Won’t rule out earmarks, Elliott says

— Democratic congressional candidate Joyce Elliott said Thursday that she won’t balk at earmarks for projects, unlike her Republican opponent, Tim Griffin.

Griffin has said he wouldn’t seek or accept earmarks for the 2nd Congressional District because they are part of a broader problem of waste and business as usual.

Asked about her stance on the matter before a Political Animals Club luncheon at the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock, Elliott said, “I am not going to stand here and tell you absolutely I will not be for earmarks. I just can’t tell you that with a good conscience because it matters what the earmark is.

“If that’s the only way a small state like us can compete ... with a state like California and New York, I just think it would be irresponsible for me to do that,” she said. She noted that earmarks have funded highway projects for the district.

“It matters how you use your judgment,” Elliott said.

Afterward, Griffin said that “stopping earmark abuse is the first step in changing the culture of wasteful and unaccountable spending in Washington.”

“All legitimate and appropriate spending can be accomplished through the traditional spending process that allows for transparency,” he said.

Elliott of Little Rock is a state senator and former schoolteacher.

Griffin of Little Rock is an attorney who is a former aide to President George W. Bush and a former interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

They seek the 2nd District seat that is being vacated by Vic Snyder, a Democrat from Little Rock.

During her speech at the luncheon, Elliott said she isn’t running against Washington.

“Any pinhead can do that,” she said. “What I am doing is running for the people.

“It is like saying rain is wet to say Washington is broken, so there’s no point in saying, ‘Washington,’ and then saying ‘broken’ because that’s redundant,” Elliott said.

Afterward, she said she wasn’t calling Griffin or anyone in particular “a pinhead.”

Elliott said she’s an eternal optimist.

“I just think swimming around in a cesspool of cynicism is a waste of time,” she said.

She said it distresses her to hear people say, “I’m not a politician.”

“Wouldn’t you feel great if the firefighters show up at your home and go, ‘I’m really not a firefighter, but I’m playing one today?’”

Elliott said she has lived on low wages and that’s not what the state needs.

She said it’s important for high school graduates to obtain college degrees to move the state’s economy forward.

“Low-wage jobs are not what will move Arkansas forward,” Elliott said.

Afterward, she said she was referring to Griffin’s remarks before the Political Animals Club last week. Griffin said that opposing the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for unions to organize, should be “a no-brainer.”

“One of the reasons that we in the South have benefited historically from companies coming down here is because of the low cost of our labor and the fact that we are a right-to work state,” Griffin told the club. “That is just a fact.

That’s an advantage we ought to keep, not give away.”

Elliott has said she opposes the provision eliminating the secret ballot in the Employee Free Choice Act.

Griffin also has said he won’t accept a congressional pension or serve more than six two-year terms.

After her speech, Elliott said she won’t make pledges not to accept a pension or limit her terms in Congress.

“I have a schoolteacher’s pension right now and that should tell you a lot,” she told reporters. There is no way that she can suggest her teacher’s pension is sufficient for her to say she wouldn’t accept a congressional pension, she said.

Elliott said voters are the ones who determine term limits for congressmen, and that’s the way it should be.

Griffin said he won’t accept a congressional pension because he believes congressmen should have the same benefits as other federal employees. He said he has imposed term limits on himself because he doesn’t want to be “a career politician.”

Arkansas, Pages 11 on 06/25/2010

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