GOP, nonpartisan candidates offer qualifications, experience
Posted on Friday, April 11, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/60644/
BENTONVILLE — The Republican Women of Bentonville heard from candidates and one stand-in for a candidate at the group’s meeting Thursday.
The candidates were looking for votes in two separate elections, both to be held May 20. On that day, parties will hold their primary elections, and judicial candidates will be in a nonpartisan general election.
Arkansas House of Representatives District 95 candidates Linda Bisbee and Duncan Baird first addressed the group.
Education, experience and core values equip her to serve, candidate Bisbee said.
She has worked in GOP politics for about three decades, for and with strong leaders — including her husband, state Sen. Dave Bisbee; former state Rep. Dick Barclay; former U. S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson; and others — and it’s important to see that the tradition of strong leadership from Benton County continue, she said.
Voters should also know her core values, Bisbee said. She is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment and a strong advocate of property rights, she said.
Bisbee’s opponent, Duncan Baird, said he would stress the importance of ethics in the Legislature. He pledged, if elected, not to accept from lobbyists gifts, including drinks, meals and tickets to sporting events.
If elected, he would support low taxes and limited government, local enforcement of immigration laws, property rights and the defense of the unborn, Baird pledged.
Vickey Boozman, a candidate for state House District 99, then addressed the group, along with a stand-in for Boozman’s opponent, Tim Summers.
Summers, a longtime county justice of the peace and director of development and services for Decision Point, an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center, sent word that his job required him to be in Little Rock on Thursday. He sent Tom Allen, a colleague on the Benton County Quorum Court, to speak on his behalf.
Summers served on the Bentonville City Council and has long experience on the Quorum Court. His years on the Finance Committee and other Quorum Court committees have well prepared him for the Legislature, Allen said.
Boozman served the district as an unpaid assistant to her late husband, Fay, who was a state senator from Rogers before serving as director of the state Health Department, she said.
Legislative staffers credit her with being the first spouse of a lawmaker who worked full time without pay, which she did in part to help her husband, but in part to serve people, she said.
A series of judicial candidates addressed the group, with state Court of Appeals candidates Courtney Henry and Ron Williams speaking first.
Henry served as an attorney at the Court of Appeals for more than eight years under three different judges and worked on more than 1, 300 different appeals, she said. Those cases gave her experience with issues ranging from workers’ compensation to child custody, Henry said.
Williams said he has 33 years’ experience in all aspects of the law, working on trusts, domestic matters and corporate law, and even serving as a prosecutor.
The Court of Appeals is a place where laws are interpreted, and his experience prepares him to do that in a commonsense way, he said.
Also addressing the group were Circuit Court Division 1 judge candidates Robin Green and Jim Johnson, and Circuit Court Division 6 judge candidates Ray Bunch and Doug Schrantz.
Also speaking were candidates for Rogers District Court judge (District 1 ): Hardy “ Casey” Croxton, Brad Karren and Ben Lipscomb; and Bentonville District Court judge (District 2 ): Lisa Gaddy, Stephen A. Geigle and John A. Skaggs.