Bledsoe's actions deliver appearance of impropriety
Here's what needs to be discussed regarding Sen. Cecile Bledsoe's almost 20 years of service: The appearance of impropriety is just as bad as impropriety itself. As a senior legislator, I would not think that would be news to Mrs. Bledsoe. Which makes it troubling she has never replied to any of my emails -- I am a constituent in her district.
Among other roles, Mrs. Bledsoe is the chair of the Arkansas Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, which makes it all the more disturbing that her spouse and her son both have government jobs.
Her husband, a retired physician, was hired for a Department of Health job that was filled without being advertised. He makes about $180,000 a year. And he answered "no" when filling out financial disclosure documents asking if he was the spouse of a constitutional officer. Mrs. Bledsoe's son, Greg, is now the Arkansas surgeon general, making $200,000 a year in addition to his private practice as a physician. They may be fine fellows, as letter writer Randy Alexander says, but don't other Arkansans deserve a chance to vie for these positions, too? Does the employment pool for health professionals in Arkansas begin and end in the Bledsoe clan?
I know Jon Comstock personally, and he is an honest, earnest and a dedicated public servant. He's an attorney, and served as a judge. Most of all, he is accessible. I run into him in Rogers all the time, because he lives here.
Mrs. Bledsoe appears to live in Little Rock now. She is my senator. I have never met her in the five years I have lived in Northwest Arkansas. And I get to a lot of political events. You would think she might come up here from her present home in Little Rock, you know, just for appearance sake, it being election time and all. And you would think she might have some stock language on here campaign website to explain this, you know, in case we wonder. But she doesn't. So that appearance of impropriety issue is even more important.
It's time for a changing of the guard in our Legislature. Mr. Comstock has my support and my vote.
Melissa Sawyer
Rogers
Attack ads oversimplify issues; Vote Williams
In recent days several pieces of political attack mail have been found in constituents' mailboxes. I have worked with the Celeste Williams campaign for almost a year, knocking on doors, trying to educate residents about Celeste's vision for progressive health care. I view her as a health care candidate since she is a nurse practitioner with considerable expertise about health care and health insurance. The Republican Party recently mailed an attack ad comparing her to the evil Hillary, and distorting her views on health insurance. Her opponent, Austin McCollum, claimed to know nothing about it. Then yesterday my wife and I received a mailer contrasting Celeste Williams and her opponent, Austin McCollum, on only two issues: the 2nd Amendment and pro-choice.
Austin is a traditional Republican who has an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association and who is pro-life. The latest mailer makes it clear that Celeste "refuses to protect the unborn and refuses to protect the 2nd Amendment." If you talked to Celeste or her supporters about her stand on the issues, and many have had a chance to since she and her supporters have knocked on over 4,000 doors, you would find out that she does support the 2nd Amendment, with the stipulation that she also supports strong background checks. Her husband is a gun owner. Yes, she is pro-choice. But as a mother, a foster mother and a medical provider, her views on abortion are hardly simplistic. When I asked her about her views on abortion, she gave me examples of times when it is hard to support pro-life views. One example would be a mother whose life would be endangered by childbirth. And like my Catholic wife, she is conflicted as a nurse who works for a Catholic hospital.
It hasn't always been easy knocking on doors in a Republican stronghold like Bella Vista. But we have tried to take Celeste's message to the people so they could hear about Celeste first hand rather than through a simplistic flier that resorts to lies and gross distortions. It was beyond disappointing to see that her opponent resorted to hit-and-run attack ads in the last moments of the campaign. Celeste has never run an ad attacking Austin.
Is it possible that the Republican Party resorted to these tactics at the last minute because Austin's campaign had done almost nothing to promote him for the midterm election? When we talked to people on the campaign and asked if they were happy with their current state representative, almost no one had ever heard of Austin McCollum. Have you? Does he do anything to distinguish himself as an individual Republican voice, or is he just riding that big R to victory with no views of his own and no intention of ever showing up for the people of District 95 in Northwest Arkansas?
Randy Svoboda
Bella Vista
Commentary on 11/03/2018