Today, we offer our thoughts on two state House of Representative races in Washington County.
District 84
State Rep. Charlie Collins in January will, if he gets re-elected, enter his final term in office under Arkansas' current term limits. Candy Clark, a Washington County justice of the peace, wants to put an earlier term limit on Collins.
He's a Republican, and she's a Democrat who wants to unseat him.
Collins initially announced plans to run for lieutenant governor but shifted back to the state representative post he's held for two terms. Clark says it's time for someone who's interested in the district, not statewide politics.
And that's an effective campaign strategy, except we do not fault any Arkansas legislator who travels to Little Rock with a goal of improving life for all Arkansans. We won't criticize an elected leader for having big ideas and working to make them reality, particularly when we've seen no signs Collins has forgotten his constituents.
Neither Collins nor Clark are everyone's cup of tea, but both of them are smart candidates who work hard to advance their positions on the issues. In this case the best argument for booting out Collins is just that you don't like his politics. But the people of his district have demonstrated to do like his politics, and we believe he's an effective advocate for the ideas he believes will help the people of his district, Northwest Arkansas and the state. We recommend a vote for him.
Leadership in the state Legislature cannot just be district-focused. It takes too many votes to pass something into law. Collins has advanced his ideas with consistent pressure and persuasion. For example, reductions in state income tax brackets Collins has been pushing for two or three years is now a front-burner issue even in the governor's race. Make the state competitive and it can draw more jobs-producing companies, he argues. It can be done in a way that slows growth in government that doesn't harm essential services, he says.
Collins has represented the district well enough to get re-elected once. We believe the district deserves a representative who can make use of the seniority of a third term rather than starting from scratch.
District 80
In this district that covers southwest Washington County, including Lincoln and Prairie Grove, and farther south into the western side of Crawford County, Charlene Fite offers the better option for voters.
Fite, 64, of Van Buren is a conservative Republican who is finishing her first term. In that term, she led the charge on legislation to increase penalties for stalking, licensing for registered interpreters for the deaf and extending post-conviction no-contact orders. She said her primary push in the next session, if re-elected, will be to exempt veterans' retirement pay from the state income tax. She call the matter one of economic development and making the state attractive for those retirees.
She's been a staunch opponent to the use of federal Medicaid money to buy private insurance for lower-income Arkansans, saying the state won't be able to afford it. Fite, however, said simply eliminating it isn't an option; lawmakers will have to find some options that provide help but ultimately must step back from the private option.
Her opponent, 24-year-old Taylor Watkins of Prairie Grove, is a Libertarian who did not return our calls seeking an interview. His bio with the Libertarian Party says he favors Arkansas leading the nation in promoting decentralized government and more individual freedom from government.
We recommend Fite for another two-year term.
Commentary on 10/20/2014