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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name=Justin Todd Harris | image=State Rep. Justin Harris of AR.jpg Jump to: navigation, search | birth_date=August 25, 1975 | birth_place=Muskogee..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=Justin Todd Harris
| image=State Rep. Justin Harris of AR.jpg
Jump to: navigation, search
| birth_date=August 25, 1975
| birth_place=Muskogee, [[Oklahoma]], USA
| residence=Springdale, Arkansas
|office=[[Arkansas]] State Representative<br> for District 87
| term_start=2011
| term_end=2013
| preceded=Mark Martin
| succeeded=[[Jonathan Barnett]]
|office2=Arkansas State Representative<br> for District 81
| term_start2=2013
| term_end2=2016
| preceded2=Karen Hopper (transferred to District 100)
| succeeded2=Bruce Coleman
| party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
| alma_mater=Siloam Springs High School<br>
[[University of Arkansas]]
| occupation=Preschool owner and operator
| religion=[[Southern Baptist]]
| spouse=Marsha Gail Frederick Harris (married 2000)
| children= Ethan, Isaiah, and Caelan Harris}}
'''Justin Todd Harris''' (born August 25, 1975)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/justin-harris/jtharris99|title=Justin Harris (Todd)|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=September 8, 2020}}</ref> is the owner and operator of Growing Gods Kingdom, a preschool in West Fork in Washington County in northwestern [[Arkansas]]. He is also a [[Republican Party|Republican]] former state representative. Since 2013, he has represented District 81, which includes parts of Washington and Crawford counties. From 2011 to 2013, Harris represented District 87, a seat then switched to the since term-limited Republican [[Jonathan Barnett]] of Siloam {pronounced SIGH LUM) Springs in Benton County.<ref name=harrisofwestfork>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansashouse.org/member/269/justin-t-harris|title=Justin Harris, R-82|publisher=arkansashouse.org|accessdate=January 6, 2014}}</ref>
==Background==
A native of Muskogee in eastern [[Oklahoma]], Harris was reared in Siloam Springs, where he graduated from Siloam Springs High School. He holds degrees in Human and Child Development and Human Environmental Science from the [[University of Arkansas]] at Fayetteville. He is a member of the Arkansas and the Southern Early Childhood Education associations. Prior to the establishment of Growing Gods Kingdom in 2003, Harris was for three years the director of the Living Faith Preschool. For some two years in the late 1990s, he was a merchandising assistant for [[J.C. Penney]].<ref name=votesmart>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/119187/justin-harris|title=Justin Harris' Biography|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=September 19, 2000}}</ref>
Since 2009, Harris has been a member of both the Washington County Republican Party and the [[Tea Party movement]]. He considers [[Ronald W. Reagan]] his favorite U.S. President.<ref name=votesmart/>
==Political career==
In 2010, Harris ran in District 87 for the seat vacated by the term-limited Mark Martin, who was instead elected as the first Republican Secretary of State of Arkansas since [[Reconstruction]]. Harris defeated the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] Earl John Hunton (born 1966) of Prairie Grove in Washington County, 4,439 (56.8 percent) to 3,372 (43.2 percent).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2010|title=District 87|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|accessdate=September 18, 2020}}</ref>
In 2012, Harris was switched to District 81 for his second legislative term because the incumbent Republican, Representative [[Karen Hopper]], was moved to District 100. In the Republican primary, Harris defeated Lisa Marie France Norris (born 1980) of Alma in Crawford County, 1,578 votes (63.6 percent) to 904 (36.4 percent). In the general election, Harris prevailed over the Democrat Wolf Grulkey, also of Alma, a supporter of [[Governor]] [[Mike Beebe]]. The tabulation was 6,891 votes (67.3 percent) for Harris to 3,355 (32.7 percent) for Grulkey.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2012|title=District 81|publisher=ballotpedia.org|accessdate=January 6, 2014}}</ref>
Representative Harris served on these committees: (1) Legislative Joint Auditing, (2) Performance Review, and (3) Public Health, Welfare and Labor.<ref name=votesmart/>
Harris is Vice-Chairman of the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, the committee which oversees the Department of Human Services. Through the Department of Human Services, Harris's pre-school, Growing God's Kingdom, has received more than $4.1 million in public funds since 2010. It was also this agency which Harris required to approve his controversial adoptions.<ref>{{cite web|url=
http://www.arkansasmatters.com/story/d/story/legislator-who-rehomed-children-has-received-4m-in/28690/LTlF-URA1kG8vhLj5WkK7A|title=Legislator Who Rehomed Children has Received $4M in Public Funds since 2010|date=March 13, 2015|website=ArkansasMatters.com|accessdate=March 14, 2015}}</ref>
In 2013, Representative Harris co-sponsored the amending of [[state income tax]] rates and supported the proposed spending cap on the state budget, but the latter measure failed by a two-vote margin in the House. He joined the majority to [[Veto override|override]] the [[veto]]es of Democratic Governor Mike Beebe to enact legislation to require photo identification for casting a ballot in Arkansas and to ban [[abortion]] after twenty weeks of gestation, despite Beebe's concerns that the bill was [[unconstitutional]]. He was a co-sponsor of both of those measures. Harris also supported related [[pro-life]] legislation to outlaw abortion whenever fetal heartbeat is detected, to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange, and to make the death of an unborn child a [[felony]] in certain cases.<ref name=votingrecords/> In January 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a lower court's decision to strike down a twenty-week abortion ban in Arizona, leaving the legality of the Arkansas law in doubt.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2014/01/13/us-supreme-court-refuses-to-allow-arizonas-20-week-abortion-ban|title=U.S. Supreme Court refuses to allow Arizona's 20-week abortion ban, which Arkansas law parallels|work=Arkansas Times|accessdate=March 11, 2015}}</ref>
On [[Second Amendment to the United States Constitution|Second Amendment]] issues, Harris co-sponsored allowing officials of universities and religious institutions to engage in the [[concealed carry]] of firearms. He voted to reduce the application fee for obtaining a concealed carry permit, but the measure was defeated in the House. Harris co-sponsored the measure which prohibits the governor from regulating firearms during an emergency. He voted to prohibit the closing of schools based on a two-year pupil enrollment analysis and to establish a tiered system of [[lottery]] scholarships. Harris voted against legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan, which nevertheless passed sixty-three to twenty-four. He voted to establish a tiered system of [[lottery]] scholarships. Harris co-sponsored the bill, signed by Governor Beebe, to permit the sale of up to five hundred gallons per month of [[pasteurization|unpasteurized]] whole milk directly from the farm to consumers.<ref name=votingrecords>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/119187/justin-harris|title=Justin Harris' Voting Records|publisher=votesmart.org|accessdate=September 18, 2020}}</ref>
In 2011, Harris voted to set state standards for biblical instruction in public schools but opposed the authorization of dress codes. He voted against the prohibition of cell phone usage in school zones. He voted to require that state driver's license tests be administered only in the [[English language]]. He voted for the Capital Gains Reduction Act and for the reduction of taxes on manufacturers' utilities. He voted against the congressional [[redistricting]] act.<ref name=votingrecords/>
Harris endorsed [[Asa Hutchinson]] in the 2014 Republican [[governor|gubernatorial]] primary against Curtis Coleman. Hutchinson, a former [[U.S. Representative]] for Arkansas' 3rd congressional district, was the party's 2006 standard-bearer against Mike Beebe. He rebounded to win the general election in 2014 against the Democrat Mike Ross. He was elected to a second term in 2018. Hutchinson's brother, [[Tim Hutchinson]] is a former U.S. Representative and one-term U.S. Senator.
==Personal life==
Harris and his wife, the former Marsha Gail Frederick (born 1976), have three sons,<ref name="arktimes.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/a-child-left-unprotected/Content?oid=3691164|title=A child left unprotected|publisher=''The Arkansas Times''|date=March 11, 2015}}</ref>Justin and Marsha Harris also adopted three daughters. The oldest one, Mary, was in their home just a few months; the other two lived with the Harrises for about a year before they were "rehomed" to another family, where one of the girls was [[rape]]d. The Harrises believed that the children could communicate telepathically with "... other foster families, the girls' biological mother, a Department of Human Services employee and a former babysitter." According to ''The Arkansas Times,'' Harris and his wife believed that the middle child was possessed by a demon, and she was kept under lock and key.<ref name="casting out demons"/>
''The Arkansas Times'' reported:
<blockquote>"Chelsey Goldsborough, who regularly babysat for the Harrises, said Mary was kept isolated from Annie and from the rest of the family. She was often confined for hours to her room, where she was monitored by a video camera. The reason: The Harrises believed the girls were possessed by demons and could communicate telepathically, Goldsborough said. Harris and his wife once hired specialists to perform an "exorcism" on the two sisters while she waited outside the house with the boys, she said."</blockquote>
They had an [[exorcism]] performed, but then sent the girls to live with Eric Francis, a former employee, while the Harris family continued to receive adoption subsidies. Francis raped one of the girls, and was sentenced to forty years in prison.<ref name="casting out demons">{{cite web|url=http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/casting-out-demons-why-justin-harris-got-rid-of-kids-he-applied-pressure-to-adopt/Content?oid=3725371|title=Casting out demons: why Justin Harris got rid of kids he applied pressure to adopt|publisher=''The Arkansas Times''|accessdate=March 11, 2015}}</ref> Harris has stated that during the adoption process his wife was dying of [[pancreatic cancer]]. <ref name="usatoday.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/10/legislator-gives-away-adopted-girls/24733831 |title=Lawmaker defends giving away adopted girls|publisher=''USA Today''|accessdate=March 13, 2015}}</ref> However, Mylife.com reports that Marsha Harris, five years later as of September 2000, is still living.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/marsha-harris/mharris76|title=Marsha Harris|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=September 19, 2020}}</ref>
Harris and his family attend and are members of Cross Church of Northwest Arkansas, also known as the Church at Pinnacle Hills, whose pastor is [[Ronnie Floyd]], the 2014 president of the [[Southern Baptist Convention]]. Cross Church is a [[Southern Baptist]] "mega-church".<ref name=harrisofwestfork/><ref name=votesmart/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Justin}}
[[Category:Arkansas]]
[[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Southern Baptists]]
| name=Justin Todd Harris
| image=State Rep. Justin Harris of AR.jpg
Jump to: navigation, search
| birth_date=August 25, 1975
| birth_place=Muskogee, [[Oklahoma]], USA
| residence=Springdale, Arkansas
|office=[[Arkansas]] State Representative<br> for District 87
| term_start=2011
| term_end=2013
| preceded=Mark Martin
| succeeded=[[Jonathan Barnett]]
|office2=Arkansas State Representative<br> for District 81
| term_start2=2013
| term_end2=2016
| preceded2=Karen Hopper (transferred to District 100)
| succeeded2=Bruce Coleman
| party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
| alma_mater=Siloam Springs High School<br>
[[University of Arkansas]]
| occupation=Preschool owner and operator
| religion=[[Southern Baptist]]
| spouse=Marsha Gail Frederick Harris (married 2000)
| children= Ethan, Isaiah, and Caelan Harris}}
'''Justin Todd Harris''' (born August 25, 1975)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/justin-harris/jtharris99|title=Justin Harris (Todd)|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=September 8, 2020}}</ref> is the owner and operator of Growing Gods Kingdom, a preschool in West Fork in Washington County in northwestern [[Arkansas]]. He is also a [[Republican Party|Republican]] former state representative. Since 2013, he has represented District 81, which includes parts of Washington and Crawford counties. From 2011 to 2013, Harris represented District 87, a seat then switched to the since term-limited Republican [[Jonathan Barnett]] of Siloam {pronounced SIGH LUM) Springs in Benton County.<ref name=harrisofwestfork>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansashouse.org/member/269/justin-t-harris|title=Justin Harris, R-82|publisher=arkansashouse.org|accessdate=January 6, 2014}}</ref>
==Background==
A native of Muskogee in eastern [[Oklahoma]], Harris was reared in Siloam Springs, where he graduated from Siloam Springs High School. He holds degrees in Human and Child Development and Human Environmental Science from the [[University of Arkansas]] at Fayetteville. He is a member of the Arkansas and the Southern Early Childhood Education associations. Prior to the establishment of Growing Gods Kingdom in 2003, Harris was for three years the director of the Living Faith Preschool. For some two years in the late 1990s, he was a merchandising assistant for [[J.C. Penney]].<ref name=votesmart>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/119187/justin-harris|title=Justin Harris' Biography|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=September 19, 2000}}</ref>
Since 2009, Harris has been a member of both the Washington County Republican Party and the [[Tea Party movement]]. He considers [[Ronald W. Reagan]] his favorite U.S. President.<ref name=votesmart/>
==Political career==
In 2010, Harris ran in District 87 for the seat vacated by the term-limited Mark Martin, who was instead elected as the first Republican Secretary of State of Arkansas since [[Reconstruction]]. Harris defeated the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] Earl John Hunton (born 1966) of Prairie Grove in Washington County, 4,439 (56.8 percent) to 3,372 (43.2 percent).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2010|title=District 87|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|accessdate=September 18, 2020}}</ref>
In 2012, Harris was switched to District 81 for his second legislative term because the incumbent Republican, Representative [[Karen Hopper]], was moved to District 100. In the Republican primary, Harris defeated Lisa Marie France Norris (born 1980) of Alma in Crawford County, 1,578 votes (63.6 percent) to 904 (36.4 percent). In the general election, Harris prevailed over the Democrat Wolf Grulkey, also of Alma, a supporter of [[Governor]] [[Mike Beebe]]. The tabulation was 6,891 votes (67.3 percent) for Harris to 3,355 (32.7 percent) for Grulkey.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2012|title=District 81|publisher=ballotpedia.org|accessdate=January 6, 2014}}</ref>
Representative Harris served on these committees: (1) Legislative Joint Auditing, (2) Performance Review, and (3) Public Health, Welfare and Labor.<ref name=votesmart/>
Harris is Vice-Chairman of the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, the committee which oversees the Department of Human Services. Through the Department of Human Services, Harris's pre-school, Growing God's Kingdom, has received more than $4.1 million in public funds since 2010. It was also this agency which Harris required to approve his controversial adoptions.<ref>{{cite web|url=
http://www.arkansasmatters.com/story/d/story/legislator-who-rehomed-children-has-received-4m-in/28690/LTlF-URA1kG8vhLj5WkK7A|title=Legislator Who Rehomed Children has Received $4M in Public Funds since 2010|date=March 13, 2015|website=ArkansasMatters.com|accessdate=March 14, 2015}}</ref>
In 2013, Representative Harris co-sponsored the amending of [[state income tax]] rates and supported the proposed spending cap on the state budget, but the latter measure failed by a two-vote margin in the House. He joined the majority to [[Veto override|override]] the [[veto]]es of Democratic Governor Mike Beebe to enact legislation to require photo identification for casting a ballot in Arkansas and to ban [[abortion]] after twenty weeks of gestation, despite Beebe's concerns that the bill was [[unconstitutional]]. He was a co-sponsor of both of those measures. Harris also supported related [[pro-life]] legislation to outlaw abortion whenever fetal heartbeat is detected, to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange, and to make the death of an unborn child a [[felony]] in certain cases.<ref name=votingrecords/> In January 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a lower court's decision to strike down a twenty-week abortion ban in Arizona, leaving the legality of the Arkansas law in doubt.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2014/01/13/us-supreme-court-refuses-to-allow-arizonas-20-week-abortion-ban|title=U.S. Supreme Court refuses to allow Arizona's 20-week abortion ban, which Arkansas law parallels|work=Arkansas Times|accessdate=March 11, 2015}}</ref>
On [[Second Amendment to the United States Constitution|Second Amendment]] issues, Harris co-sponsored allowing officials of universities and religious institutions to engage in the [[concealed carry]] of firearms. He voted to reduce the application fee for obtaining a concealed carry permit, but the measure was defeated in the House. Harris co-sponsored the measure which prohibits the governor from regulating firearms during an emergency. He voted to prohibit the closing of schools based on a two-year pupil enrollment analysis and to establish a tiered system of [[lottery]] scholarships. Harris voted against legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan, which nevertheless passed sixty-three to twenty-four. He voted to establish a tiered system of [[lottery]] scholarships. Harris co-sponsored the bill, signed by Governor Beebe, to permit the sale of up to five hundred gallons per month of [[pasteurization|unpasteurized]] whole milk directly from the farm to consumers.<ref name=votingrecords>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/119187/justin-harris|title=Justin Harris' Voting Records|publisher=votesmart.org|accessdate=September 18, 2020}}</ref>
In 2011, Harris voted to set state standards for biblical instruction in public schools but opposed the authorization of dress codes. He voted against the prohibition of cell phone usage in school zones. He voted to require that state driver's license tests be administered only in the [[English language]]. He voted for the Capital Gains Reduction Act and for the reduction of taxes on manufacturers' utilities. He voted against the congressional [[redistricting]] act.<ref name=votingrecords/>
Harris endorsed [[Asa Hutchinson]] in the 2014 Republican [[governor|gubernatorial]] primary against Curtis Coleman. Hutchinson, a former [[U.S. Representative]] for Arkansas' 3rd congressional district, was the party's 2006 standard-bearer against Mike Beebe. He rebounded to win the general election in 2014 against the Democrat Mike Ross. He was elected to a second term in 2018. Hutchinson's brother, [[Tim Hutchinson]] is a former U.S. Representative and one-term U.S. Senator.
==Personal life==
Harris and his wife, the former Marsha Gail Frederick (born 1976), have three sons,<ref name="arktimes.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/a-child-left-unprotected/Content?oid=3691164|title=A child left unprotected|publisher=''The Arkansas Times''|date=March 11, 2015}}</ref>Justin and Marsha Harris also adopted three daughters. The oldest one, Mary, was in their home just a few months; the other two lived with the Harrises for about a year before they were "rehomed" to another family, where one of the girls was [[rape]]d. The Harrises believed that the children could communicate telepathically with "... other foster families, the girls' biological mother, a Department of Human Services employee and a former babysitter." According to ''The Arkansas Times,'' Harris and his wife believed that the middle child was possessed by a demon, and she was kept under lock and key.<ref name="casting out demons"/>
''The Arkansas Times'' reported:
<blockquote>"Chelsey Goldsborough, who regularly babysat for the Harrises, said Mary was kept isolated from Annie and from the rest of the family. She was often confined for hours to her room, where she was monitored by a video camera. The reason: The Harrises believed the girls were possessed by demons and could communicate telepathically, Goldsborough said. Harris and his wife once hired specialists to perform an "exorcism" on the two sisters while she waited outside the house with the boys, she said."</blockquote>
They had an [[exorcism]] performed, but then sent the girls to live with Eric Francis, a former employee, while the Harris family continued to receive adoption subsidies. Francis raped one of the girls, and was sentenced to forty years in prison.<ref name="casting out demons">{{cite web|url=http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/casting-out-demons-why-justin-harris-got-rid-of-kids-he-applied-pressure-to-adopt/Content?oid=3725371|title=Casting out demons: why Justin Harris got rid of kids he applied pressure to adopt|publisher=''The Arkansas Times''|accessdate=March 11, 2015}}</ref> Harris has stated that during the adoption process his wife was dying of [[pancreatic cancer]]. <ref name="usatoday.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/10/legislator-gives-away-adopted-girls/24733831 |title=Lawmaker defends giving away adopted girls|publisher=''USA Today''|accessdate=March 13, 2015}}</ref> However, Mylife.com reports that Marsha Harris, five years later as of September 2000, is still living.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/marsha-harris/mharris76|title=Marsha Harris|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=September 19, 2020}}</ref>
Harris and his family attend and are members of Cross Church of Northwest Arkansas, also known as the Church at Pinnacle Hills, whose pastor is [[Ronnie Floyd]], the 2014 president of the [[Southern Baptist Convention]]. Cross Church is a [[Southern Baptist]] "mega-church".<ref name=harrisofwestfork/><ref name=votesmart/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Justin}}
[[Category:Arkansas]]
[[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Southern Baptists]]