Act creates tension within state GOP

LITTLE ROCK — Chris Stewart, the general counsel for the state Republican Party, is working as the lawyer for the Secure Arkansas committee.

The committee seeks to pass an initiated act to ban illegal aliens from receiving certain services..

Last fall, Karen Ray, the state GOP executive director, sent aRepublican legislator an e-mail critical of efforts to crack down on illegal aliens.

Such an effort "runs the risk of making our party look racist," she said.

Ray declined to comment on Stewart's involvement in the Secure Arkansas committee.

Stewart of Little Rock also declined comment.

The committee's financialreports show that it paid Stewart a $260 retainer fee April 7.

Stewart worked in 2006 as political director for Republican Asa Hutchinson's failed gubernatorial campaign and as executive director for the Arkansas Marriage Amendment Committee's successful 2004 effort to pass a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.