Former state senator turned Christian nationalism cheerleader Jason Rapert is one of Gov. Sarah Sanders‘ two picks for the State Library Board, and he’s pledged to use that new authority to … defund libraries?

Rapert said he aims to enforce a new state law that puts librarians in legal jeopardy and lets local officials have the final say on what books belong (or don’t) on library shelves. The law was blocked by a federal judge over the summer after a group of plaintiffs, including library systems in Central Arkansas and Fayetteville, sued to stop it. The libraries suing the state should have their funding cut, he said.

But the Bible-thumping, vocally anti-LGBTQ+ Rapert will need state senators’ votes to make his appointment official, and opponents are piping up to make the case against their former colleague, unaffectionately nicknamed “the bully from Bigelow.” They include state Sen. Bryan King (R-Green Forest), who announced on Twitter yesterday that he planned to object to the appointment at a December meeting.

Rapert is founder and president of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, a group whose mission is to “bring federal state and local lawmakers together in support of clear biblical principles.” He’s best known for his advocacy of a complete abortion ban and his successful campaign to put a Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds (twice: the first one got creamed by an agitated man in his Dodge Dart).

Rapert is an unlikely library board member, having said on his “Save the Nation” YouTube program that Jesus would likely have burned books, and that librarians who let children access books with LGBTQ+ themes would be better off outfitted with millstones around their necks and sunk to the bottom of the Arkansas River.

On Tuesday, Rapert told KARK/FOX16 reporter Samantha Boyd that he thinks the libraries suing the state to block Act 372 — the new state law that puts librarians in legal jeopardy if minors get their hands on materials deemed obscene or harmful — should be docked funding.

The Central Arkansas Library System, Fayetteville Public Library and the Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library are among the plaintiffs.

A seat on the seven-member State Library Board would indeed grant Rapert sway over money for these libraries and others. The State Library holds the purse strings for “state and federal funds appropriated for libraries and library development, including State Aid To Public Libraries funds and federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds.”

Enforcing Act 372 is a priority for Rapert as a State Library Board member, according to a recent social media post in which he counts the Bible as his favorite book and William Federer as his favorite author. Federer’s books focus a conservative lens on Western history; titles include “Socialism – The Real History from Plato to the Present: How the Deep State Capitalizes on Crises to Consolidate Control” and “Change to Chains: The 6,000-Year Quest for Global Control.”

The problem with Rapert’s aim to enforce Act 372, of course, is that it’s tied up in the courts. In July, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks granted the plaintiffs’ request to block portions of the new law, declaring it too vague and saying it could violate the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. Brooks put the brakes on one section of the law that would change how libraries determine what materials should be removed and another section that created criminal liability for librarians should minors get access to materials considered obscene or harmful.

As long as the law is tied up in court, Rapert will be hard pressed to enforce Act 372. Even then, it will depend on what grounds, and appeals are always a possibility, explained Bettina Brownstein, an attorney for three library patrons who are among the plaintiffs suing over Act 372. Those plaintiffs are defending constitutional rights, and a judge sided with them, Brownstein said.

“He’s powerless to do anything right now. It’s all just bravado,” Brownstein said.

Bravado for Rapert, and more divisive and distracting messaging from the governor. Sanders has been on the offensive for months now over gender identity, prisons, the conflict in Gaza, Chinese-owned seed technology and anything else she can come up with to deflect from podiumgate, the ongoing scandal over Sanders’ expenditure of $19,029.25 on a lectern bought from a political associate under unusual circumstances. An anonymous whistleblower said an invoice was doctored, and there are ongoing questions about when and why the Republican Party of Arkansas swooped in to cover the ostentatious price tag of the custom lectern. An audit is ongoing.

If turnabout is fair play, then Rapert may be in for some grief. When he was a state senator, he was not shy about using his status to block appointments. In 2013, Rapert blocked then-Gov. Mike Beebe’s appointment of Kathryn Spinks, a Democrat, to the Arkansas State Occupational Therapy Examining Committee. In 2014, Rapert blocked Beebe’s attempt to appoint former Democratic state Rep. Linda Tyler to the Parole Board.

King, the state senator who announced his opposition to Rapert’s appointment to the board, pointed to Rapert’s pugnacious name calling as a reason to vote against him. King said he opposes appointments of people from both extreme ends of the spectrum.

“Jason used the process at one time to oppose appointments. That’s part of the senatorial process,” King said.

State Sen. Greg Leding, a Democrat from Fayetteville, also said he would vote against putting Rapert on the State Library Board.

Austin Gelder is the editor of the Arkansas Times and loves to write about government, politics and education. Send me your juiciest gossip, please.