The appointment of former Republican State Sen. Jason Rapert and election-denier Shari Bales to the Arkansas State Library Board by Gov. Sarah Sanders is a brutish attempt to destroy public libraries and pander to her extremist political base at a time when book bans are a subject of national debate.

Rapert, who served in the Arkansas Senate from 2011 to 2023, is a rabid evangelical and Christian nationalist who sponsored legislation that banned abortions even in cases of rape and incest during his time in the Senate and founded the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, a far-right extremist organization that pushes for freedom-stifling, Bible-based legislation across the country and fights against “radical LGBTQ indoctrination in our public schools” according to a February Rolling Stone article.

Any normal person knows public schools and libraries are not “indoctrinating” children. They are just the latest casualties in the right-wing culture war – a culture war that has led to personal freedoms becoming increasingly limited under the guise of protecting children.

Rapert has already said in multiple interviews that he wants to withhold state and federal funding for libraries suing the state over the draconian Act 372, a 2023 bill that makes librarians subject to criminal punishment for distributing material that is “harmful to minors” and lets literally anybody challenge the “appropriateness” of a book in a school or public library. 

Rapert isn’t even well-liked among Arkansas Republicans. Many consider Rapert too extreme, including Sen. Bryan King (R-Green Forest), who said on Twitter that he would object to the appointment. 

Sen. Greg Leding (D-Fayetteville), Arkansas Senate Minority Leader, also said he would object to Rapert’s appointment, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. 

There’s less information out there about Sanders’ other appointee, Shari Bales, but she has a Twitter/X account where she’s reposted right-wing conspiracy theorists like Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, and used hashtags like #StopTheSteal2020. 

Bales works as a real estate agent in the Hot Springs area for the large national realty company Coldwell Banker, according to their website.

To say she is underqualified to sit on the state library board is an understatement, but at least she gave $500 to Sanders’ campaign in 2021, according to FollowTheMoney.org.

Rapert and Bales’ appointments to the library board require Senate confirmation, an example of the checks and balances built into the government.

It’s a chance for the Senate to prevent our out-of-control governor from appointing two underqualified, far-right extremists to the state library board. 

Rapert, if confirmed, would sit on the board until 2029 and Bales until 2030. There are seven positions on the board and a new seat opens every year, meaning Sanders could potentially appoint more of her repugnant cronies to the library board during her term. 

The Arkansas Senate must reject these appointments or our state library systems will be further crippled by an overzealous right-wing administration fueled by a national culture war, not the concerns of Arkansans. 

Instead of these cartoonishly ghoulish buffoons, Sanders should think about appointing some actual librarians to the board. Right now, no one from Little Rock, where Arkansas’ largest public library system is headquartered, is on the board. I would start there.