Yep, the folks down in Little Rock have a humdinger of a mayoral race on their hands. Good for them. But the big race in Northwest Arkansas in Tuesday's runoffs is in Bentonville, a town far smaller than the Capital City but with a future filled with as much or more potential.
Over the last 24 years, Bentonville has had two mayors, Terry Black Coberly and the current occupant of the post, Bob McCaslin. Voters in the Nov. 6 general election faced a five-candidate field that predictably left none with a winning majority. So come Tuesday, Bentonville's voters will choose between the two survivors who didn't get voted off the proverbial island.
Jim Webb spent three years on the Bentonville City Council before resigning early this year because he had moved out of the ward he'd been elected to represent. He's a senior national account manager serving Walmart and Sam's Club for two companies making outdoor play sets and toys.
Stephanie Orman was elected to the city council at the same time as Webb and continues in that role. She's director of social media and community involvement for a Bentonville auto dealership.
From a municipal government standard, this has been quite the unusual race just in the fact that five residents decided to campaign for it. Then there are the concerns expressed by John Skaggs, the third-place finisher on Nov. 6 who claimed Webb offered him a job in exchange for his endorsement for the runoff. Webb flatly denies the offer to Skaggs, who was the district or municipal judge in Bentonville for 26 years. Skaggs has endorsed Orman.
Another intriguing wrinkle is the heavy involvement, in Webb's favor, of a Washington-based political action committee called the Republican State Leadership Committee. Most heavily involved in legislative races in several states, it has spent more than $40,000 on mailers in support of Webb. Such PACs operate independently of individual candidates' campaigns. Webb has said he appreciated the support, but denounced in social media the group's "slinging a little mud" in mailers to voters.
We don't know why the political action committee has taken such an interest in who serves as mayor of Bentonville or whose money has helped fund its support for Webb and criticisms of Orman. The group has, in past election cycles, received six-figure support from Walmart Stores Inc. We do know this: The sometimes nasty way the Republican State Leadership Committee conducts itself isn't what voters need in a local mayor's race. Some may recall the group's attempt to influence this year's Arkansas Supreme Court race. The group pilloried Justice Courtney Goodson, who was challenged by ultra-conservative David Sterling, who ran quite a partisan campaign even though Supreme Court seats are, and ought to be, nonpartisan. Sterling, thankfully, did not win.
The only comment the PAC has offered to explain its backing of Webb described him as a "rising star in the Republican Party." That's an impressive evaluation from an out-of-state group about a candidate who has only served less than a full term on the City Council in Bentonville.
Orman has earned the endorsement of the man Bentonville voters have elected to serve them for the last dozen years.
"Stephanie Orman has ... a 100 percent attendance record at City Council meetings and a rich history of service to our community. Stephanie is a conservative Christian wife, mother, businesswoman and nonprofit president. Additionally, Stephanie has a master's degree and works full time," Mayor McCaslin said in his endorsement.
"I endorse and support Stephanie Orman in her bid to serve as mayor of Bentonville. I further encourage all who want the best for our city to give strong consideration to join with me in helping elect Stephanie Orman as Bentonville's next mayor."
We're convinced Orman will conduct herself as mayor in an open, communicative and collaborative way because that's the way she's operated as a candidate for mayor. She's familiar with the issues because she's remained engaged in seeking solutions.
Webb's platform has been simple. Smart growth, finding the waste in Bentonville's budget (though he could cite no examples to us), reduced red tape, supporting first responders, common-sense solutions -- all safe and simple answers that reflect little of the complexity of operating Bentonville's municipal government.
The out-of-state political influence in Webb's favor may not be his doing, but it certainly ought to give Bentonville voters pause. Webb has demonstrated in his campaign a reluctance to engage with voters and we fear he'd operate in a closed-door manner as mayor. His response to controversies during the campaign was to only appear in public in ways that he controlled. He would not appear at a public forum this newspaper attempted to put together last week so that voters would have one more chance to directly engage with the two candidates and to see how they articulate their visions for the future.
Did Webb do something wrong involving Skaggs? We don't know, but at best his interaction with Skaggs in the wake of the general election was a clumsy and ineffective way to reach out.
Orman has shown up. She's remained engaged in the city's challenges. When the forum was shelved due to Webb's decision not to participate, we offered both candidates the opportunity to record podcasts to answer readers' questions. Webb failed to respond. However, Orman willingly visited our newsroom and spent an hour answering questions last Wednesday. The podcast is available at https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/nov/28/podcast-bentonville-mayoral-candidate-stephanie-or. Listen for yourself to the candidate who was willing to address Bentonville's issues directly.
Our editorial board endorses Stephanie Orman in the race for Bentonville mayor.
Commentary on 12/01/2018