LITTLE ROCK — Congressional candidate Joyce Elliott questions whether her opponent, Tim Griffin, can be trusted. It’s a matter of character, she said.
She’s distorting his record, he replies, and he’s done nothing wrong in the matters she’s focusing on.
Democrat Elliott and Republican Griffin are battling for the job in the 2nd District, eight counties in central Arkansas, in the Nov. 2 election. Early voting starts Oct. 18.
How much character matters came home to her in a special way when she listened to five former U.S. attorneys, including Bud Cummins of Little Rock, talk last week about their forced resignations during the administration of President George W. Bush, Elliott said.
Cummins stepped aside in December 2006, clearing the way for Griffin, a protege of Bush political strategist Karl Rove, to get the job without undergoing the usual congressional confirmation process.
Griffin resigned in June 2007, saying “it’s not worth it” after national attention on what was dubbed the “firing scandal.”
Allegations of improper political meddling in the Justice Department by Bush officials led to congressional hearings and investigations and a probe by the Justice Department, which concluded that no laws were broken.
Cummins, a Republican, has said it’s clear, though, that there was wrongdoing and “even some lies being told.”
In an interview last week, Elliott said, “If you are willing to be a part of a system that is an end run around justice, so to speak, you have to question is whether that’s the kind of person you want representing you in [Washington] D.C.?
“If you have a person who goes from being in the Justice Department and, rather than stand before a committee and be confirmed like anybody else, resign instead, and go directly to Washington to become a lobbyist. ...”
Elliott said “it’s a bit troubling” that “none of Mr. Griffin’s points about reforming Washington say anything about lobbyists.”
Griffin said his appointment as interim U.S. attorney, “as poorly as it may have been handled by the administration, was actually upheld bya federal judge in Little Rock as perfectly legal.”
He said the Democratic chairmen of the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees investigated the firings, but never called him, e-mailed him, wrote him or contacted him in any way.
“I think that speaks for itself,” Griffin said.
A spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee said Friday that the focus of the investigation was primarily U.S. Department of Justice officials - who made decisions in the firing of U.S. attorneys - and the fired U.S. attorneys, not those who replaced them. A spokesman for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee could not be reached for comment.
The Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Justice Department stated in a 2008 report that White House Political Affairs Director Sara Taylor said she likely gained a negative impression of Cummins through a combination of information from Griffin and other Arkansas attorneys.
Taylor said she didn’t recall where she first heard that Cummins was lazy, the report said. The report said Griffin indicated that he did not remember ever telling Taylor that Cummins was lazy. Griffin said he did not personally believe Cummins was lazy, though he had heard similar comments about him from other people and was sure he had passed on the comments.
Griffin said in an interview that the report speaks for itself.
Cummins last week declined to comment about the Elliott-Griffin race.
Griffin said he’s never been a lobbyist, never lobbied and never registered as a lobbyist on the state or federal levels, and Elliott was a lobbyist. She registered as a lobbyist for The College Board in Arkansas.
“This is the Elliott rule. You attack without the facts. She is running against a person that doesn’t exist,” he said. “She is running against a caricature of Tim Griffin that doesn’t exist.”
Elliott’s campaign manager, John Whiteside, said Griffin was either a lobbyist or a consultant for some lobbyingfirms.
Whiteside referred to Griffin telling the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in September 2007 that he “might be lobbying or I might be assisting a company with a communications issue” when he went to work for New York-based Mercury Public Affairs in a new Little Rock office.
Griffin said Arkansans need a person they can trust and who has a track record. He said he’s proud of all of the opportunities he’s had to serve, including in the military, the White House and on Capitol Hill as well as in Arkansas.
Griffin said he has served 14 years in the Army and he’s put each military review on the Internet for people to read.
“I would put my superior officers’ words over some political attack any day,” he said.
Elliott said she has a record of getting things done.
“Rather than accepting a blank slate and a bunch of promises, we have somebodywith a proven record who can get the things done that need to be done when it comes to the economy and helping small businesses and [pushing for legislation to provide] the state with the kind of incentives that we need to get jobs, companies to come to Arkansas and improve our economy,” she said.
Griffin replied that he’s been endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Business and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
He said Elliott has a record as one of the “most progressive/liberal legislators” in the state Legislature and “has a record of higher taxes” and “as a pro-union legislator.”
Griffin said his views are in line with those of the people of the district and he would be “a check and balance on the Congress led by House Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and the Obama administration.”
“If you want a check and balance on the administration and the Congress and someone who will provide an alternative vision, thenvote for me,” he said. “If you like what you are getting out of President Obama and like what you are getting out of Speaker Pelosi, I think my opponent’s views are consistent with theirs on many fronts and you should vote for her because you will get more of the same.”
Whiteside said Elliott has twice been named as one of the 10 best lawmakers by the Democrat-Gazette, and Elliott pushed for legislation full of tax cuts and rebates in 2003 to recruit new companies to Arkansas, and for legislation in 2009 to help Gov. Mike Beebe recruit new companies to Arkansas.
Among other things, a recent campaign flier from Elliott suggested that Griffin “defends tax breaks for corporations that ship American jobs overseas.”
Whiteside said Griffin has signed the Washington, D.C.-based Americans for Tax Reform pledge against raising taxes. He said the group opposes Obama’s proposal to close tax provisions that reward corporations who set up a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands or elsewhere and call it their headquarters even though they sell their products in America and make healthy profits.
Griffin said his pledge allows him to vote for “revenue-neutral” measures that don’t have an overall net increase in taxation.
“I am absolutely not for sending jobs overseas,” he said.
“If there are loopholes that are leading people to take jobs overseas, I have no problem with addressing that,” Griffin said.
Both said they want to help create jobs.
Elliott said she supports extending the Bush-era tax cuts for people making less than $250,000 a year. Griffin said he supports extending all of the cuts.
Griffin said he supports “some sort of flat tax,” but he hasn’t committed to supporting any particular proposal yet. There are many flat-tax proposals, he said. Elliott said several changes to the federal tax system need to be considered, but she doesn’t support any particular proposal at this point.
Griffin supports repealing the federal health-care law enacted this year, while Elliott opposes doing so.
Elliott is a state senator who taught in the public schools for 30 years. Griffin is an attorney who is a former aide to President George W. Bush and former U.S. interim attorney and worked at the Republican National Committee. Both live in Little Rock.
Also in the race are Green Party candidate Lewis Kennedy of Conway and independent candidate Lance Levi of Little Rock.
The incumbent, Vic Snyder of Little Rock, who has represented the district since 1997, announced in January that he wouldn’t seek re-election this year, citing the need to spend more time with his wife and four children.
U.S. 2nd Congressional DistrictTim Griffin
Age, date of birth:
42; Aug.
21, 1968
Birthplace:
Charlotte, N.C.
Current town of residence:
Little Rock
Education:
Magnolia High School; bachelor’s degree, Hendrix College; law degree, Tulane University; attended Oxford University in England.
Current occupation:
Owner of his own law firm and public affairs company.
Business/political experience:
Associate independent counsel for the U.S. Office of Independent Counsel 1995-1997; counsel for the U.S. House Government Reform Committee 1997-1999;
campaign manager for Republican attorney general candidate Betty Dickey in 1998;
deputy research director at the Republican National Committee 1999-2001; special assistant to U.S. Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff 2001-2002;
research director and deputy communications director at the Republican National Committee 2002-2004; special assistant to President George W. Bush and deputy director of the Office of Political Affairs at the WhiteHouse 2005-2006; interim U.S.
attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas 2006-2007; general counsel for Mercury Public Affairs 2007-2008; and officer in the U.S. Army Reserve since 1996.
Family:
Wife Elizabeth, two children.
Joyce Elliott
Age, date of birth:
59;
March 20, 1951.
Birthplace:
Willisville.
Current town of residence:
Little Rock
Education:
Willisville High School; bachelor’s degree, Southern Arkansas University;
master’s degree, Ouachita Baptist University.
Current occupation:
Unemployed.
Business/political experience:
Teacher in New Boston, Texas, 1973; Tampa, Fla., 1974; El Dorado School District 1975-1982 and 1983-1984;
Albert Lea, Minn., 1982-1983;
Pulaski County Special School District, 1984-2003. Worked for The College Board from 2004-2010. State representative, 2001-2007; state senator since 2009.
Family:
Divorced, one child.
Lewis Kennedy
Age, date of birth:
63; Oct. 4, 1946.
Birthplace:
Conway.
Current town
of residence:
Conway.
Education:
Guy-Perkins High School; bachelor’s degree, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Current occupation:
Retired.
Business/political experience:
Infantry officer in the Army from 1969-1984; mail carrier for U.S.
Postal Service from 1984-2000;
and a supervisor of mail-sorting center from 2000-2007.
Family:
Wife Maria, two children.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/26/2010