Hutchinson: Ross Can't Deliver Tax Cuts

Asa Hutchinson

Asa Hutchinson

Sunday, March 9, 2014

ROGERS -- Democratic governor's candidate Mike Ross cannot deliver on his promises of tax cuts, Republican opponent Asa Hutchinson told a conservative group Saturday in Rogers.

"The liberals in this state would go berserk if he did, so he's not going to do it," Hutchinson said of Ross' recent proposal to cut income taxes by $574.5 million a year, once the changes to tax brackets were fully implemented. Ross said he would phase the tax cuts in gradually, as state revenue grows, to maintain a balanced budget.

Hutchinson is opposed in the May 20 GOP primary by Curtis Coleman, a Little Rock businessman. Ross faces Lynette Bryant, a Little Rock physician, in his party's primary. The general election is Nov. 4.

Hutchinson "is launching the same tired political attacks against me that he did against Gov. Mike Beebe in 2006 for his proposal to gradually eliminate the sales tax on groceries," Ross said in a statement, referring to a previous bid by Hutchinson for governor. "Back then, Congressman Hutchinson said it wouldn't get done, and it has."

Hutchinson made his comment at a meeting of Conservative Arkansas, a group formed to hold Republican elected officials accountable to conservative principles. The group met with four Republican candidates for state constitutional office Saturday morning at the Rogers Public Library.

Also appearing were GOP candidates: Leslie Rutledge of Little Rock, running for state attorney general; state Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, running for lieutenant governor, and Ken Yang, running for state auditor.

Rutledge will actively oppose federal "overreach" in the courts, she said. For instance, she would have joined other states in suing to overturn the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," and will vigorously defend the state's constitutional amendment that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, she said.

"I'll wake up every morning and ask, 'How am I going to sue the federal government today?'" Rutledge said.

Rutledge faces Patricia Nation of Jacksonville and David Sterling of Little Rock in the Republican primary. The winner will face state Rep. Nate Steel, D-Nashville, in the general election.

Mayberry repeated his earlier pledge to support efforts to put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot to do away with the office he is running for, saying, "I want to be your next and last lieutenant governor." The office is largely ceremonial, but in the event the governor is unable to continue to serve, the lieutenant governor is next in line to become the state's chief executive. Doing away with the office would require voter approval of a state constitutional amendment.

Audience members asked Mayberry about his vote for the "private option," which takes federal taxpayer money and uses it to subsidize private insurance plans. The money was made available to states with the intent for them to expand Medicaid, a federal health care program. Arkansas conservatives balked at expanding Medicaid, seeking and obtaining a waiver to allow the private option. Critics maintain, however, the private option still expands government.

Mayberry stands second to no one in his history of opposing the Affordable Care Act, he said. However, the act wasn't overturned in the courts. Turning down the Medicaid expansion money would have slashed revenue for hospitals across the state, particularly rural ones, he said.

"Look at Georgia," Mayberry said. "They've had three rural hospitals close and a fourth shut down its emergency room. Thousands are unemployed. Thousands more don't have direct access to health care and their economy's taken a punch in the stomach."

If Republicans regain control of Congress and the White House, allowing them to repeal or revamp health care reform, the state will still have suffered lasting damage if it stubbornly refused to take the money and keep rural hospitals open, Mayberry said.

"Private option was like a third-story window in a building that was on fire," Mayberry said. "We could stand there and say, 'No, I refuse to let this fire hurt me' and get burned up, or bail out through that window. The fall might kill us, or we might break a leg, but we might survive it."

NW News on 03/09/2014