Back raising tax for roads, say 2 in race

3 seeking Democrats’ nod for District 26 Senate seat

— Two of the three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in a southeast Arkansas Senate district say they intend to vote for a proposed constitutional amendment to temporarily raise the state’s sales tax by a half percent to improve highways and roads.

The two candidates are state Rep. Eddie Cheatham and former Rep. Johnnie Bolin - both of Crossett.

The other Democratic candidate, former Rep. Gregg Reep of Warren, says he hasn’t made up his mind how he’ll vote on Proposed Constitutional Amendment 1.

The three Democrats are vying for their party’s nod in Senate District 26, which Senate Republican Whip Michael Lamoureux of Russellville said he views as one that the GOP has a good chance of winning in the Nov. 6 general election.

The Democratic nominee in Senate District 26 will take on Monticello Republican and businessman Mike Akin, who serves on the University of Arkansas board of trustees.

The Senate now consists of 20 Democrats and 15 Republicans.

District 26 includes Ashley, Bradley, Drew and Chicot counties and parts of Cleveland, Desha and Lincoln counties.

It’s one of 11 Senate districts in which a senator isn’t seeking re-election. State Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, a Democrat from Crossett who is barred from seeking re-election under the term limits amendment, said he’s not endorsing any candidate in the Democratic primary in District 26, and Republicans probably will make the general election race competitive.

If none of the three Democratic candidates win a majority of the votes in the May 22 primary, the top two vote-getters will vie for their party’s nomination in a runoff on June 12.

All three Democrats tout their experience, saying they want to work on creating jobs in the district and improving health care, highways, public schools and the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

“I am willing to get in there and go to bat for southeastern Arkansas. We have been somewhat overlooked over the years,” said Reep, who was Warren’s director of community development before serving as Warren’s mayor for 18 years and then in the state House of Representative from 2005-11. He now works part time selling ads for an online newspaper, as a substitute teacher at Warren High School and for a funeral home.

“I am a voice of reason and willing to compromise,” said Cheatham, who has served in the House since 2007 and was on the Crossett City Council for 10 years until the late 1980s. “I am not a career politician.” He retired after working as a vocational teacher at Crossett High School and an assistant director at what was Forest Echoes Technical Institute, which is now part of the UA-Monticello’s College of Technology at Crossett.

“I simply want to be a difference-maker for the area of southeast Arkansas,” said Bolin, who was in the House from 2001-07 and was the county judge in Ashley County from 1979-81 . He previously worked for Georgia Pacific Corp. and Albany International in several jobs. He was executive director of the Arkansas Good Roads Transportation Council from 2007-August of 2011 when he resigned to run for the state Senate.

Bolin, Cheatham and Reep have each led a legislative committee.

Bolin, 69, led the House Public Transportation Committee. Cheatham, 65, heads the House Education Committee.

Reep, 57, was chairman of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.

Bolin said he’ll vote for the proposed constitutional amendment to raise the sales tax by a half percent because the additional tax revenue would help connect highways to one another, improve school-bus routes and make it easier for farmers to transport their crops to markets.

“We will see a benefit to it second to none,” he said.

Proposed Constitutional Amendment 1 would increase the state’s 6 percent sales tax to 6.5 percent for 10 years, if voters approve it in November.

It’s projected to raise about$230 million per year, with the state Highway and Transportation Department getting about $160 million of that per year, and cities and counties each receiving about $35 million a year, said department spokesman Randy Ort.

“If the people are for it, I am for it,” said Cheatham. “Sometimes we forget that we need to listen to them more in our decision-making and they need a hand in making decisions.”

He said he intends to vote for Proposed Constitutional Amendment 1.

“Take a trip to South Arkansas down to Pine Bluff and down to Monticello and down to Crossett. To grow, we have to maintain our roads.If we don’t maintain [them], it is going to get worse and worse and worse.”

Reep, a self-described fiscal conservative, said he’s still considering how he’s going to vote on the proposed constitutional amendment.

“Highways are a vital, vital need down here,” he said. “I am open to ways to provide more revenue, but I don’t want to make a big change in the way the money is spent.”

Reep sponsored 2009 legislation enacted into law to increase cigarette and tobacco taxes. It was projected to raise $86 million a year to help fund the creation of a state-wide trauma-care system, community health centers and about 20 other health-care needs. Cheatham voted for the tax increase, too.

In February of 2004, Bolin was one of 10 representatives who switched their votes to allow for the enactment of legislation raising the state’s sales tax from 5.125 percent to 6 percent to generate a projected $360 million a year for the public schools, after the state Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that the public school system was unconstitutionally inadequate and inequitable.

In August 2004, Bolin pleaded no contest to careless and prohibited driving, and agreed to pay $300 in penalties and court costs, after his vehicle slid off an icy stretch of Interstate 530 south of Redfield in February 2003 and crashed into three people, killing them.

Cheatham sponsored a measure in 2009 that the Legislature referred to voters in 2010 and is now Amendment 90 to the Arkansas Constitution.

The amendment raised the state’s interest rate limit on retail lending, eliminated the limit on government bonds, provides a way to finance energy-efficient projects and allows the Legislature to change bond interest rates in the future.

Cheatham said he’s the best Democratic candidate to take on the GOP’s Akin because he’s never been among the top 25 lawmakers in collection of the largest amounts in per diem, mileage and other expenses beyond salary of about $15,000 a year.

Reep ranked 12th among lawmakers in collecting these expenses in 2009 ($51,898 compared with Cheatham’s $39,873 ) and 16th in 2010 ($46,783 compared with Cheatham’s $38,528) when Reep was chairman of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee. Usually, lawmakers who draw the most attend more meetings, live farther from Little Rock and go to more out-of-state conferences.

But Cheatham said, “I am not pointing fingers against Gregg or Johnnie.”

Reep said he attended as many legislative meetings as he could to learn what was going on in the Legislature and state government.

“I certainly wasn’t attending just to get paid,” he said.

Reep said he’s the best candidate to take on Akin because “I think I can beat him. I think I am the best qualified and experienced candidate period.”

Bolin said he doesn’t know anything about Akin, but he will study Akin’s record if he wins the Democratic nomination.

Based on their latest campaign-finance reports, Reep raised the most money among the three Democrats through the end of February. Reep reported $36,710 in contributions, and $20,896 in the bank. Cheatham reported $14,039 in contributions, $10,000 in loans from himself, and $16,921 in the bank. Bolin reported $8,099 in contributions and $1,947 in the bank.

In contrast, Akin reported $29,425 in contributions and a $25,000 loan from himself and $38,574 in the bank.

Arkansas, Pages 7 on 04/02/2012

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