GOP rips opponents’ platform
Posted on Tuesday, October 3, 2006
FAYETTEVILLE — Republican candidates for state office accused their Democratic counterparts on Monday of obscuring their true convictions on the definition of marriage, but the candidates they singled out all have repeatedly denounced same-sex unions.
State Sen. Jim Holt of Springdale, the GOP nominee for lieu- tenant governor, and Gunner DeLay of Fort Smith, the Republican running for attorney general, joined with several legislative candidates to say their opponents should have fought a change in the Democrats’ platform regarding the definition of marriage.
The Democratic Party of Arkansas in August removed from its platform, the statement of the party’s principles, a reference that said “marriage is a union between a man and woman as defined by Arkansas law”. Democrats have argued that they still support that law but the statement is not in the platform because it’s supposed to look forward at what the party wants to do next.
Republicans said they will continue to talk about the issue until the Nov. 7 election. Arkansans approved the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage by a 3-to-1 margin in 2004, and many political observers say the votes here and in other states helped turn out the Republican base to re-elect President Bush.
DeLay said it’s appropriate to highlight “a huge difference” between the platforms of state Republicans and Democrats.
The Republican Party’s platform includes a statement that the party supports “the traditional definition of marriage as a God ordained, legal and moral commitment only between a man and a woman, which is the foundational unit of a healthy society.” DeLay said at a news conference in Fayetteville that a decision to take that out of the Republican Party platform would have come over his dead body. Holt and DeLay both said they would renounce their party memberships if the Republicans did the same.
“Why didn’t they stand up at the convention and say this won’t happen on my watch ?” Holt asked. He said if his Democratic opponent, Bill Halter of North Little Rock, didn’t argue against the change in the party platform, then “there’s no conviction” to go with his stated position.
Bud Jackson, the spokesman for Halter’s campaign, said that Halter has again and again stated that he opposes gay marriage.
“Jim Holt should apologize to Arkansans for exploiting one or two hot-button topics for his own political gain,” Jackson said.
He accused Holt of bringing up the issue to divert attention on the day after the state’s minimum wage increase went into effect. Holt was the only state senator to vote against a minimum wage increase.
Holt said that reaction is comical and avoids his question. He said that the minimum wage increase never crossed his mind and that he’d vote against it again if given the chance because he believes minimum wage increases hurt the elderly by decreasing their buying power.
DeLay said the battle is not over simply because marriage is defined in the state constitution. Homosexual issues remain, such as whether the state should ban gay adoption or foster care, he said. He accused Democrats of avoiding answers on questionnaires such as the ones posed by the conservative Arkansas Family Council.
“They want to run under a cloud of mystery, and we won’t find out who they really are until after the election,” DeLay said.
The spokesman for Dustin McDaniel of Jonesboro, De-Lay’s opponent, said McDaniel supported the constitutional amendment defining marriage and believes that should be the definition.
“If Mr. DeLay needs to check the books, he’ll find it is the law today, it will be the law tomorrow, and Dustin McDaniel supports it,” Melissa Moody said.
Jon Woods, a Springdale Republican who has no opponent in his bid for his first term in the state House, organized the news conference attended by Holt and DeLay and also three other GOP House candidates. Woods said it’s important for the candidates to “stand united” on the issue of traditional marriage.
Jason Willett, Democratic Party chairman, said the party supports the state’s marriage law but that platform was intended to look forward “while Republicans like Gunner DeLay look in the rearview mirror at what has already been done.” He said the Democrats’ platform includes priorities such as pre-kindergarten education, tax relief for working families and lowering health care costs.
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