Newcomers vying for District 89 House seat
Posted on Friday, November 3, 2006
The new representative for Arkansas House District 89 will be a first-time elected official, but both candidates think their backgrounds have prepared them for the task.
Voters will choose Tuesday between Democrat Jim House and Republican Doug Kuntz. Both men seek to replace current District 89 Rep. Bill Pritchard, R- Elkins, who is unable to seek re-election because of term limits.
"I had a career working for the people," said House, a former Arkansas Health Department worker. "I retired in 2000 and I've played and had fun, and now I want to go back to work for the people."
House ran unsuccessfully two years ago against Pritchard, who supports Kuntz's bid for the position.
"I'm strongly drawn to public service, and I think you can see that through all the things I've been involved with," Kuntz said. "I think I would do a good job representing east Washington County for all the right reasons and protect them from the rest of the state trying to take advantage of some of their successes. "
Both candidates consider the estimated state surplus in upwards of $ 750 million provides an opportunity to reduce or eliminate the state tax on groceries. At the same time, they have different views on what to do with the money.
"A lot of our services over the past few years have not kept up with funding because we've been putting money into education," House said. "That's fine; it needed to go there, but now we have a chance to go back and look at some of these other priorities."
In addition to funding prioritized programs, House thought the surplus should be used to create a reserve fund to use during recessive years to keep legislators from having to approach their constituents about reestablishing a tax to cover future deficits.
Kuntz thinks the surplus presents an opportunity to reduce or eliminate more than just the state grocery tax. He also proposed raising pension exemption of Arkansas income tax to $ 10, 000, raising used car sales tax exemption to $ 5, 000, eliminating the Butterfield Trail bed tax, creating a weekend sales tax holiday for back-to-school shoppers, and returning the surplus funds to Arkansans.
"In my lifetime, I can't remember hearing of getting a surplus like this," Kuntz said. "What that tells me is we've done some right things in Arkansas, but the wrong thing we must have done is have too high of taxes."
If the state entered an economic downturn that required additional taxation, Kuntz thought the public would understand an increase after a series of reductions.
Both candidates share similar views regarding illegal immigration in Arkansas: It's a problem made increasingly worse by a lethargic federal government. However, at a state level, House and Kuntz thought better forms of immigrant identification cards would help.
House elaborated by saying businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants should be penalized, while Kuntz focused on the need to determine how many illegal aliens have entered the country partly by developing a method in which they would allow themselves to be counted.
Neither candidate spoke for granting scholarships and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, but both men supported them for legal immigrants.
House's other issues include securing a fair share of tax dollars to allow Northwest Arkansas to improve and expand its roads and sewer systems, as well as health care issues such as making sure Arkansans have the ability to get insurance with accessible care providers.
He also is concerned about education, particularly expanding funding for prekindergarten programs and enhancing trade schools throughout the state.
"Diesel mechanics, electricians, plumbers - these are wonderful people we need, and everybody can't or won't go to college," House said.
Kuntz's additional issues concentrate on bringing an acute care facility to Northwest Arkansas to provide expanded mental health treatment. He also would like to raise the state fine for failing to have liability insurance and promote the Washington County Drug Court.
Regarding education, Kuntz would like to continue building on the foundation set by state government, as well as provide students options to schools that routinely perform under standards.
He also pledged to champion individual property rights by protecting privately held land from government bodies that unfairly use eminent domain.
Both candidates have said they are running clean campaigns as they seek the District 89 seat, but House thinks the race has been muddied by a recent mailer from an apparently Republican-backed organization.
The Coalition for Arkansas' Future has distributed literature regarding a number of political races, including District 89, with each handout asking recipients which candidate supported their values.
On the mailer for District 89, it lists Kuntz and House's stances on five issues according to their responses to questions from the Arkansas Family Council Voter's Guide.
House labeled the issues as hot-button topics that require more explanation than a single word.
Candidates' full responses are available online at www. arkansasvotersguide. com, but the mailers stated only whether a candidate supported, opposed or was undecided on an issue.
Kuntz said he doesn't know anyone with the coalition but that he stands by his statements included in the questionnaire.
House considered the coalition's document an unfair, slanted advertisement.
He doubted Kuntz was entirely unfamiliar with the coalition, and in doing so, borrowed a quote attributed to his opponent when House called him Pritchard's "handselected"successor.
"I think it's beneath him," House said. District 89 House candidates Name: Jim House Age: 58 Family: married with two children Occupation: professional farrier and retired from the Arkansas Department of Health Public offices held: none Community involvement: two-time president of Arkansas Society of Professional Sanatarians, past vice president of the Arkansas Public Health Association, past assistant scout master with the Boy Scouts of America, participation with the 4-H Club
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Name: Doug Kuntz Age: 64 Family: married with five children and nine grandchildren Occupation: retired territory manager for IBM Public offices held: none Community involvement: treasurer for Washington County Habitat for Humanity; raised $ 250, 000 over 15 years for American Cancer Society; with IBM, helped with United Way and led charitable giving to University of Arkansas departments; charter member of the GENESIS Technology Incubator; charter member of the Arkansas Academy of Computing
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