The Democratic Party's State Committee adopted new rules Saturday to allow it to disband the party's county committees that have become inactive or are not supporting Democrats in the state.
The committee's decision came after a reporter was asked to leave the meeting at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, and the panel discussed the rules in private.
Across the Arkansas River in North Little Rock, the state's top elected Republicans stressed to party faithful the importance of electing a GOP president in 2016.
Arkansas is part of a southern regional presidential primary March 1.
During the Republican Party's State Committee meeting at the Wyndham Hotel, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won a presidential straw poll, receiving 44 percent of the 164 votes cast. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee finished second in the poll, and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and real estate magnate Donald Trump of New York tied for third place.
State Democratic Party Chairman Vince Insalaco told fellow Democrats on the state committee Saturday that the new rules on county committees "will give the party the opportunity to call foul on the counties that have ... refused to support Democrats or have supported Republicans.
"If you pass these rules, you will have the chance to amend them and fix what we find out is broken," said Insalaco of North Little Rock.
H.L. Moody, a spokesman for the party, asked an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter to leave when members started to discuss the proposed rules. No other reporters were present.
The private discussion lasted more than an hour and a half.
"The rules say we are required to alert the media [about the committee meeting]," Moody said. "There is no requirement that media be allowed to attend the meeting or stay for the duration."
In contrast, state Republican officials Saturday allowed a reporter to remain in their meeting room while they discussed changes in party rules and later approved them.
After the Democratic meeting, Insalaco said the party officials closed the discussion on rules changes because party members wanted to privately air some grievances.
"We're really transparent. We're really open, but this was all in the weeds. This wasn't about what we stand for. This wasn't about our positions on issues or who's running for office or anything that concerns the public. This is about how we're going to operate," he said. "It's not about substance, and it really just concerned those people that were in this room and, frankly, I don't think it's relevant to the public at large."
Insalaco said a new enforcement clause in the party's rules was a concern for some members and was part of the private discussions.
"The state party just can't go disband some county committee unless there are county committees who are in name only and not doing anything," he said. "That's really where it's targeted, and there are quite a few of those."
Insalaco said there are about 40 active Democratic Party county committees and 35 inactive committees.
A rule the requires each county committee to have 20 members was also discussed as a concern for some, though Insalaco said that's been on the books for more than three decades.
"I'm not worried about counties that only have 10 members. We'll go in there and help them build it to 20," he said. "I was concerned that this becomes a professional political organization designed to elect people to office. That's what these rules hopefully have done."
State Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb said in an email that his party's rules "allow us to reorganize a county committee that is inactive and set up a new committee."
"However, that said, all 75 of our Republican county committees are active and enthusiastic about the upcoming election season," Webb wrote in his email.
The theme for the state Democratic Committee's event appeared written on name tags -- Strength through unity: Writing a new chapter in Arkansas history.
At Saturday's meeting, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Conner Eldridge of Fayetteville sought to distinguish himself from Sen. John Boozman, the Republican incumbent from Rogers.
Some Democrats have criticized Eldridge for not presenting alternatives to Boozman's policies.
Eldridge said that unlike Boozman he would not vote to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- the federal health care overhaul that was signed by President Barack Obama in 2010 and has long been opposed by Republicans -- and would not shut down the government over funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides reproductive health services, including abortions.
Eldridge praised the state's former Democratic governors Mike Beebe, Dale Bumpers and David Pryor for working across the aisle with Republicans to find solutions to problems. Bumpers and Pryor are also former U.S. senators.
"It's easier to walk out to the street corner and talk about how terrible things are" than it is to find solutions, he said.
Little Rock Democrat Dianne Curry, who is seeking the 2nd Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, called for closing "loopholes" for people purchasing guns, for better care for veterans, and for defending the Affordable Care Act and its benefits. The 2nd District incumbent is Republican French Hill of Little Rock.
"I am a fighter," Curry said. "I won't give up. With your help, we can do all things to bring our state back to a blue state."
GOP STRAW POLL
Republican Stu Soffer of White Hall announced Saturday that Cruz won the GOP straw poll with 72 votes, while Huckabee received 27 votes, and Rubio and Trump each picked up 24 votes.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Baltimore received six votes in the straw poll. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie received four votes, Ohio Gov. John Kasich tallied three votes and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush got two votes, according to Soffer. U.S. Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina each received one vote.
Soffer said former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina of Virginia and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal received no votes in the straw poll.
Any Republican who paid a registration fee -- which was $25 or $30, depending on when he paid it -- was allowed to vote in the straw poll, Webb said. The party charges the registration fee for each State Committee meeting, he said.
Arkansas is holding its 2016 presidential primary election on March 1 instead of May 24 next year. The Republican-controlled state Legislature and GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson enacted legislation in a special session this year to move up the election so Arkansas could participate in a Southern regional presidential primary.
Hutchinson told fellow Republicans on Saturday that the presidential election isn't going to be decided in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina, "but it might be decided on March 1."
"We need to elect a president that understands the importance of the security of the United States," Hutchinson said.
"We need a president who recognizes the 10th Amendment and what the states can do and the separation of powers with the federal government. We need a president who understands my philosophy [of] lets grow the private sector versus the government sector of our economy," he said.
Boozman said at the meeting that he voted in the U.S. Senate last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act and federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which has been under fire since videos surfaced depicting organization officials discussing receiving money for providing fetal tissue to researchers. The group has said the videos were deceptively doctored and that it has done nothing illegal, but many Republicans oppose the practice.
"We sent a powerful symbol out to the nation that if we have a [Republican] president, not only will we get this stuff passed in Congress, we'll get it signed once it gets to his desk," said Boozman.
Arkansas' U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, a Republican from Rogers, said he expects the next president to have a hand in nominating replacements for almost half of the U.S. Supreme Court's nine members.
"Do you think it is better for America that we have a Republican president taking the oath of office in mid-January in 2017 and a Republican president that's putting people that lean right on that bench? Or do you think we need to continue down the path, the very shaky path that we are on right now, and turn the U.S. Supreme Court more liberal than it is today?"
A Section on 12/06/2015