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'''Kim D. Hendren''' (born February 6, 1938)<ref name=pvs>{{cite web|url=http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=27858|title=Project Vote Smart: Senator Kim Hendren (R)|publisher=Votesmart.org|access date=May 18, 2009}}</ref> is the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] minority leader and the chairman of the Energy Committee of the [[Arkansas State Senate]]. A native and resident of Gravette in [[Benton County, Arkansas|Benton County]] in northwestern [[Arkansas]], Hendren represents District 9. He is a former [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] in the most Republican part of the state. Hendren is also an announced candidate for his party's nomination for the [[U.S. Senate]] in the 2010 primary election to oppose incumbent Democratic Senator [[Blanche Lambert Lincoln]].
==Education and family==
Hendren graduated in 1960 with a degree in [[engineering]] from the [[University of Arkansas]] at [[Fayetteville, Arkansas|Fayetteville]]. He is an Independent [[Protestant]] who has been active since 1963 in the [[Gideons International]], the men's group which distributes [[Bible]]s in such public places as hotel rooms. He is also active in the [[Kiwanis Club]]. Hendren is married to the former Marylea Hutchinson,<ref name=pvs/>a sister of former U.S. Senator [[Tim Hutchinson]] and former [[U.S. Representative]] [[Asa Hutchinson]]. In 2002, Tim Hutchinson lost his reelection bid to [[Mark Pryor]] for the other U.S. Senate seat from Arkansas. Asa Hutchinson lost a Senate race in 1986 to [[Dale Bumpers]] and the gubernatorial campaign in 2006 to [[Mike Beebe]]. Hendren is an engineer and holds investments in an automobile dealership, real estate, and poultry interests. The Hendrens have four children, Mark, Jim, Gayla, and Hope.<ref name=nwa/>
==Legislative service==
Known for his folksy demeanor at the capitol,<ref name=nwa>{{cite web|url=http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2009/04/19/news/041909arhendrenannounces.txt|title="Gravette's Hendren Announces Challenge for U.S. Senate Seat"|publisher=NWAonline.net|access date=May 16, 2009}}</ref>Hendren considers himself a fiscal conservative and voted against changing the Arkansas unemployment law to accept $59 million in federal stimulus money.<ref name=nwa/> He voted in February 2009 to support an increase in his state's [[tobacco tax]].<ref name=nwa/> In 2008, he backed an increase in the [[severance tax]] on [[natural gas]].<ref name=hendren/>He has also authored a bill to require [[motorcycle|motorcyclists]] to wear helmets or demonstrate proof of [[health insurance]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://arkansasnews.com/2009/02/23/helmet-bill-stalls-in-committee/|title=Doug Thompson, Stephens Media, "Motorcycle helmet, tarp bill stall in committee"|publisher=Arkansasnews.com|access date=May 18, 2009}}</ref>
From 1967-1969, Hendren served on the Gravette City Council and later the Gravette School Board. In 1978, Hendren was first elected as a Democrat to the state Senate at the same time that Clinton won his first two-year term as governor.<ref>''Arkansas Gazette'', [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], [[Arkansas]], Novenber 9, 1978</ref>Hendren won the Senate seat in 1978, after the incumbent Republican,
Jim Caldwell, a [[Church of Christ]] minister from [[Rogers, Arkansas|Rogers]], stepped down after a decade in office.<ref>''Arkansas Outlook'', Republican Party newsletter, November-December 1968</ref>
In 1982, Hendren ran fourth in a five-candidate field, with 21,829 votes (3.85 percent), in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. After defeating Joe Purcell in a [[runoff election|runoff]], former Governor [[Bill Clinton]] that year then toppled Republican [[Frank D. White]], who had unseated Clinton in the [[Ronald W. Reagan]] sweep of 1980.<ref>Arkansas Secretary of State, Democratic gubernatorial primary election returns from 1982</ref>
Because Hendren ran for governor, he could not seek reelection to the state Senate. In 2001, he returned to the legislature, having won a single term in 2000 -- his first as a Republican -- in the [[Arkansas House of Representatives]]. In 2003, he returned to the state Senate twenty years after he left the position. He ran unopposed in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/R/Pages/MemberProfile.aspx?member=Hendren|title="Senator Kim Hendren (R)"|publisher=Arkleg.state.ar.us|access date-May 18, 2009}}</ref>
==U.S. Senate candidacy==
In May 2009, Hendren apologized after it was reported that during a meeting of the [[Pulaski County, Arkansas|Pulaski County]] Republican Committee in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], he referred to Democratic U.S. Senator [[Charles Schumer]] of [[New York (state)|New York]] as "that [[Jew]]" after Schumer had criticized the Republican Party. "I ought not to have referred to it at all. When I referred to him as Jewish, it wasn't because I don't like Jewish people. I shouldn't have gotten into this Jewish business because it distracts from the issue. . . I believe in traditional values, like we used to see on ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]''," Hendren said, adding that he does not use a [[Teleprompter]] and sometimes mispeaks in haste.<ref name=hendren>{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/05/14/2009-05-14_oy_vey_arkansas_state_senator_kim_hendren.html|title=Michael McAuliff, "Oy vey! Arkansas State Senator Kim Hendren calls Chuck Schumer 'that Jew'"|publisher=''[[New York Daily News]]''|access date=May 16, 2009}}</ref>Schumer said that he accepted the apology. Hendren's comments drew a reprimand from Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who said that "Comments like this are completely inappropriate and don't have any place in public or private discourse."<ref name=hendren/>
Hendren opposed the confirmation of [[United States Secretary of the Treasury]] [[Timothy Geithner]]. He also objects to runaway federal spending while each state is meanwhile required to balance its budget. He opposes Lincoln's vote to subsidize the giant [[AIG]] insurance company.<ref name=nwa/>
Hendren said that he favors strict enforcement of [[immigration]] laws but would "have to look at" potential [[amnesty]] for illegal immigrants already living in the United States.<ref name=nwa/> He opposed charging only in-state college tuition for children of illegal immigrants living in Arkansas.<ref name=nwa/>
Hendren is the first Republican to enter the upcoming Senate contest, but state Senator Gilbert Baker of [[Conway, Arkansas|Conway]] in [[Faulkner County|Faulkner County]], a former state Republican chairman, and Tim Griffin, a former interim [[U.S. Attorney]], are considered potential candidates.<ref name=hendren/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Education and family==
Hendren graduated in 1960 with a degree in [[engineering]] from the [[University of Arkansas]] at [[Fayetteville, Arkansas|Fayetteville]]. He is an Independent [[Protestant]] who has been active since 1963 in the [[Gideons International]], the men's group which distributes [[Bible]]s in such public places as hotel rooms. He is also active in the [[Kiwanis Club]]. Hendren is married to the former Marylea Hutchinson,<ref name=pvs/>a sister of former U.S. Senator [[Tim Hutchinson]] and former [[U.S. Representative]] [[Asa Hutchinson]]. In 2002, Tim Hutchinson lost his reelection bid to [[Mark Pryor]] for the other U.S. Senate seat from Arkansas. Asa Hutchinson lost a Senate race in 1986 to [[Dale Bumpers]] and the gubernatorial campaign in 2006 to [[Mike Beebe]]. Hendren is an engineer and holds investments in an automobile dealership, real estate, and poultry interests. The Hendrens have four children, Mark, Jim, Gayla, and Hope.<ref name=nwa/>
==Legislative service==
Known for his folksy demeanor at the capitol,<ref name=nwa>{{cite web|url=http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2009/04/19/news/041909arhendrenannounces.txt|title="Gravette's Hendren Announces Challenge for U.S. Senate Seat"|publisher=NWAonline.net|access date=May 16, 2009}}</ref>Hendren considers himself a fiscal conservative and voted against changing the Arkansas unemployment law to accept $59 million in federal stimulus money.<ref name=nwa/> He voted in February 2009 to support an increase in his state's [[tobacco tax]].<ref name=nwa/> In 2008, he backed an increase in the [[severance tax]] on [[natural gas]].<ref name=hendren/>He has also authored a bill to require [[motorcycle|motorcyclists]] to wear helmets or demonstrate proof of [[health insurance]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://arkansasnews.com/2009/02/23/helmet-bill-stalls-in-committee/|title=Doug Thompson, Stephens Media, "Motorcycle helmet, tarp bill stall in committee"|publisher=Arkansasnews.com|access date=May 18, 2009}}</ref>
From 1967-1969, Hendren served on the Gravette City Council and later the Gravette School Board. In 1978, Hendren was first elected as a Democrat to the state Senate at the same time that Clinton won his first two-year term as governor.<ref>''Arkansas Gazette'', [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], [[Arkansas]], Novenber 9, 1978</ref>Hendren won the Senate seat in 1978, after the incumbent Republican,
Jim Caldwell, a [[Church of Christ]] minister from [[Rogers, Arkansas|Rogers]], stepped down after a decade in office.<ref>''Arkansas Outlook'', Republican Party newsletter, November-December 1968</ref>
In 1982, Hendren ran fourth in a five-candidate field, with 21,829 votes (3.85 percent), in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. After defeating Joe Purcell in a [[runoff election|runoff]], former Governor [[Bill Clinton]] that year then toppled Republican [[Frank D. White]], who had unseated Clinton in the [[Ronald W. Reagan]] sweep of 1980.<ref>Arkansas Secretary of State, Democratic gubernatorial primary election returns from 1982</ref>
Because Hendren ran for governor, he could not seek reelection to the state Senate. In 2001, he returned to the legislature, having won a single term in 2000 -- his first as a Republican -- in the [[Arkansas House of Representatives]]. In 2003, he returned to the state Senate twenty years after he left the position. He ran unopposed in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/R/Pages/MemberProfile.aspx?member=Hendren|title="Senator Kim Hendren (R)"|publisher=Arkleg.state.ar.us|access date-May 18, 2009}}</ref>
==U.S. Senate candidacy==
In May 2009, Hendren apologized after it was reported that during a meeting of the [[Pulaski County, Arkansas|Pulaski County]] Republican Committee in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], he referred to Democratic U.S. Senator [[Charles Schumer]] of [[New York (state)|New York]] as "that [[Jew]]" after Schumer had criticized the Republican Party. "I ought not to have referred to it at all. When I referred to him as Jewish, it wasn't because I don't like Jewish people. I shouldn't have gotten into this Jewish business because it distracts from the issue. . . I believe in traditional values, like we used to see on ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]''," Hendren said, adding that he does not use a [[Teleprompter]] and sometimes mispeaks in haste.<ref name=hendren>{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/05/14/2009-05-14_oy_vey_arkansas_state_senator_kim_hendren.html|title=Michael McAuliff, "Oy vey! Arkansas State Senator Kim Hendren calls Chuck Schumer 'that Jew'"|publisher=''[[New York Daily News]]''|access date=May 16, 2009}}</ref>Schumer said that he accepted the apology. Hendren's comments drew a reprimand from Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who said that "Comments like this are completely inappropriate and don't have any place in public or private discourse."<ref name=hendren/>
Hendren opposed the confirmation of [[United States Secretary of the Treasury]] [[Timothy Geithner]]. He also objects to runaway federal spending while each state is meanwhile required to balance its budget. He opposes Lincoln's vote to subsidize the giant [[AIG]] insurance company.<ref name=nwa/>
Hendren said that he favors strict enforcement of [[immigration]] laws but would "have to look at" potential [[amnesty]] for illegal immigrants already living in the United States.<ref name=nwa/> He opposed charging only in-state college tuition for children of illegal immigrants living in Arkansas.<ref name=nwa/>
Hendren is the first Republican to enter the upcoming Senate contest, but state Senator Gilbert Baker of [[Conway, Arkansas|Conway]] in [[Faulkner County|Faulkner County]], a former state Republican chairman, and Tim Griffin, a former interim [[U.S. Attorney]], are considered potential candidates.<ref name=hendren/>
==References==
{{reflist}}