5 spar for GOP shot at Congress

2 U.S. House primaries near

Ann Clemmer (center) asks French Hill (left) a question as Col. Conrad Reynolds (right) listens during a debate between the Republican congressional hopefuls Saturday in Little Rock.
Ann Clemmer (center) asks French Hill (left) a question as Col. Conrad Reynolds (right) listens during a debate between the Republican congressional hopefuls Saturday in Little Rock.

The Republican candidates for Congress in the 2nd and 4th congressional districts squared off in two Saturday debates sponsored by the Arkansas Federation of Young Republicans.

In the 2nd District debate, retired Col. Conrad Reynolds of Conway and state Rep. Ann Clemmer of Benton sharply criticized the other Republican in the race, Little Rock banker French Hill, for backing Democratic candidates after Hill described himself as a lifelong Republican who has raised a lot of money for Republican candidates.

In the 4th District forum, businessman Tommy Moll and state Rep. Bruce Westerman - both of Hot Springs - debated their anti-Obamacare credentials.

The candidates in the 2nd District hope to replace U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin of Little Rock, who is running for lieutenant governor after serving in Congress since 2011.

Hill, chairman and chief executive officer of Delta Trust & Bank who was a senior economic policy adviser to President George H.W. Bush, said he’s running because the federal government “is out of control and the career politicians are bankrupting our country.”

“It is time, in my judgment, to send a business leader to Washington with pragmatic experience to attack these problems and do something to put us on the right track,” Hill said.

But Reynolds, who served 29 years in the U.S. Army and ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2010, said the three way Republican race boils down to “who can you trust.”

“The last thing we need in Washington, D.C., is another mouthpiece for the wealthy and the Washington elite. We need to see the man who is from Main Street, not Wall Street,” he said.

Reynolds said he’s a loyal Republican who never financed a Democratic candidate’s campaign and never advocated for a tax increase.

Clemmer said she has a clear conservative record and led the fight in the state House of Representatives to ban most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy in 2013.

She said she wants to cut taxes, slash federal government spending and repeal the healthcare law.

“It is easy for someone like French to say he is a Democrat or a Republican,” Clemmer said. “But public records prove that he has voted for and given money to Democrats. As someone who has worked hard to build this party, that offends me.”

Reynolds criticized Clemmer for voting to fund an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program in 2013. The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which some call “Obamacare,” provided the funds. This year, Clemmer voted against funding the so called private option, which gives government-funded private health-insurance policies to poor Arkansans.

Clemmer said she voted last year for legislation to fund the state Department of Human Services, adding that the private option “was but a small part” of the bill.

But since the 2013 session, President Barack Obama changed many provisions of the federal health-care law enacted in 2010, including the employer mandate, through a stroke of his pen, and she “voted no every time the private option came back up [in 2014],” she said.

Clemmer said she’s bothered by Hill and Delta Trust & Bank collectively giving $2,250 in campaign contributions in 2009 to then-state Democratic Treasurer Martha Shoffner and the state investing $23 million in Delta Trust & Bank after that.

“That is the kind of thing that is going in Washington now: fat cats scratching each other’s back while government spending is skyrocketing,” she said.

Clemmer asked Hill whether he’s sorry that he gave Shoffner money during her unopposed campaign for state treasurer in 2010. Shoffner, who was caught on camera accepting bribes, was convicted last month of 14 extortion and bribery charges.

Hill said he has done more than either Clemmer or Reynolds to build the Republican Party in Arkansas, noting that he headed Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee’s transition team.

“In regards to Martha Shoffner, I am disgusted by her performance and her abuse of trust of the Arkansas people,” he said.

Reynolds said Hill has signed the Americans for Tax Reform anti-tax-increase pledge but spearheaded a 2011 campaign for Little Rock voters to pass a $500 million sales-tax increase.

Reynolds also criticized Hill for encouraging the city to build a sidewalk from Hill’s neighborhood to a nearby restaurant district.

Hill said he’s running for the 2nd Congressional District - not the Little Rock City Council - and he has a 30-year track record of working to try to lower federal taxes.

Hill said that the sidewalk might never get built, adding: “Don’t get your panties in a wad about it.”

The winner will face the lone Democratic candidate, former North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Henry Hays. Libertarian Debbie Standiford is also running.

After that debate wrapped up, the 4th District congressional candidates took the stage.

Westerman and Moll gave similar answers to questions or said they agreed with their opponent’s responses on the environment, jobs and deficit spending.

The candidates, however, distinguished themselves when it came time to ask each other questions.

Westerman, 46, asked Moll when he moved to Hot Springs and noted that Moll had cast several absentee ballots and voted in at least one Democratic contest.

Moll, 31, said that he and his wife had recently moved to Hot Springs, but aren’t newcomers to the Natural State, even though they spent years on the East Coast.

“I’ve been in the 4th District about a year now, and I can tell you for my wife, Meredith, and for me, Arkansas always has been our home and it always will be our home,” Moll said, adding that both of their families had lived in the district for six generations.

Moll defended his vote in a Democratic primary runoff by saying that if voters wanted a voice in recent Arkansas political history, they had to consider voting in the Democratic primary because the party controlled much of state government.

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” Moll said about his exact voting record.

The winner of the Republican primary will go on to face Democratic challenger James Lee Witt, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Bill Clinton, and Libertarian Ken Hamilton, an El Dorado accountant.

On Saturday, Moll tried to highlight Westerman’s original involvement in the state’s private-option program, asking the state representative when he decided he didn’t like the program.

Arkansas was the first state to receive a federal waiver allowing its private-option plan, which expands the state’s Medicaid roles by using federal dollars to allow low-income residents to select private plans on a state insurance exchange.

Moll noted that Westerman’s name had been on private-option legislation early on, though Westerman eventually disavowed it.

Westerman said his decision to oppose the program was made when an actuarial study showed the overall financial burden the program would place on the state.

“I’m not sure where you were when we were debating this and fighting Obamacare, but I can assure you that I was on the front line … leading the fight against implementing Obamacare in Arkansas,” Westerman said.

When asked later by the moderator what actually set the two candidates apart, Westerman jabbed at Moll’s question.

“I understand what happened with Obamacare in Arkansas, and apparently Tommy doesn’t understand,” Westerman said.

After the debate, Westerman provided a letter signed by 19 other legislators saying he had never voted for the private option.

Arkansas, Pages 13 on 04/20/2014

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