Plans bigger cybercrimes unit, with same funds, Rutledge says

Republican attorney general candidate Leslie Rutledge said Wednesday that she plans to expand the office's cybercrimes unit without requesting additional funding.

Her opponent, state Rep. Nate Steel, D-Nashville, said he would also expand the unit using existing resources and staffing.

Rutledge, a former deputy prosecutor and counsel to then-Gov. Mike Huckabee, told attendees at a Little Rock Political Animals luncheon that the unit is important because it protects children, who frequently understand technology better than do their parents or grandparents.

The unit was created by Democratic Attorney General Dustin McDaniel in June 2011, and targets the possession and distribution of child pornography. The attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer in the state.

Rutledge told reporters after the luncheon that she wouldn't request additional money to expand the program.

"I think there's opportunities within the attorney general office to reallocate funds. After looking at the budget, I think there's ways that we can move other programs that are perhaps already covered by another state agency such as the secretary of state's office and use those monies toward expanding the cybercrimes unit," Rutledge said.

Rutledge also spoke in favor of expanding the use of drug courts in the state, which she said would require additional state funding. The programs would help reduce recidivism by rehabilitating offenders, she said.

Rutledge told reporters that one of the first drug courts in the state, created by former Circuit Judge Mary Ann Gunn in Northwest Arkansas, was a good example of a successful program.

"I think looking at some of those models could be very effective in terms of making productive citizens of society," Rutledge said.

Rutledge spoke about how she planned to "combat an overreaching federal government," which she said was not limited to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but applied "across the board in our regulations."

The Republican also pointed to banking regulations and those issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as potentially harmful to Arkansans.

Rutledge said she would sue the federal government "if necessary" if she found a federal regulation was hurting Arkansans, but said it was too early to say which regulations she might target.

"We'll see what those regulations are in January of 2015," Rutledge told reporters.

Instead of attacking Washington, Steel said in an email, his focus would be "to protect the people of Arkansas."

"We have serious issues that need to be addressed, such as our prison and parole crisis, and I believe that working to fix these should be top priority," he said.

Steel is to address the Political Animals on Aug. 12.

Metro on 07/17/2014

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