In a spirited and contentious CN debate held recently, incumbent State Senator David Burnett and challenger State Representative Dave Wallace strongly disagree with each other's policies and campaign tactics, but failed to disavow the numerous attack pieces sent out in their names by other organizations.
Wallace began the debate by pointing out that he had received an award from the Arkansas Municipal League as a "Distinguished Legislator".
"I was awarded...because of my support for small towns and I have worked hard the past two years to support our small towns including Blytheville...you know the key to being a good legislator is not just how you vote in Little Rock. It's about getting out among your people and listening to what the issues are, sitting in their living rooms and sitting on their porches and trying to figure out how they need to be helped and trying to work with them...I'm a strong supporter of our right to bear arms. In fact I've been endorsed by the NRA (National Rifle Association) with an "A" rating whereas my opponent was given a "C minus" rating. Now he'll tell you that Charlton Heston gave him an "A" back in 2008, but that was also two years before he even became a state senator," Wallace explained. "I'm pro-life. I've been endorsed by the right to life organization of Arkansas as their candidate of choice. My opponent will tell you that he is pro-life, but time and time again he has failed to support pro-life bills. I fought hard to protect our religious freedom bills and I have fought hard to protect our churches. And I am proud that I supported and co-sponsored a bill that gave our taxpayers a $90 million tax cut."
Burnett touted his experience as the primary reason that voters should vote for him over his opponent.
"I have served Mississippi County, Poinsett County and all of Craighead County for the last 42 years. I've been your prosecuting attorney, your circuit judge and your senator. I have introduced hundreds of bills, and probably the most important bill that I introduced was the bill that created Big River Steel. It was the largest economic development bill ever passed in the history of the state of Arkansas and it was the first bill under Amendment 82," Burnett said. "I, like my opponent, am strong supporter of the Second Amendment...and always have [been]. I'm also a believer and supporter of pro-life, have been, and I defy my opponent to find a single bill where I voted against pro-life or that I voted for abortion...My opponent, though he claims to have introduced several bills, he can not give you a single bill where he did a single thing for Mississippi County, Poinsett County or Craighead County that produced a single job or produced a scintilla of funds for this community. On the other hand I have done considerable in that area in promoting jobs and finances for this area."
In answer to Burnett's challenge to present a single pro-abortion vote he had cast, Wallace responded by saying, "You know, my opponent said that he had never failed to vote on an abortion bill, yet back in 2011, he had a bill that he failed to vote on. And the way we do, if you fail to vote, if you "pass", then it's a "no" vote. And he failed to act on act 1176 regarding all facilities that perform ten or more abortions - he "passed" on that bill. If you "pass" on a bill, it's the equivalent of a "no" vote. So I would go back and say he is not as strong on pro-life as he suggests that he is."
Burnett rebutted, "Well back to the vote that Mr. Wallace makes reference to. I'm a lawyer and I swore an oath, back when I became a judge and when I became a state senator, that I would protect and defend the Constitution of the State of Arkansas and of the United States. As a bill, the law that he is talking about, I knew was unconstitutional and could not pass the muster of the Supreme Court. In fact the bill was found to be unconstitutional. Rather than to vote for the bill that I knew was unconstitutional or to vote against the bill which would have been against my principles, I chose to abstain and that is a common practice when you see that the vote is going to pass or fail and you are opposed to it one way or the other. It's a common practice to abstain from voting on that particular issue. And if that is the only thing that he has to say that I am weak on pro-life then I challenge him to find some other thing to discuss because this is bogus like half of the other stuff that he talks about."
Wallace wasn't finished though. He countered by saying, "You know I'll go back to another issue when we talk about abortion. There was an abortion tissue issue that was voted for 35-0 and once again it appears that he failed to support that or rather, he did support that."
When the candidates were asked what makes them more qualified or better suited for the position than their opponent, they offered several differences.
Wallace said: "Well the key point is I'm out talking every day. I'm out sitting with the people and listening with the people. I'm out in the streets. It's not enough to just go to Little Rock and vote. You have got to be back in your community, listening to the people, hearing what their needs are and helping those folks. We need to steer money and help to Blytheville and I just don't see how it's being helped. It hasn't been helped in the last six years. Who is watching out for Blytheville? No one."
Burnett countered, "I listen to what the people of this community say and I try to do and deliver to them, but the phony b.s. about building waterparks and community centers and telling people that that is what he is going to do is just bogus b.s....Mr. Wallace talked about 35-0. I don't even know what bill he's talking about and I have certainly done nothing but support pro-life."
Next, the candidates were asked what their priorities would be and what they would do for Blytheville and Mississippi County if elected.
"I am particularly interested in education. The Republican policy, Mr. Wallace's governor and his political party have publicly announced that they are opposed to and are cutting pre-k education. Statistics show that a pre-k educated child is two years ahead of a child that is not. I am going to do everything that I can to restore pre-K to the educational system of this area and state. I, further, am a supporter of our school system and will try to bring all the funds I can to Blytheville, Osceola, Leachville, Joiner and the entire area of Northeast Arkansas that I serve...[also] I'm particularly interested in making a permanent fix on our library funding and our senior citizens. Last year I worked very hard to get temporary funding restored, of a million dollars each to the library systems and the senior citizens when they were cut by the Republicans, who Mr. Wallace represents. I was able to get it back in. I had to do some trading to get a project for Nucor, but I was able to get funding for those two agencies. My goal next time will be to fund it permanently."
Wallace agreed, "I too support pre-k. I believe that pre-K is important and I actually agree with my opponent. Regarding the libraries, yeah I voted to cut, across-the-board, 3 percent on all our state agencies. Here is why. Folks, every day we have a budget. If you have a family, you have a budget. If you have a business, you have a budget. Some of us in business have had to cut 15 to 20-percent. There is waste in our state agencies. We have allowed it for a number of years to build up. We should expect our government agencies to be the guardian of our funds and cutting that 3 percent I felt was justified. Now, the rest of the story is that later on we came back and gave back the money to the libraries. But we need our state agencies to be better guardians of our funds...I believe that we ought to continue with tax cuts and pass that back to the taxpayers. And I think that we should force our state agencies or state government to operate just like a good business or family runs."
Burnett argued: "Well the library budget is one of the smallest in state government at $4.5 million. So when you cut a million dollars, it is like a 20 percent cut instead of a 3 percent cut. I raised cane during the fiscal session to restore the $1 million because the Republicans picked on the weakest agency there was to cut...
"I suggest that cutting the library fund and the senior citizens fund, two of the smallest budgets in the state budget, was a colossal mistake and one that they had to go back and correct."
Both candidates were given a chance to disavow the negative campaigning, particularly in the form of attack direct mail, sent out to voters by other organizations in their name. Candidates were also given the opportunity to defend allegations made against them.
"Well I don't disavow any of the things we have said about my opponent, they are all true. Regarding the allegations against me, concerning the $1,000 commode, David Burnett voted on the same vote that I did and he voted the same way that I did and nobody came out and said that. That is a standard appropriation that takes place every couple of years. And regarding the incident in Baton Rouge, my company in Baton Rouge worked approximately 1,500 people for about six weeks. The vast majority of those folks, 99 percent, were Caucasians or African Americans. We did not work any illegal immigrants and there is no proof of that or indications that we have done that. As far as the accident, my company had nothing to do with that bus and we had nothing to do with that bus driver and yet they have tried to tie that to me over and over and over," Wallace explained.
Burnett answered, "First of all...I think Mr. Wallace owes an apology to the victims in Louisiana for his company's gross negligence. And further, while I didn't send out the "hit mail" as you [the CN moderator] called it, I certainly think that it bears looking into in greater details and I expect Mr. Wallace to deny it or at least have his lawyer deny it. And as far as the vote I took on the gold toilet, and by the way, I didn't send that out either; it was done by others and not me. I did vote for that comprehensive bill that included the mansion repair. And the reason I voted for it was that in order to get my bill for Nucor to reduce a gross building requirement, down to one that Nucor could live with. And based upon my swapping of vote, Nucor is now building a $230 million expansion that they could not have done or even bid on among the other Nucor companies, without relief from that strenuous building code. I won't deny voting for that. Now I can't remember exactly...oh yes. Mr. Wallace said that everything he has said was true. Well you need to look at his little "rag sheet" that he handed out and had his little surrogates pass out around town in the south part of Blytheville. And by the way, he didn't sent it out on the other side of Blytheville and it was addressed to African Americans and in it they made total and complete, and I'm not going to say misstatements or mistakes, I'm going to say lies...they are just total lies, just total misstatements, total disregard and trying to paint me as some kind of person that didn't care about my community and didn't do anything for my community. I challenge him to say what he has done for Blytheville, Manila, Osceola or Leachville and give you one-cent he has given."
Wallace rebutted by saying, "You know we just sat here and my opponent just admitted to hitting me with, or people that support him hitting me with allocations, about a thousand dollar commode. He just admitted that he voted for the same thing. That's just you know, typical...smear campaign. But you know I go back to what have I done for our people. I have helped hundreds, if not thousands of folks with Medicaid and with DHS...I've sat down, spent time with those folks. If you need help, if you call my phone number, I answer the phone. Now I challenge you, you call his phone number and you see who answers the phone you. You call me anytime you want to and I will return the phone call."
When CN staff pressed the candidates to answer the question of whether they disavowed the mail-outs, Wallace shook his head no and Burnett said that he didn't' send them out. The CN moderator explained that the question stated that they were not sent out by either of the two campaigns.
Arkansas, along with Kentucky and Ohio, three states that participated in Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as Obamacare) is considering requiring Medicaid recipients to pay a larger share of their medical expenses due to rising costs and a shift to state responsibility for all new enrollees by 2020. Both candidates were asked if they supported forcing those on Medicaid to pay a larger portion of the cost? If yes, how much. If no, then where specifically does the money come from?
"Burnett said, "Well first of all...when Mr. Wallace ran for state representative...he ran on a policy of where we're going to do away with Obamacare. You vote for me and I'll vote to kick Obamacare out. He lied to the voters and turned around and voted for Arkansas Works. I supported it and I thought it was the thing to do for two hundred almost three hundred thousand Arkansans to give them some health care. I recognize that in 2020 and maybe even in the next legislature, we're going to have a horrible time trying to find out where the money comes from. Particularly when our governor has already announced that he plans to reduce the budget by a hundred billion dollars tax life. Which I'm always for reducing taxes, but we have tremendous highway problems. We're going to have to fund the highways. We're going to have to fund Arkansas Works, which the governor came out with and supported, and I think he did it wisely. I don't know where the money is going to come from. It's going to be a difficult problem in the budget review to figure out how we're going to refund that and fund all of the other agencies and state government that desperately needs funding when we're going to reduce taxes by a hundred million dollars. I frankly will study the problem and will try to come up with an answer, but to give you a two minute answer on how we're going to do it I can't do that. Maybe Mr. Wallace can."
Wallace said: "It's going to come out the budget. I mean the problem is, the state of Arkansas, rightly so, before we adjourn we have to have a balanced budget. So we are going to sit down and we're going to have to figure out and I agree with my opponent, we've got to sit down and figure out and we are going to have to make some hard choices. I made a hard choice the last time when I voted for Arkansas Works because we had money on the table that we need it for our highways...and I would not support that bill if that bill would not have passed, we would have lost that money. We would still end up paying the same amount, but we would not have received the money that we got back from the federal government. And that was a very hard choice and that's why I voted that way."
Burnett rebutted, "Well I don't know what he's talking about. Our highways needing money and that's why he voted, it didn't have anything whatsoever to do with Arkansas Works. The highway budget was entirely separate from that and I don't know what he`s talking about and don't think he does. But I do agree with this sentiment, that it's going to be a very difficult decision about how we go about budgeting. What agencies are going to be cut? Is it going to be schools, is it going to be prisons, is it going to be libraries and old folks? I don't see how we can have a hundred million dollar tax [cut]. If the governor proposes it and can show me how to do it with revenue stabilization or the balanced budget, I'll vote for the tax cut and I'll make that pledge right now. But to answer your question on specifically how we're going to fund Arkansas Works I don't know."
Both candidates were asked if they supported "open carry" in Arkansas and were asked how they recommended cleaning up the ambiguity in Act 746.
Wallace said: "I do support open carry. Our forefathers gave us the right to bear arms, its critical and essential to our way of life. If we ever give up the right, then I believe the criminals will have the weapons and the law-abiding citizens won't. That is why I have such a strong opponent [he misspoke and corrected himself later in the debate] of our right to bear arms. That's why the NRA has given me an "A" rating. As far as cleaning it up, we have to go back in and sit down...the problem that we've got now is, we have some judges that view it one way and other judges that view it another way. We`ve got to make it much more clear. I'm not at this point sure how we`re going to do that. But we`ve got to sit down in a group, as a group of legislatures and sort through that, because we`ve got to make that language more clear."
Burnett countered, "Well it was interesting, to hear Mr. Wallace say he was an opponent to the second amendment, I think he misspoke...I support the second amendment and to answer your question specifically...as a prosecutor and as a judge, I saw thousands and thousands of cases and see them everyday in the newspaper, where teenagers are shooting with each other. I think it's a dangerous thing for our society to have OPEN carry. I strongly believe in the second amendment, which provided, that, that, you could not prevent citizens from bearing arms to keep, and maintain a well-organized militia. Now through the generations and decades it's been debated on just exactly what it meant. But as far as, my support for the second amendment, I believe in that 100 percent. I believe in Americans having the right to keep and bear arms, but whether or not we should strap them on and walk up and down the streets and highways with it, I've got serious questions about that and maybe that's why I got a "C", but I'm not ashamed of that. I think it makes common sense."
Wallace corrected himself, "If I misspoke, I am a strong supporter of our right to bear arms. I didn't realize I had said that. But throughout our history, for years we`ve had open carry. You look back generation after generation and we have over the last two decades, have slowly, grown to where it is more and more restrictive.
"We cannot infringe on our right to bear arms. That is one of the most critical parts of our government. And yet every day the federal government is taking more and more steps to do that and we got to work hard to resist that."
thenry@blythevillecourier.com
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