Hutchinson touts GOP’s state legacy
Posted on Sunday, August 6, 2006
Asa Hutchinson, the Republican candidate for governor, urged more than 350 Republicans on Saturday to remind voters how having a Republican instead of a Democrat as governor has helped Arkansas.
He said that during the past decade GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee helped improve the state’s interstate highways, increase teacher pay to 37 th in the nation, give the state a $ 400 million-plus budget surplus, make state government more efficient, and streamlined the vehicle registration system.
Another Republican governor, Winthrop Rockefeller, who held the office in 1967-71, helped usher in the state Freedom of Information Act and set the stage for economic development, Hutchinson said.
“We also need to remind the voters of this state what Democratic leadership has done in times past, whether it is stagnant growth, higher taxes or machine politics. That is the choice we have for this election whether to move our state forward to continue progress and improvement or whether we take a step back,” he said at the Republican Party of Arkansas State Convention.
Attorney General Mike Beebe of Searcy, a Democrat, and Rod Bryan of Little Rock, an independent, will be on the Nov. 7 general election ballot with Hutchinson of Little Rock to succeed Huckabee, who is barred by term limits from seeking re-election.
Hutchinson is a former 3 rd District congressman, head of the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration and undersecretary for the U. S. Homeland Security Department.
Voters also need to be reminded that he’s the only prolife governor candidate, the only candidate who has said the state needs to have greater protection for private property interests, and the only candidate who said he supports legislation aimed at keeping open Paron High School in Saline County, Hutchinson told the convention delegates.
He said he’s the only candidate for governor who said he wants to make it harder to raise the state’s sales tax and the only candidate who has said more and better-paying jobs will be the No. 1 priority of his administration.
The convention had a rahrah atmosphere revving up the party faithful for the election, which is fewer than 100 days away. As Hutchinson made his way to the stage in the Robinson Center Exhibition Hall to give his speech, the song “Small Town” by John Cougar Mellencamp was playing.
The Democratic Party’s state convention will be Aug. 25-26 in Little Rock.
Later Saturday, Beebe spokesman Zac Wright said Beebe has been a strong supporter of protecting private property rights and is focused on completely phasing out the sales tax on groceries. Hutchinson also supports eliminating the grocery sales tax.
“While everybody else may be talking about helping rural schools, Mike Beebe is the only candidate in this race who is actually putting proactive solutions on the table,” he said, citing a plan that Beebe delivered last week. Wright said Beebe has plans to create jobs and improve education and health care.
Bryan said Hutchinson is “a fear culture architect,” who tried to scare people into plowing millions of dollars into the U. S. Homeland Security Department but who gave this nation “a false sense of security.” “The people of Arkansas don’t want to put money in his bank account,” Bryan said.
Hutchinson told the delegates that probably about 19 percent of the voters are undecided in the race.
They will decide who wins, he said.
“It is about adding to our voter base and bringing in the independents and, yes, the Democrats to our voting coalition to move our state forward in November,” he said. “Whenever you look at November, we will either be on the sidelines of politics in Arkansas or we will be providing leadership for the next decade of growth in this state.” Huckabee was at the National Governors Association meeting in South Carolina, but state Republican Chairman Gilbert Baker of Conway read a letter from the governor.
It said that eight years from now, Republicans “will be reflecting on Asa Hutchinson’s two terms as governor and the legacy he has left for our Grand Old Party. We will especially remember the fall of 2006 when Asa emerged victorious after running a hard, tenacious and fact-based campaign. Victory can happen, and it will happen with your continued endurance !
“ It is clear that Arkansas Republicans on all levels are poised to take the reins of state government.” Three recent polls — by Zogby International, Rasmussen Reports, and SurveyUSA — all showed Beebe leading Hutchinson by margins of 4 percent to 10 percent with margins of error generally in the range of plus or minus 4. 4 percent.
Several other GOP candidates for state and federal offices also addressed the convention.
Lieutenant governor nominee Jim Holt of Springdale said the words “Bill Halter” should motivate Republicans to help his campaign if nothing else works. Halter of North Little Rock, a former Clinton administration official, is the Democratic nominee.
“We are underfunded as compared to the big political machine of the Democrat Party and certain members of the media and certain people who like to twist things are going to give our message,” warned Holt, a state senator who received 44 percent of the vote in losing to Democratic U. S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Little Rock in 2004.
Republican attorney general candidate Gunner De-Lay of Fort Smith dismissed a SurveyUSA poll showing him trailing Democratic nominee Dustin McDaniel of Jonesboro by 15 percentage points.
A GOP poll shows that “this is a 10 point race” with more than 40 percent of the voters undecided and fewer than 40 percent of the voters supporting McDaniel, DeLay said.
“The election is going to be won or lost on the gun issue. Help us get out the truth about his record,” he said.
He has focused on McDaniel’s participation in a lawsuit that named a gun manufacturer among defendants in a case in which his father’s law firm represented victims of a shooting at a school near Jonesboro.
Secretary of state nominee Jim Lagrone of Bryant said Arkansans “are tired of nepotism and back-room deals” under Democratic incumbent and nominee Charlie Daniels of Bryant.
“We are going to clean up this office for the first time,” Lagrone said.
The convention delegates also adopted a platform, which, among other things, says: Immigration laws must be strictly enforced, employers shouldn’t hire anyone without the proper documents and “government at any level should not reward those individuals that knowingly violate our established federal and state laws to enter our state.” The Arkansas General Assembly should redefine “public use” to ensure that private property cannot be seized by government entities for private development.
The party opposes “co-habitating couples” from either adopting children or becoming foster parents and believes that “the traditional family unit (i. e., one man, one woman ) provides an optimum environment to adopt children or be foster parents. “ Foster children come from often traumatic backgrounds and require stable environments,” according to the platform.
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