Committee meeting in Arkansas. Others piled in, trying to break up the fight. What started the fight? That depends on what source you read. However, dysfunction and chaos are a common theme when reading about Saline County. Chaos ensued in a fight that started between Jimmy Cavin and Johnathan Newcomb.
The Saline Courier reports:
“Last night’s Saline County Republican Committee meeting devolved into chaos, culminating in a physical altercation between two individuals, along with heated verbal exchanges among others throughout the room,” they stated. “We call on the Republican Party of Arkansas to take immediate action to remove this dysfunctional leadership and abolish the group that has betrayed our conservative principles, and portrayed our county a deeply unfavorable light. Saline County deserves better - A Republican Committee that truly reflects strength, unity, and a commitment to the advancement of conservative values without selfish motives or agendas.”
The dysfunction has been ongoing, though, for quite a while:
The Arkansas Times reports:
Saline Republicans have been in dramatic disarray for a while now, with feuding factions tangling over just how far right they should go. June was a particularly frenetic month, with Saline County attorney Jennifer Lancaster and her supporters pulling off a short-lived coup at the state Republican conference, and one pack of Saline Republicans evicting another from a star-spangled building on the Benton square. But this is the first instance of actual fisticuffs that we know of.
On Thursday, Cavin rolled up to the Benton Senior Citizens’ Center for a Saline County Republican Committee, and anyone in Arkansas with a Twitter account knows what happened next.
While the video that’s been circulating doesn’t reveal what kicked off the violence, Cavin said today it was a rude remark about a woman’s nose ring that squared him up to pummel a guy decades younger, a foot taller and intimidatingly dressed in overalls. The melee unfolded as the committee chairman fruitlessly called for “Order!”
Fight amongst yourselves, guys.
