LITTLE ROCK — Clarksville businessman Dwight Hoyle is one of several legislative candidates who have changed political parties, and his Democratic opponent, who beat him in a 2010 runoff, isn’t mincing words about it.
“To me, it is very disappointing when anyone’s convictions are so weak he would change parties without a blink of the eye,” said state Rep. Betty Overbey, D-Lamar.
A retired state revenue agent, Overbey is vying with Hoyle in House District 69, which is Johnson County and part of Pope County, in the Nov. 6 election.
In 2010, Overbey defeated Hoyle 1,812 votes to 1,786 and then was unopposed in the general election. She succeeded her husband, George Overbey, a House member from 2005-11.
Overbey said she was told by several people, whom she declined to name, that Hoyle attended the 2010 state Green Party convention at Juanita’s restaurant in Little Rock after he lost the Democratic runoff and before he filed as a Republican for the Legislature this year.
Hoyle said he didn’t attend the 2010 Green Party convention at Juanita’s.
“It is amazing what she can hear,” he said in a telephone interview. “She can throw all the mud that she wants to. But I’m not going to do it.”
Pressed further, Hoyle said, “I said, ‘We are not going to discuss mud.’”
Hoyle ended the interview by hanging up his phone.
He said during the interview that he doesn’t believe that changing parties is an issue in his race.
“Everybody knows me pretty well being in business here for 24 years,” Hoyle said. “They know where I stand on the issues. My stance has not changed on the issues any.”
He said he’s not going to criticize Overbey because “I don’t believe we need to be in a campaign criticizing people.”
Hoyle is one of at least five legislative candidates who ran for elected office for one major political party before deciding to run for the Legislature this year for the other major party.
The most prominent of the bunch is Rep. Linda Collins-Smith of Pocahontas, running as a Republican against state Sen. David Wyatt, a Democrat from Batesville, in Senate District 19.
In August 2011, Collins-Smith announced her party switch, saying the state Democratic Party had become more liberal.
But leading Democrats brushed the switch off with the titular head of the party, Gov. Mike Beebe, saying: “The Democratic Party’s not any different in Arkansas in one year than it was a year ago, and all the rhetoric in the world is not going to change that.”
Collins-Smith’s announcement came 10 months after the 2010 election in which Republicans increased from one to four their number of the state’s six congressional seats, won open seats for lieutenant governor, secretary of state and land commissioner, and increased from eight to 15 seats in the 35-member state Senate and from 28 to 44 in the 100-seat House.
Republicans are working now to strip control of the Legislature from Democrats, who have held power since Reconstruction.
The House now has 53 Democrats and 46 Republicans, after the resignation of state Rep. Hudson Hallum, DMarion, who pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to buy absentee votes in special elections last year. A majority in the House is 51.
The Senate is made up of 20 Democrats and 15 Republicans. A majority is 18.
Beyond Collins-Smith and Hoyle, the legislative candidates who switched parties include:
Ronald Cavenaugh of Walnut Ridge, running as a Republican against state Rep. James Ratliff, a Democrat from Imboden, in House District 60. Cavenaugh lost the 2010 Democratic runoff to Ratliff 2,562 to 2,313.
Ken Bragg of Sheridan, running as a Republican against Charles Tadlock, a Democrat, in House District 15. Bragg said he ran as a Democrat for the Sheridan City Council on which he has served nearly 16 years.
Tom Formicola of Little Rock, running as a Democrat against Andy Davis, a Republican from Little Rock, in House District 31. In 2006, Formicola lost the Republican nomination for the 2nd Congressional District to Andy Mayberry of East End, who is now a state representative, by 12,460 to 3,658.
In addition, former state Rep. Fred Smith of Crawfordsville is running unopposed as a Green Party candidate in House District 50, after a judge disqualified him from running as a Democrat in the primary because he was ineligible to be a candidate for elected office when he filed his paperwork on March 1.
Smith briefly served as a Democrat in the House in 2011 before he resigned after learning that he had been found guilty by a judge of a felony charge of theft of property that was delivered by mistake. In mid-March, the judge dismissed the charge, saying Smith had successfully completed the terms of his sentence.
HOUSE DISTRICT 69
Hoyle said he’s running as a Republican because he has “always been very conservative.
“With the way things are going, I could have not aligned myself with what the Democratic Party stands for right now. They are for abortion and gay marriages.”
But Overbey said, “The Democrats I know don’t stand for that.”
She said she opposes abortion except in the cases of rape and incest or when the life of the mother is in jeopardy. She’s against gay marriage.
Hoyle said he wants to cut taxes and reduce government control to attract industry to the state. Overbey said she wants to continue working for senior citizens, children, firefighters, police officers and the military.
Both said they need more information before taking a stand on whether to expand the state’s Medicaid program by about 250,000 people.
HOUSE DISTRICT 60
This district includes Lawrence County and parts of Green, Randolph and Sharp counties.
Cavenaugh said he ran as a conservative blue dog Democrat two years ago and the national Democratic Party “has moved so far to the left I can’t support their values,” though the state party hasn’t moved as far left as the national party.
He said he announced in December that he’s running as a Republican.
“I don’t feel like it is an issue in my race,” he said. “Most people know I am a conservative person.”
Ratliff, who defeated Republican Chad Moseley 3,865 to 2,911 in the 2010 general election, said he opposes abortion except in cases of rape or incest and also in cases to save the life of the mother. He opposes gay marriage and supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
“The party here hasn’t moved [left] in our area,” he said.
Ratliff said Cavenaugh is going to have to overcome switching parties in this race.
“When you change parties in this area, it will hurt you because there has not been a Republican elected to office in our area since Reconstruction,” Ratliff said. “I haven’t even brought it out. Other people are talking about it.”
Ratliff said Cavenaugh is trying to link him to President Barack Obama, but “It’s not a national race. It’s a state race. We are not letting national politics play a role in District 60.”
Ratliff said he favors expanding the Medicaid program.
“We are going to take care of our people. Most of those people are going to be kids. We have to take care of our children,” he said.
Cavenaugh said he needs more information before he takes a position on Medicaid expansion, though he probably opposes that “as of right now.”
HOUSE DISTRICT 15
This district includes parts of Grant, Hot Spring and Jefferson counties. It includes Sheridan, White Hall and Poyen.
Bragg said he’s running as a Republican after being elected as a Democrat to the City Council because he’s always been conservative and a Grant County Republican Party wasn’t organized until about a year ago.
As to whether his switching parties has been an issue in his race so far, Bragg said, “No one has said anything about it [to him].”
Tadlock said he’s not aware that that has been an issue, either. “Most people who talk to me about it laugh about it and don’t know why he would do it.”
Bragg said he’s leaning against expanding Medicaid because he’s concerned about adding to a program that’s already financially troubled and it would be awfully difficult to drop that many people from Medicaid later on.
But Tadlock said he favors expanding Medicaid because “we need to help all the people we can. That’s the history of the state of Arkansas. Our citizens need to help our other citizens.” He said the Medicaid shortfall could be fixed through the use of increased tax revenue and cost reductions.
HOUSE DISTRICT 31
This district is west of Little Rock. It includes Ferndale and the southern half of Lake Maumelle.
Formicola, a self-described centrist, said he’s running as a Democrat, six years after running for Congress as a Republican, because “the moderate wing” of the state Republican Party “has kind of been left out in the cold.
“The younger people [in the Republican Party] are quality people, but they seem to be very inflexible and need to be flexible and open-minded to fixing a problem.”
He said he’s more comfortable in the Democratic Party, which he described as a conservative party whose majority in the Legislature has governed the state well.
Formicola said “nobody has even brought up” his changing parties as an issue.
Davis said he doesn’t think Formicola’s switching parties is a big factor in their race because “I think many voters don’t realize that he has changed.” He said he’s not making it an issue.
“I just prefer not to talk about my opponent any more than I have to when talking to voters,” he said.
Davis said he disagreed with Formicola that the moderates in the state GOP have been left out in the cold. “I think there is room for everybody.”
Formicola said he supports Beebe in favoring an expansion of Medicaid.
“It is heartbreaking to see people not have [insurance] coverage,” when he’s in hospitals and emergency rooms, he said.
Davis said at this point he’s opposed to expanding Medicaid.
“I am concerned the federal government will change their rules somewhere in the middle of the program and I don’t want to be in the position of taking benefits away that we have given people,” he said.
SENATE DISTRICT 19
This district includes Independence, Izard and Sharp counties and parts of Fulton and Randolph counties.
Before switching to the Republican Party, Collins-Smith defeated Republican Keith Sloan in the 2010 general election by 4,195 to 3,877 after she won a Democratic primary against Jan Zeigler 2,901 to 2,598 in House District 80.
That district includes Randolph County and part of Sharp County.
Wyatt said “we hear a little bit” from people about Collins-Smith changing parties, but he’s not going to make an issue of it.
Collins-Smith said she doesn’t believe her switch has been an issue.
“Actually, many people have thanked me for changing parties and for standing for the values they hold dear,” she said.
Collins-Smith said expanding Medicaid — which is projected to have a nearly $400 million shortfall in fiscal 2014 — by putting thousands more on the Medicaid rolls “is not just bad business, it is irresponsible.”
But Wyatt said he favors expanding Medicaid because “there are lots of people who can’t get insurance that it’s going to help,” and the Legislature will find ways to fix the projected shortfall.
He said he’s worried about winning re-election after voters in this district were deluged with several mailers from the conservative group Americans for Prosperity and the state Republican Party that he disputes.
“You would think I am running for the United States Senate,” he said.
But Wyatt said, “All I can do is do my best. ... If I get beat, that’s the people’s wishes.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/30/2012