BENTON COUNTY : Firefighter specifies views, while clerk advocates research in House campaign
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/225155/
GRAVETTE — Holding local and county elective offices has left the candidates in House District 100 with different approaches to tackling government problems.
Mary Lou Slinkard, Benton County clerk since 1981, faces Byron Warren, a nine-year member of the Gravette City Council, in the May 20 Republican primary.
Slinkard said she’s learned it’s best to study the nitty-gritty details of an issue before jumping out with a solution.
Warren said he gets the feeling that Slinkard is trying to get elected on name recognition, without taking stands on important issues. He said he wants to lower taxes — though he doesn’t have specific plans for how to deal with the effect of tax cuts on the state budget — and he has ideas on how the state should take on illegal immigration.
“I don’t know what her views are. All I hear is how much experience she has,” he said.
Slinkard said that’s just her approach to government.
“I don’t think anybody can go to the Legislature for the first time and have all those answers,” she said. “I probably have more questions than I do answers.
“ I’m not trying to go down there and make a name for myself. I just want to go and do as good a job as I possibly can for the people of this area,” she said.
Slinkard and Warren are competing for the seat held by term-limited Rep. Daryl Pace, R-Siloam Springs. The district includes a mostly rural area and the communities of Gentry, Gravette, Decatur, Centerton and other towns in western Benton County.
There’s no Democrat in the race.
Slinkard, 64, a lifelong resident of Benton County, grew up on a farm near Gravette, a few miles from where she lives. She worked as a legal secretary for several years before running for county clerk.
She beat the incumbent in 1980 and has had few opponents. The last was in 1994, she said. She decided to retire as county clerk and run for the Legislature.
Warren, 35, is a Heber Springs native who moved around while he was growing up. He ended up staying in the region after attending the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
A firefighter for 13 years, he’s a captain in the Siloam Springs Fire Department. He’s president of his local International Association of Fire Fighters and has lobbied the Legislature on firefighters’ issues.
“Some people think I’m a union lover,” he said. “I am part of a union, a blue-collar worker.... We’re not being greedy. We just want to make sure we’re taken care of.”
Warren said he’s always considered himself an independent, in part because city government positions are nonpartisan. But he said he became more active with Republican Party politics in recent months.
Warren and Slinkard disagree on whether the Legislature should have voted recently to raise the severance tax on natural gas. Slinkard said she would have voted for the increase; Warren said he wouldn’t have.
Slinkard said she favored it because the increase won’t be passed on to consumers, and that it will create needed highway revenue.
Warren said he’s philosophically opposed to tax increases.
“Taxing companies is another way of saying, ‘We don’t want you here, ’” he said.
He said he believes cutting taxes would increase state revenue, though he said he doesn’t know how or at what level of tax cuts such a change would begin to occur.
Slinkard said better roads will help the state.
“I’m not an economist, but infrastructure affects many things,” she said.
Like other Northwest Arkansas legislative candidates, Warren said immigration is what he hears the most about when visiting with voters at their homes.
He said he wants state government to fine landlords and employers who rent to or hire illegal aliens.
“Take away their jobs, and they will go back to their country,” he said of illegal aliens.
Warren said it can be difficult to discuss immigration issues in a political race because people take things the wrong way. For example, he said, he doesn’t want illegal aliens to have access to free or reduced lunch programs in the public schools.
“People say, ‘ Oh, so you want those children to starve ?’ I’m sorry. Those families have money. They’ve got wads of money. You go up to any of them, they pull out a wad of money,” he said. “They can send $ 1. 25 to school for their children to eat... like I do.”
Slinkard said she understands that states feel pressure to pass immigration laws because of the federal government’s failure to address the issue adequately.
“I think we can learn from other states.... Do we provide more resources for law enforcement ? Do we join the feds ? I don’t know,” she said. “I would go down [to Little Rock ] with an open mind, not with a preconceived idea of what has to pass.” She said she opposes instate tuition benefits or scholarships for the children of illegal aliens. “Right now, we need to put our education resources in our own kids. That sounds harsh, I know,” she said. state lines to buy a lottery ticket. She said she’s in favor of paying for higher education with the proceeds. The proposed amendment would provide money for scholarships.
Warren said he’s against it.
“It’s just an incentive for the poor to invest with the little money they have,” he said. “As a lawmaker, I don’t want to make the poor poorer.” MOTORCYCLE HELMETS Asked in a forum last month whether they’d favor a law requiring motorcycle riders to wear helmets, the candidates disagreed. Slinkard said she would vote for a helmet law. Warren said he wouldn’t.
FINANCES As of the end of March, Warren had raised $ 15, 375 for the campaign, including a $ 10, 000 loan to himself. His biggest contributors included Rep. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, who gave $ 2, 000, and the Fayetteville Firefighters Association, which gave $ 1, 000. Warren described Woods as “the key to my campaign.” Slinkard had raised $ 2, 600 as of March, including $ 1, 500 from Michael L. Carney of Rogers. She got $ 500 from Tena O’Brien of Bentonville, the only person who’s filed as a candidate to succeed Slinkard as county clerk. House District 100
REPUBLICAN NOMINATION Mary Lou Slinkard Age: 64 Family: Two children Occupation: Benton County clerk Education: Gravette High School Previous political experience: County clerk, 1981-present Military experience: None Are you for or against a constitutional amendment establishing a state lottery ? I don’t have a strong opinion on it, but I also believe that we’re surrounded by lottery states now. I’d probably vote for it because of where the money goes, to education. What taxes would you reduce and how would you propose to make up the shortfall in the budget, through spending cuts or raising revenue I’ve never said I’m going to go down there and cut taxes. I think one of the things I would do is study this. I think if a tax can be cut, it should be the rest of the tax off groceries. Byron Warren Age: 35 Family: Wife, Tracy; one child Occupation: Captain, Siloam Springs Fire Department Education: Gregory Portland High School, Portland, Texas; attended University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Previous political experience: Gravette City Council, 1999-present Military experience: None Are you for or against a constitutional amendment establishing a state lottery ? I am against it. It’s just an incentive for the poor to invest with the little money they have. As a lawmaker, I don’t want to make the poor poorer. What taxes would you reduce and how would you propose to make up the shortfall in the budget, through spending cuts or raising revenue ? Reducing the state income tax, if not eliminating it completely.... With lower taxes, you’d increase your economic growth in the region.... I would also repeal the streamline tax, which is irresponsible.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
LOTTERY Slinkard said she’ll probably vote for the proposed constitutional amendment to allow a state lottery in Arkansas, in part because it’s so easy to cross