Monday night, gubernatorial candidate Jan Morgan spoke to a small crowd at the Blytheville Grecian after spending the day touring Mississippi County.
Morgan ate lunch at the Wilson Cafe and walked the Wilson Square meeting the citizens of Wilson and then after lunch the team went to tour Big River Steel and even got to experience the sight of the Mighty Mississippi River.
Morgan spoke at the Mississippi County Reagan Lincoln Day Dinner in November, which sprawled controversy throughout the state in the Republican Party. A couple of weeks ago Arkansas Republican State Chairman Doyle Webb made a statement saying that Governor Asa Hutchinson will handily defeat Morgan.
Morgan addressed the issue of picking candidates within the party Monday.
Morgan explained, "Let me tell you what is important to me and it's okay. Asa has his supporters. You have a very big divide in the party right now. Not only on the state level but nationally between establishment Republicans and conservatives. It’s always been that way, that's why we have a Tea Party. This state isn't going to be any different. I don't pay attention to those pages- the fake profiles and the fake pages. The attacks that they've made on me are so far-fetched and ridiculous and non-issue related. That I kind of just laugh it off and say, 'Wow, if that's all they got then they're in some serious trouble.' I like to stay focused on the issues because that's what people want to hear from me. They want to know where do you stand on this, how are you going to be different, what are you going to do for the people and what I am going to do is restore the power back to the people of this state. We are going to restore their state government back to them. We are going to have transparency for the people so they can see what is happening. We are going to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse in our state government. We are going to shine the light on that State Capital and our people of this state will be able to log onto that Arkansas.gov website anytime and see live video streaming from those judiciaries committees to see how their legislators are behaving. They will be able to look at the record every day and see how their legislators voted on every single bill. So there is no more hiding. We are attempting to topple a major gravy train here.”
“Those folks are not going down without a fight, and I expect it to be a brutal fight. I've never been one to back down from a fight. The people asked me to step up and do this and even if we don't win the race, which I think we have a darn good chance at winning this primary. And if we win the primary, we will win the general election hands down. But even if we don't win this primary, we've already won and that we are waking people up. When I went nuclear on those misbehaving Republicans in house judiciary. People all over this state by the thousands told me that video was like the alarm clock that opened my eyes to things not right in our state government. So, we've opened people’s eyes and now they are looking at me and wondering why is this woman in the race if we already have a Republican Governor. So when they start paying attention to what I'm saying and the facts that I am presenting to them about the difference between a real Republican and an establishment progressive. People are learning more about their state government and anytime you can get the people of your state to engage with their government, we all win. So in that respect, I'm sitting here going we were just having this discussion today and I said, ' You know, I don't know what's going to happen this election but I know one thing. People are talking and their listening and I'm seeing more people get educated on what is really happening. And I think that our governor is going to find out that the people of Arkansas are a lot smarter than he thinks they are. They are not going to fall for this shell game. They are not going to fall for this smooth, carefully crafted language. They are going to look at the facts and when they do that's when we are going to win.”
Besides being a Pro-second amendment candidate, Morgan addressed her stance on several issues that she and Hutchinson disagree on and the reasoning why there will be a Republican Primary in May.
"This race isn't about me. I'm in this race because of the people. It's about restoring the power of the state back to the people. [Governor] Asa [Hutchinson] and I are two very different kinds of Republicans, and the people deserve a choice. If Asa was a Republican Party Platform Republican, I wouldn't be standing here today, but he's not. So what we got is we are going to give the people of this state a choice. You can choose between an establishment progressive or a constitutional conservative. And that entails a lot of things. It is a totally different view on how to govern. Asa believes in growing government and everything he has done has demonstrated that. You don't have to take my word for it. How can you tell that government is growing, instead of shrinking, you know the Republican Party is supposed to about limiting government. So there is the number one issue where he and I clash. You know that Asa is growing government when you look at government spending. That's how you can tell if your government is getting larger instead of smaller. The first year he was in office he grew government spending by $133 million. The second year he grew government $140 million and the third year $160 million. And this year his proposed budget will increase government spending by $172 million. There is nothing conservative about that, okay. So there's the number one difference between Asa Hutchinson and me. Jan Morgan is going to shrink government. And the way you do that is by cutting spending, and the way you do that is to cut taxes," Morgan explained. "So, we are also different on immigration. I support legal immigration in this state. Asa has stood in the way when our legislators wanted to pass legislation prohibiting sanctuary campuses in the state of Arkansas. In other words, our tax dollars are not going to go to your college if you are going to harbor people who are here illegally. The Republican Party is supposed to support the Rule of Law. I'm all about legal immigration but harboring people who are illegally is not supporting the Rule of Law. Asa stood in the way of that legislation and he stood against it. He also stood against a legislator who wanted to prohibit sanctuary cities in the state of Arkansas. Asa once again stood up and stood against that. He said 'We don't need for people to fill uncomfortable on our college campuses', all right. So he is more concerned about the comfort of people who are here illegally than he is about the safety and security of the people, the citizens of this state. Because that is what immigration laws are about. It's not about race; it's about safety and security; the people who are not here following by the Rule of Law. The fact that they are here not coming through the legal pad makes them here illegally already. Another way that Asa and I differ is the way of the business climate in this state. How do we make Arkansas the kind of state that will attract business? Asa continues to grow regulations. The best way to get more businesses interested in our state is to deregulate, to bring regulatory reform to businesses. To cut the cooperate income tax. That's what President Trump has done on the national level; we ought to be doing the same thing on the state level. That's not what he has done. I believe in the way to economic growth begins with economic freedom. Deregulation, cutting the cooperate taxes. We also ought to be have made significant strides towards eliminating state income tax. We are surrounded by states that don't have a state income tax. And we have to compete with those states like Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. We don't have to reinvent the wheel, all we have to do is look at how they are doing this and then follow that path, do the same thing. We can. We can't do it overnight but we can eventually, and we should've already made significant progress with him already having a full term to do that. Those are just a few ways that he and I differ. Obviously, we also differ on the second amendment. We differ on taxes. Asa has increased taxes, but if you listen to his campaign speeches he talks about how much he's cut taxes. But what he doesn't tell you is yes he cuts taxes here, but he redistributes them over here. Redistributing the tax burden is not cutting and eliminating taxes off the backs of the people. When you are one of the most heavily taxed states in the nation and yet your citizens are among the poorest, there is a problem there and the Republican Party is better than that and we should have made strides to eliminate some of the tax burdens off of the backs of the people. We don't have a revenue problem in this state. Asa will tell you we have a revenue problem, we don't, we have a spending problem! Cut spending, cut taxes, deregulate and then you will see more businesses want to open up business here. One thing you will never see happen is Jan Morgan going over to a Communist country and giving a Communist billionaire our state on a silver platter to come here and to give us a few jobs. If you do the things I'm talking about and creating a better economic climate for businesses. You are growing to build businesses from within the state. "
When asked about her goals for Mississippi County she said that with the recent event of C&H Hog Farms nearly being shut down under the Governors watch she'd stand in front of environmental groups trying to ruin farms here in Arkansas. Morgan said, "I just took a big stand for farmers across this state. In fact, if you talk to the folks at Farm Bureau they'll tell you that Jan Morgan is the person who is going to take a stand for farms…What has happened is it is a horrible case where an out of state environmental elite group has come in and started harassing a hog farm that is close to the Buffalo River, six miles from the Buffalo River. They have harassed them using our own government, our Department of Environmental Quality, to shut this farm down almost with no proof that they have contaminated the river at all. Matter of fact all the test done by the University of Arkansas show there hasn't been any contamination from the hog farm in the river, that there is no leak in the liner of their holding ponds, and yet the constant barrage from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and the harassment from these economic elitist environmentalists. Our governor refused to step in. He could have stopped all of that with one phone call. Now you are looking at a family farm that has been in business and invested $4 million in our state and in business is now almost out of business. There's a chance that their permit isn't going to be renewed. I took a stand when the Governor would not. I stood up for those people; we did a live video with the family. We explained their plight. We talked about how they hadn't been issued one citation, not one. And the bigger story is not just this one family farm. The bigger story is if we allow this to happen with this farm, who's going to be next? Cattle ranchers. Poultry farmers. I mean where do you stop with these environmentalists. They are never going to be satisfied. And this was a time and a chance where our governor should have shown leadership and stood between this out-of-state environmental group and the farmers of this state and said, 'you know what this is enough. Enough is enough, you are not going to use our Department of Environmental Quality to harass these people'. And he did not."
The Republican Primary is on May 22 and if defeating Asa the election will be on November 6. If defeating Hutchinson in the primaries, Morgan explains that the next election against the other candidates running for Governor is not a relevant threat, especially the Democrats.
"The big picture is the Democrats don't have a platform that works. I mean they’re not even a relevant threat in the general. True conservatives are in the works. Donald Trump being in our White House has proven that. I mean look what kind of progress we've made in just one term with him in our White House. He is trying to topple a big gravy train too," Morgan said. " I think that it's going to be an easy message, the Democrats the candidates they have. If you stay with the Democrat platform, it's not a winning platform. People are so far above that and I don't think this state will ever go Blue again. I just don't see that happening. It's purple right now with Asa in office; I'm going to take it back to Red."