GOP attorney general race highlight in today's runoffs

Weather likely to be factor in low-turnout expectations

Pete Hornibrook cast a ballot Monday in Little Rock during the final day of early voting. Today is runoff election day.
Pete Hornibrook cast a ballot Monday in Little Rock during the final day of early voting. Today is runoff election day.

BENTON -- In today's runoff election, Republican voters statewide will pick their party's nominee for attorney general. Elsewhere, Republican voters in one north-central Arkansas district will select a state senator while Democrats in a Pine Bluff-area House district will pick their next state representative.

A few dozen other local officeholders will be picked.

Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin has predicted roughly 3 percent or 4 percent, or about 71,200 of the state's 1.62 million registered voters, will cast ballots in the runoff election.

The polls will be open today from 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Under the state's voter ID law enacted in 2013, voters are required to show photo identification to cast their ballots.

Voters had cast 22,027 early votes and 1,365 absentee votes throughout the state as of Monday at 3 p.m., according to the secretary of state's office.

photo

Top 10 counties for early voting

Among the state's 75 counties, Saline County had the largest number of early votes with 3,598, leading Garland County's 2,322, Boone County's 1,518, Pulaski County's 1,241 and Baxter County's 1,229.

There are Republican runoffs for sheriff in both Baxter and Garland counties.

Parts of Boone and Baxter counties are in Senate District 17, which features a Republican runoff race between state Rep. John Burris of Harrison and assisted living facility owner Scott Flippo of Mountain Home. Boone County also has a Republican runoff for county judge.

photo

Pulaski County voting locations

Pulaski County is the state's largest county. The Republican runoff for attorney general pitting Leslie Rutledge of Little Rock against David Sterling of Little Rock is the only race on the ballot there.

"We expected it to be slow after the primary, but not anything like this," said Bryan Poe, director of the Pulaski County Election Commission.

Saline County Clerk Doug Curtis said highly contested runoff races for sheriff and assessor has fueled Saline County's "tremendous turnout" thus far as the candidates have worked hard to get voters out of the polls.

Under an umbrella amid a downpour Monday around noon, Dougles Reed of Benton, a retired state Department of Correction officer, was the only person in a chair on the Saline County Courthouse lawn holding a sign for assessor candidate Bob Ramsey, who is vying with Gary Ballard. Reed said it's worth his time to sit in the rain campaigning for Ramsey because "every vote counts."

Among the early voters Monday in Benton, Debbie Nielson of Benton, a retired Southwestern Bell long distance operator and draftsman, said she voted for Rutledge over Sterling for attorney general because Rutledge is a Republican woman who carries a gun, and Nielson likes that.

Mary Ward of Benton, a law student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said she voted for Rutledge because she didn't like the television ads aired by the Judicial Crisis Network backing Sterling, and "it kind of made me want to vote for her."

But Don Burrow of Benton, a retired AT&T engineer, said he voted for Sterling because Sterling "is more conservative than Leslie Rutledge."

Rutledge and Sterling said they have each high hopes about the outcome of the election, after a weekend of campaigning.

"I feel like we got our message out and now it's in the hands of the voters," Sterling said.

Sterling said a news release issued by Rutledge last week that said he accepted money from payday lenders was being used as a "distraction." He said the company cited by Rutledge -- Ace Cash Express -- does not do payday lending in Arkansas and legally operates, offering other services, in the state.

"I'm not planning on resurrecting payday lending again in Arkansas. It's not on my radar," Sterling said.

Rutledge said she is personally returning calls from people asking about television ads and mailers paid for by the Judicial Crisis Network, a Washington D.C.- based group that has also run ads against Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and against President Barack Obama's judicial appointments.

The Judicial Crisis Network ads state that Rutledge has the same position on "stand your ground" laws as Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Such laws generally allow a person, who is lawfully in a place and is confronted by an attacker, to use deadly force against the assailant rather than requiring that the person first attempt to flee.

Rutledge has said she isn't advocating for such a law, but would help the Legislature pass one if it was the will of that body. Sterling has spoken out in support of such a measure.

"Every single person that's confused about all the negative mail and negative television are turning into a volunteer because they don't like being lied to," Rutledge said.

The winner of the Republican runoff for attorney general will take on state Rep. Nate Steel, D-Nashville, and Libertarian candidate Aaron Cash of Springdale in the Nov. 4 general election. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, a Democrat, is barred from seeking re-election under the state's term limits amendment.

The state Senate race pits Burris, one of the three legislative architects for the state's private option against Flippo, a private option opponent.

Funding for the program, which uses federal Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance for low-income Arkansans, narrowly passed in 2013 and again this year. Both sides expect another tough battle in 2015.

Flippo could not be reached for comment by telephone Monday afternoon.

Burris said Monday that his interaction with voters makes him feel good about his chances of winning the race, although "there's always a lot of variables."

People are tired of the negative campaigning and "how tacky and juvenile that the Flippo campaign has run," said Burris.

Last week, the state Republican Party's 1st Congressional District chairman Benny Speaks of Mountain Home sang a song lampooning Burris at a Flippo rally in Mountain Home. Apparently swiping a tune from Jimmy Buffett, Speaks said that Burris "is wasting away again in John Burrisville" and is blaming Flippo when Burris "knows it's his own damn fault." The song resulted in a complaint being filed by state Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, who alleges that Speaks violated the state party rules that bar the district chairman from showing favoritism in a primary.

Last month, Burris was the target of a complaint filed by Edward George Geier of Harrison with the state Ethics Commission, alleging that Burris has been serving and receiving compensation as a representative of a state House district in which he does not reside, claiming expense reimbursements beyond the maximum amount allowed under state law, and filing incomplete personal financial disclosure reports. Burris has called the complaint "an election-day gimmick ... orchestrated by a campaign that will do anything to get elected." Flippo has declined to comment about Geier's complaint.

The winner of the runoff in the Senate District 17 will be unopposed in the Nov. 4 general election. The seat is held by state Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, who accepted a job as associate vice president of university relations with the University of Arkansas Systemstarting in January after deciding not to seek re-election.

In the House District 16 runoff, Pine Bluff Democrats Winfred A. "Win" Trafford II and Kenneth Ferguson said they hope voters will get out to the polls, despite the rainy weather.

The winner will replace Rep. James Word, D-Pine Bluff, who is barred from seeking re-election by the state's term limits amendment.

Ferguson said rain in today's forecast could dampen voter numbers.

"Turnout might be a little bit low in the morning and we hope it picks up by lunchtime," Ferguson said.

Trafford said some people might be hesitant to drive to the polls if the bad weather continued.

"I want them to know that if they need a ride to the polls because it is raining ... they can contact our office and we will gladly get them help," Trafford said.

A section on 06/10/2014

Upcoming Events