Interviews
SALT Interviews recognizeable names and documents them here. Have a question for us to bring to a politician? Reach out and we’ll try our best.
We’ve completed one (1) interview; stay tuned!
Latest Interview
James “Rus” Russell III, Arkansas Congressional district 4 candidate 4/24,26/2026
SHAKER
“What do you think of ICE”
RUS
“I think that ICE is a grossly misaligned organization. The formation of a secret police force that hides their identities from the public, while patrolling our streets… It is basically terrorizing our citizens. The much simpler, better, more democratic solution, would have been for the funding to instead go toward immigration reform, so that we could process background checks and handle the influx of immigrants into our country safely, rather than imposing a ‘police state’ on our citizens.”
SHAKER
“If elected, how exactly would you go about countering this?”
RUS
“I believe that what we actually need to do is, go back in and look at reallocation of funds, whether we can do this through reconciliation acts, or whatever means— we’ll have to see what’s available. We already know that funding [for] The Department of Homeland Security, [among] human services, is stalling because of problems inside of congress as it is, and largely because of the problems with ICE in particular. I think that going through and implementing some of those changes to reallocate the funds for necessary processing, rather than to pay for the manpower of policing, would be the proper way to go about that. You can still use the Judiciary and Law Enforcement forces at the local, municipal, and county levels, to track and find people who are part of the criminal element. But, to go after people who are simply seeking a better life, trying to become American citizens— we need a more robust system to handle that. So, I would support efforts [to make] sure the funding went in that direction instead.”
SHAKER
“I did make an effort to bring questions to politicians anonymously.”
RUS
“Okay.”
SHAKER
“Thus far my efforts have been met with limited success, so I have one question from ‘D’ who wants to know: ‘If elected, what will you do about AI data centers.’”
RUS
“Oh, AI Data centers! Right now, one of the biggest things is that they are being put in place without the consent of the people living in the communities that they’re going into. That is the largest problem— the largest immediate problem. The secondary problem is the fact that they are a huge resource hog. That’s going to impact those communities, even with Senator Cotton putting forward legislation that allows them to build their own separate power grid. That carries problems because, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it has the proper backups or anything else, and that it’s going to have to be integrated into the local powergrid; the local community is still probably going to have to suffer the increase in the cost required to upgrade the system. Regardless of those, the amount of natural resources that a data system would soak up, as far as potable water and a clean water supply, would have a massive deleterious effect on communities— many of whom are already historically targeted with toxic, and often, carcinogenic problems. Historically, we’ve seen the displacement of smaller and mostly marginalized communities, for any number of industrial developments throughout history, whether it be the railroads, factory work, highways, anything. We don’t need to continue repeating the problems from the past; we need to find new solutions. If AI is going to be a thing we move forward for with in the future, which I do think we need to do very carefully— it is a tool; and like any tool, it has the potential to be misused― but if it is something we’re going to have to learn to live with, we need to do it respectfully, responsibly, and it has to actually reflect the will of the people. It doesn’t need to just override common citizen consent.”
SHAKER
“We’re in Russellville right now. We’re kind of flanked on either side, [along] the ‘Interstate,’ by these AI data centers. Is there anything you can do to prevent them from coming here? We’ve got the one in Clarksville— I think they just cleared the field off so they may begin construction— and Conway is still in the works, but very much planned.
RUS
“The crux of that question comes down to whether or not there is anything I, individually, can do, and that is wherein I am not sure. In order to address a problem like this, it’s going to take more than any one individual politician. This is something that I, as a congressperson, would want to 100% address. As I stated before, ‘it needs to be put at the will of the people,’ but there are other considerations, such as the state administration, the executive branch, legislative branch, the county commissions. All of them, they equally have a say. So, while I would 100% use whatever political, or sheer personal clout I have, to try to push forward better decisions on these things, it’s simply not anything that any one individual person can make a claim like that on. I can only state the claim and be willing to put forth all of my efforts, in any way I can, concerted with others towards it”
After Rus left, I got news from a Moreland resident, and followed up with him in a written exchange:
SHAKER
“There are two data centers in Moreland, AR, northeast of Russellville. I was informed by a local resident that there were already two data centers there, and upon researching I found that there were in fact two data centers in Moreland, but they are crypto mines. The mines were constructed without anyone's permission in great secrecy, just like we're seeing with AI data centers. While crypto centers don't compare when considering water consumption, their electricity consumption is similar. These two data centers have already been running for two years, driving up utilities for nearby residents. My question to you is, what do you recommend we do about, already present, parasitic architecture in Arkansas, and in Moreland? And furthermore is there anything that can be done to prevent their trend of secrecy?”
RUS
“With the advent of crypto, hidden mining centers became something of a boom nationally. Even going to the point of homes being purchased and used to house crypto mining equipment rather than residences. Without getting into some serious changes in municipal-level regulation, things like this are hard to regulate simply because the technology and the ability to abuse it vastly outpaces our ability to legislate for it. For existing situations such as the ones you've described, it's hard to know what to recommend without knowing more specifics about the cases. Zoning laws certainly seem like they could apply as do noise ordinances. Analysis of energy usage could yield info and insight and so could external thermal imaging, just like law enforcement uses to detect illegal grow houses or drug labs in many places. But laws and regulations have to evolve in order to keep pace. At the grassroots level, pushing for regulation with city and county planning commissions, licensing boards, and other agencies would be the first logical places to begin. Of course, this would need to be concurrent with efforts to educate and inform the public about the issues, too. From there, at least plans can be put into action to limit the "hidden" expansion of these data centers while also providing for an informed decision making process for future plans.”
Interview Archive: Newest to Oldest
James “Rus” Russell III, Arkansas Congressional district 4 candidate 4/24,26/2026
SHAKER
“What do you think of ICE”
RUS
“I think that ICE is a grossly misaligned organization. The formation of a secret police force that hides their identities from the public, while patrolling our streets… It is basically terrorizing our citizens. The much simpler, better, more democratic solution, would have been for the funding to instead go toward immigration reform, so that we could process background checks and handle the influx of immigrants into our country safely, rather than imposing a ‘police state’ on our citizens.”
SHAKER
“If elected, how exactly would you go about countering this?”
RUS
“I believe that what we actually need to do is, go back in and look at reallocation of funds, whether we can do this through reconciliation acts, or whatever means— we’ll have to see what’s available. We already know that funding [for] The Department of Homeland Security, [among] human services, is stalling because of problems inside of congress as it is, and largely because of the problems with ICE in particular. I think that going through and implementing some of those changes to reallocate the funds for necessary processing, rather than to pay for the manpower of policing, would be the proper way to go about that. You can still use the Judiciary and Law Enforcement forces at the local, municipal, and county levels, to track and find people who are part of the criminal element. But, to go after people who are simply seeking a better life, trying to become American citizens— we need a more robust system to handle that. So, I would support efforts [to make] sure the funding went in that direction instead.”
SHAKER
“I did make an effort to bring questions to politicians anonymously.”
RUS
“Okay.”
SHAKER
“Thus far my efforts have been met with limited success, so I have one question from ‘D’ who wants to know: ‘If elected, what will you do about AI data centers.’”
RUS
“Oh, AI Data centers! Right now, one of the biggest things is that they are being put in place without the consent of the people living in the communities that they’re going into. That is the largest problem— the largest immediate problem. The secondary problem is the fact that they are a huge resource hog. That’s going to impact those communities, even with Senator Cotton putting forward legislation that allows them to build their own separate power grid. That carries problems because, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it has the proper backups or anything else, and that it’s going to have to be integrated into the local powergrid; the local community is still probably going to have to suffer the increase in the cost required to upgrade the system. Regardless of those, the amount of natural resources that a data system would soak up, as far as potable water and a clean water supply, would have a massive deleterious effect on communities— many of whom are already historically targeted with toxic, and often, carcinogenic problems. Historically, we’ve seen the displacement of smaller and mostly marginalized communities, for any number of industrial developments throughout history, whether it be the railroads, factory work, highways, anything. We don’t need to continue repeating the problems from the past; we need to find new solutions. If AI is going to be a thing we move forward for with in the future, which I do think we need to do very carefully— it is a tool; and like any tool, it has the potential to be misused― but if it is something we’re going to have to learn to live with, we need to do it respectfully, responsibly, and it has to actually reflect the will of the people. It doesn’t need to just override common citizen consent.”
SHAKER
“We’re in Russellville right now. We’re kind of flanked on either side, [along] the ‘Interstate,’ by these AI data centers. Is there anything you can do to prevent them from coming here? We’ve got the one in Clarksville— I think they just cleared the field off so they may begin construction— and Conway is still in the works, but very much planned.
RUS
“The crux of that question comes down to whether or not there is anything I, individually, can do, and that is wherein I am not sure. In order to address a problem like this, it’s going to take more than any one individual politician. This is something that I, as a congressperson, would want to 100% address. As I stated before, ‘it needs to be put at the will of the people,’ but there are other considerations, such as the state administration, the executive branch, legislative branch, the county commissions. All of them, they equally have a say. So, while I would 100% use whatever political, or sheer personal clout I have, to try to push forward better decisions on these things, it’s simply not anything that any one individual person can make a claim like that on. I can only state the claim and be willing to put forth all of my efforts, in any way I can, concerted with others towards it”
After Rus left, I got news from a Moreland resident, and followed up with him in a written exchange:
SHAKER
“There are two data centers in Moreland, AR, northeast of Russellville. I was informed by a local resident that there were already two data centers there, and upon researching I found that there were in fact two data centers in Moreland, but they are crypto mines. The mines were constructed without anyone's permission in great secrecy, just like we're seeing with AI data centers. While crypto centers don't compare when considering water consumption, their electricity consumption is similar. These two data centers have already been running for two years, driving up utilities for nearby residents. My question to you is, what do you recommend we do about, already present, parasitic architecture in Arkansas, and in Moreland? And furthermore is there anything that can be done to prevent their trend of secrecy?”
RUS
“With the advent of crypto, hidden mining centers became something of a boom nationally. Even going to the point of homes being purchased and used to house crypto mining equipment rather than residences. Without getting into some serious changes in municipal-level regulation, things like this are hard to regulate simply because the technology and the ability to abuse it vastly outpaces our ability to legislate for it. For existing situations such as the ones you've described, it's hard to know what to recommend without knowing more specifics about the cases. Zoning laws certainly seem like they could apply as do noise ordinances. Analysis of energy usage could yield info and insight and so could external thermal imaging, just like law enforcement uses to detect illegal grow houses or drug labs in many places. But laws and regulations have to evolve in order to keep pace. At the grassroots level, pushing for regulation with city and county planning commissions, licensing boards, and other agencies would be the first logical places to begin. Of course, this would need to be concurrent with efforts to educate and inform the public about the issues, too. From there, at least plans can be put into action to limit the "hidden" expansion of these data centers while also providing for an informed decision making process for future plans.”