Free Republic

Democrats may be making their last stand in Arkansas. At the beginning of the cycle, Democrats touted a dream ticket that could help rally the party back to relevance after a series of stinging losses in the state. They cheered Sen. Mark Pryor’s (D) centrist profile and strong family name. In the governor’s race, they hoped former Rep. Mike Ross’s long string of successes in conservative southwest Arkansas would boost him. But months later, Pryor has trailed freshman Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) for much of the summer in the Razorback State and former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) has had a...

Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) will retire after two terms in office. The congressman said in a statementthat he's leaving Congress to spend more time with his family, opening up a Republican-leaning district and a coveted spot on the House Ways & Means Committee. "God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, Elizabeth, and two precious children, and for several months Elizabeth and I have been discussing whether to seek a third term in Congress, especially considering the formative ages of Mary Katherine and John. It has been an agonizing and difficult decision involving much prayer, thought and discussion. We have...

Republican lawmakers are running away from town halls in August. In a New York Times piece about the frustrations of one citizen activist in Texas, some prominent Republicans who have not held an August town hall are listed. They include: Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL); Rep. Tim Griffin (R-AK); Rep. John Kline (R-MN); Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX); Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), the chair of the House Rules Committee; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), who has "not announced any town halls but did participate in them in 2009."

WASHINGTON – Dead people don’t need cell phones. That’s the message Rep. Tim Griffin of Arkansas wants to send Congress, after he says a controversial government-backed program that helps provide phones to low-income Americans ended up sending mobiles to the dead relatives of his constituents. Griffin has introduced a bill that targets the phone hand-out program, which has ballooned into a fiscal headache for the government. “This program demands reform,” Griffin told FoxNews.com on Monday. “There is a lot of waste in it and we need to be asking ourselves, ‘Where do we draw the line? Do we give everybody...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Rep. Tim Griffin, an Arkansas Republican, was named Friday to the powerful U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, a move that he says rules out a run for governor or the Senate in 2014. The panel announced that Griffin, who represents central Arkansas' 2nd District, was among four new Republican members. It is the chief tax-writing committee and members are not allowed to serve on other committees unless they receive a waiver from congressional leaders. Griffin is the first congressman from Arkansas to serve on the panel since 1992 and the first Republican from the...

Learn how to fight this abuse and find out more about Congressman Tim Griffin's bill to end it:http://griffin.house.gov/lifeline

Following much thoughtful consternation, I have decided to pull my support and endorsement of Texas Governor Rick Perry for the GOP presidential nomination.  I realize the redstate diary commenters, won’t be kind but this needs to be said.  This decision wasn’t easy but a serious evaluation of the field should inform us that Rick Perry has no realistic path to victory in South Carolina, Florida and beyond. I realize that redstate.com’s Erick Erickson continues to stick by him, that South Carolina is Perry’s state and that he has re-tooled his staff.  But it is too little too late and at...

Call it being a team player. If you’re a Republican House candidate flush with cash and poised to win, you can score points with leadership if you donate to competitive races. That cred could lead to good committee assignments down the line. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) followed that model in 2006 and ended up with a prime spot in leadership. Now he’s advising candidates from South Carolina to Missouri to do the same, even suggesting which contenders are most in need of funds for new ads. In a great year for their party, some House Republican challengers are doing more...

For Tim Griffin And for responsible politics IS JOYCE ELLIOTT running for Congress in the Second District or is she just running against Tim Griffin? Does it say anything about her own qualifications, or her lack of same, that she seems to spend most of her time talking about her opponent? An unsuspecting voter visiting her campaign’s official website might ask the same questions. Here’s an item listed in the site’s “news” category, originally reported by an outfit called the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and repeated on Joyce Elliot’s website like the juicy bit of gossip it...

LITTLE ROCK - Tim Griffin, who resigned his post as interim U.S. attorney in Little Rock after serving six months under scrutiny, said he is now an adviser for former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson's expected presidential campaign. Thompson, a former Republican senator from Tennessee and a regular on "Law & Order," was expected to formally announce his candidacy Thursday. "Clearly, Sen. Thompson is who I think is going to serve the (Republican) party best in the 2008 elections," Griffin told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a story published in its Wednesday edition. "I think he has broad appeal. I think he's...

George W. Bush's 2004 campaign fund-raisers and contributors are being bombarded with appeals for money by Sen. John McCain's heavy-spending, money-short 2008 campaign. McCain is concentrating heavily on the rich target of lawyers and lobbyists in Washington, D.C. They have been invited to multiple McCain fund-raising events held in the nation's capital, currently a $1,000-a-ticket reception June 26 at the Capitol Hill Club with a potential "event co-chair" asked to raise $50,000. A large percentage of the Bush fund-raising team remains uncommitted, a signal that the Republican establishment is not satisfied with the present field seeking the party's nomination. McCain's...

Here's an interesting addition to the growing, un-revealed, unofficial presidential campaign of Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson : J. Timothy Griffin, the former RNC research whiz and Army JAG prosecutor who served, briefly, as a U.S. Attorney in the second district in Arkansas. Griffin, you'll no doubt recall, was selected with White House input to replace prosecutor Bud Cummins in AR when Griffin returned from serving a tour of duty in Iraq. Griffin is advising Thompson on communications and message and will probably be a consultant to Thompson's presidential campaign. Griffin was a very early, very informal adviser to AR Gov. Mike...

Excerpt - LITTLE ROCK -- Tim Griffin, the federal prosecutor in Arkansas whose appointment was among those that led to calls for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, is resigning Friday, spokesmen for Arkansas congressional members said. Griffin, a former assistant to President Bush's top political adviser Karl Rove, stepped in as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas in December, replacing U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins. Cummins, a well-respected prosecutor, was one of eight U.S. attorneys who were fired over the winter, leading to accusations of White House meddling in federal law enforcement. U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor,...

Excerpt - A deputy prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Little Rock has fantasies about owning this newspaper. Robert Govar of Lonoke — formerly chief of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in Little Rock who’s now been demoted — threatened to sue me last week over a column I wrote about him and his buddy Jay Campbell, the crooked cop who was sentenced to 40 years in prison, along with his wife Kelly, who received a 20-year sentence. The deputy prosecutor fired off an hysterical e-mail from his office, predicting he would win a $50 million...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A fired federal prosecutor said Friday he doubted his investigation into Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt's administration was connected to his dismissal. Former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, a federal prosecutor in Arkansas, was removed from his job in December -- one of eight U.S. attorneys replaced in recent months by President Bush's administration. Cummins in October publicly cleared Blunt's administration of wrongdoing in the awarding of Missouri license office contracts, saying he closed an investigation without pursuing criminal charges. Cummins said the Justice Department told him he was being fired to make room for someone...