David Barham is an additional finalist in Editorials category for newspapers over 35,000 circulation

David Barham, editorial page editor of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, is an additional finalist in the over 35,000 circulation category of the Editorials category of the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize competition.

Barham said, “The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's editorial column is a conservative column, although ideologically unreliable. (Letter writers have jokingly referred to the paper as the ‘Republican-Gazette’.) But when the Republicans in the U.S. House started talking impeachment — of President Biden, of anybody within reach — the column hurried to point out: Impeachment isn't just a political tool. It should be the political tool of last resort. And the Arkansas delegation should vote knowing that.”

Read these editorials on impeachment proceedings:

• Impeachable witness
• Impeachable offense
• What impeach meant

Among the judges' comments:

• Judges felt that this entry demonstrated a lot of courage, in that the newspaper's editorial stand probably was the opposite of what a large part of its conservative readership believes and wants to hear.  One of the judges commented that the ultimate expression of editorial page courage is when you are willing the write the truth about something even when you know you are going to be punished for it by your readers. That's especially important, he said, when it comes to national politics.