Welcome to the 648th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing Alabama State Senator Arthur Orr, who twice has not faced a challenger for his seat representing Alabama’s District 3 since he originally won office back in 2006. Orr came to our attention back in March of 2016, when he submitted legislation to strip welfare benefits from anyone on government assistance if they own a car, because poor people can’t afford those in his mind… but they should also have jobs. We’re assuming he expected them to walk to work, or take a bus, but in any event, his bill failed to go forward because it seemed to contradict what is expected from the working poor.
While that bill may have ended up as kindling, Orr has earned a reputation for trying to sever as many cords of the social safety net as possible over the past few years, and on other issues, he’s voted just as conservative:
- April 26th, 2007: Orr conveniently calls in sick on the day the Alabama State Senate is to vote to express regret over the practice of slavery.
- June 9th, 2011: Orr votes for HB 18, an unconstitutional ban on abortion at 20 weeks.
- June 9th, 2011: Arthur Orr votes for Alabama Republicans’ attempt at blocking the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
- June 9th, 2011: Orr votes for HB 19, a stricter Voter ID bill aimed at suppressing the vote by creating an unnecessary need for a stricter Voter ID.
- Feb 14th, 2012: Arthur Orr co-sponsors SB 63, an attempt to “reform” prisons by making work rehabilitation a main focus (and also providing businesses with an avenue to get labor as close to as the cost of slaves as possible from a prison population that is disproportionately African American).
- Feb 2nd, 2013: Orr co-sponsors SB 191, Alabama Republicans’ attempt to force welfare recipients in Alabama to undergo drug testing. This is even though every state that attempts this has the law tossed out by the courts as a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the constitution at the cost of the lawsuit to the state, and prior to any legal injunction, it has yet to produce any significant findings of drug abuse. So in effect, the law just spends a fortune on drug testing to shame poor people for being poor by making them pee in a cup.
- April 2nd, 2013: Orr votes for HB 57, an anti-abortion TRAP law aimed at closing all the remaining abortion clinics in Alabama by enacting impossible-to-meet standards upon the clinics.
- April 30th, 2013: Arthur Orr votes for SB 93, an attempt by Alabama Republicans to nullify federal firearms law by refusing to enforce those laws.
- January 24th, 2014: Orr co-sponsors SB 6, another attempt to drug test welfare recipients, less than two years since his previous attempt.
- April 21st, 2015: Arthur Orr co-sponsors a bill to block the expansion of Medicaid in Alabama.
- March 22nd, 2016: Orr votes for SB 205, an attempt by Alabama Republicans to treat abortion clinics like sex offenders, and not allow them with 200 feet of a school (and to presumably shut down abortion clinics by ordering schools to be built near them.
- February 7th, 2017: Arthur Orr votes for SB 12, to allow for the use of the electric chair and/or nitrogen hypoxia as a means to execute death row inmates.
- January 25th, 2018: Orr sponsors SB 92, an attempt to reduce the time period that someone can remain on welfare in Alabama.
Arthur Orr is planning on running for re-election in November, after backing out of the special election to U.S. Senate to replace Jeff Sessions, because Orr apparently didn’t object to letting a renowned pedophile like Roy Moore take a crack at it. While we are happy with how that U.S. Senate race turned out, with Doug Jones going to Washington, we still would like to see some of the minor players in that saga like Arthur Orr get sent packing at the polls this fall.
One Year Ago, February 19th, 2017: Warren Groen (NH)… 2017 Update
Two Years Ago. February 19th, 2016: Warren Groen (NH)… Original Profile
Three Years Ago, February 19th, 2015: Sue Myrick (NC)