Businessman John Burkhalter of Little Rock on Thursday filed to run for lieutenant governor as a Democrat while Republican attorney Leslie Rutledge of Little Rock and Democratic state Rep. Nate Steel of Nashville filed to run for attorney general.
Thirty-nine candidates for state or federal offices filed Thursday, increasing the total to 262 during the first four days of this week.
The filing period ends at noon Monday for partisan races and at 3 p.m. Monday for nonpartisan races.
Burkhalter, a former member of the state Highway Commission and a former chairman of the state Economic Development Commission, said he wants to help companies start operations and expand their businesses in Arkansas, while working to attract foreign companies to Arkansas as the state’s lieutenant governor.
“We need more business people like myself serving the state of Arkansas. Trust me, I run my businesses lean … and I am going to do the same thing in that office,” said Burkhalter, the president of Burkhalter Technologies and the only announced Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.
Unlike Republican lieutenant governor candidate state Rep. Andy Mayberry of East End, Burkhalter said he doesn’t intend to push to eliminate the lieutenant governor’s office through a proposed constitutional amendment if he’s elected.
“I don’t think I’d be running for an office that I didn’t want and wanted to get rid of. That’s a little confusing, I think.”
Former Lt. Gov. Mark Darr, a Republican from Springdale, resigned effective Feb. 1, more than a month after the state Ethics Commission fined him $11,000 for 11 ethics violations for improper spending of campaign funds and tax dollars.
In addition to Mayberry, U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin of Little Rock and state Rep. Debra Hobbs of Rogers have filed this week to seek the Republican nomination.
Griffin issued a written statement that Burkhalter’s filing Thursday “gives Arkansans a clear choice: a liberal who supports the policies of President Obama or a proven conservative who stands up to President Obama and works for pro-growth, job-creating policies.”
Burkhalter spokesman Bryan Griffith replied in a written statement: “Typical D.C. politics from Cong. Griffin.
He is right about one thing and one thing only, there is a clear choice in this race: an Arkansas small business owner who creates jobs and knows how to get this economy moving again, or a typical Washington D.C. politician whose only goal is to find a new job for himself.”
Rutledge on Thursday became the second Republican candidate to file for attorney general - a day after attorney David Sterling of Little Rock filed to seek the GOP nomination for the post.
Rutledge said she’s the best Republican candidate for attorney general because she has experience as a deputy prosecutor in Lonoke County, as a counsel to Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee working with state agencies, and as a counsel to the Republican National Committee “inside the belly of the beast and actually standing against this Obama administration and the federal overreach.”
Sterling said he’s the better candidate because he has theright kind of experience.
He said he has 15 years of business and commercial litigation experience, and also said he gets high marks from Martindale-Hubbell, the publisher of a directory that rates lawyers.
Steel, a Democrat who has served in the state House of Representatives since November 2010, said he’s the best candidate for the attorney general job because he has a record of working on criminal justice, consumer advocacy, privacy rights and other issues that are directly related to the office.
He said he has a record of taking positions on those issues “completely without regard to partisan politics or anything else.”
Regina Stewart Hampton of Little Rock, who works for Democratic state Auditor Charlie Daniels of Bryant, filed Thursday as a Democratic candidate for the seat Daniels is vacating.
Ken Yang of Benton, who formerly worked for the Family Council, and state Rep. Andrea Lea, R-Russellville, already have filed to seek the Republican nomination for state auditor.
The candidates who filed Thursday also include Libertarian state land commissioner candidate Elvis D. Presley of Star City, who filed as a write-in candidate for governor in 2010, and Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Nathan LaFrance of Bella Vista.
Presley is an auto mechanic who impersonates the late singer-musician of the same name.
Republican incumbent John Thurston of Little Rock already has filed for re-election for state land commissioner.
So far, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton of Dardanelle and Green Party candidate Mark Swaney of Huntsville have filed for the U.S. Senate seat held by Little Rock Democrat Mark Pryor.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 02/28/2014