Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee promised not to slash Social Security benefits and denounced a pending trade deal before heading to a Little Rock fundraiser Wednesday.
The former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential hopeful attended a fundraiser in Jonesboro before heading to central Arkansas to collect more campaign contributions.
The three-day, four-city fundraising trip includes stops Thursday in El Dorado and Friday in Texarkana.
Journalists weren't allowed to attend Wednesday's campaign events, but Huckabee met briefly with reporters and weighed in on several Arkansas-specific topics.
Speaking at the Jonesboro Regional Airport, Huckabee praised an $87.1 million aid package for a military contractor that Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed into law Friday.
If Lockheed Martin gets the contract, it will build military vehicles at a factory northeast of Camden.
"I've been in that Lockheed Martin plant back during my tenure as governor," Huckabee said. "I remember when there were lots of jobs there. It's been a struggle because of our sequestration and the decimation of our military budget. So this is a good thing to see."
Huckabee derided the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that President Barack Obama and the Republican leadership in Washington, D.C., support.
"It's a secret deal," Huckabee said. "Nobody can see what's in it."
Negotiators are meeting in private, but the final agreement would be made public at least 60 days before Congress votes on it and the president signs it.
"Free trade is a great thing, but when it's not fair trade, when they're not playing by the same rules we are, when they're engaged in currency manipulation, then that's not trade that's good for people in America to get jobs, keep jobs and make good money," Huckabee said.
Huckabee said Americans are distrustful of trade deals after watching U.S. manufacturing jobs leave, and he'll work to avoid another exodus of American plants.
Later, in Little Rock, Huckabee talked about protecting government benefits for older Americans.
He said too many fellow Republicans are looking to cut benefits to the programs, a move he said was wrong because the key components of the nation's safety net are "not an entitlement" but a "benefit" they "involuntarily" paid into over decades of work.
"People started paying when they started working. For some of us that meant from the time we were 14 years old. If you wait 50 years after that and say 'we were kidding, we weren't serious about honoring the commitment, [that] it's not going to be there for you after all,' I think that's just another way for the government to lie to us and steal from us."
The Little Rock fundraiser, at the Little Rock Marriott hotel, was hosted by many of the state's top Republicans -- every state constitutional officer and five of the six members of the Arkansas congressional delegation.
First-term U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Dardanelle, who serves alongside some of the other Republican presidential hopefuls, has not endorsed Huckabee and did not participate.
Huckabee spokesman Alice Stewart wouldn't comment on fundraising figures but said admission to Wednesday's Little Rock event was $250. Huckabee has yet to file a campaign-finance report with the Federal Election Commission.
Huckabee, who recently spent time in New York, Florida and the key primary state of South Carolina, will head to Iowa at the end of the week for several days of campaign events.
Arkansas politics
Earlier Wednesday, Huckabee applauded the decision to move Arkansas' primary date -- from May 24 to March 1. The change would help create an "SEC Primary" with other Southern states, bolstering the role of the state in the presidential primary process. The SEC is the Southeastern Conference, an athletic conference that spans much of the South.
The earlier date increases the likelihood that two candidates with Arkansas ties -- Huckabee and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton -- will still be in the race when Arkansans votes.
Arkansas' 2008 presidential primary was in February; Huckabee and Clinton won easily.
"So often Arkansas has been one of those states that by the time primaries came here it was already over," Huckabee said. "So it really means that the people of Arkansas will have a role to play in picking the nominees for both the Democrat and Republican parties. I think that will probably be something that most Arkansans would like to be part of."
In Little Rock, Huckabee answered questions about state Treasurer Dennis Milligan, whom Huckabee supported.
Milligan has been criticized for a range of actions including breaking state law by hiring his first cousin and for the firing of a staff member who has since filed a defamation lawsuit against Milligan's chief of staff, Jim Harris. This week, the Jefferson County Republican Central Committee called on Milligan to resign.
But Huckabee said that despite the controversy, Milligan has performed well.
"His office has done a magnificent job of bringing a lot of money back to the state ... an unprecedented amount of money that will go to state agencies, it will be a great benefit to the state," Huckabee said.
Milligan has moved the state's funds to investments with higher returns, generating more money.
"If there were some hiccups in his early days [after] taking office I'd say he has acquitted himself quite well," Huckabee said.
Remarks Raise Ire
Over the past few days, footage of Huckabee showed him criticizing local ordinances that allow transgender individuals to use the bathroom of their identified gender, joking that he wished he could have "found my feminine side" to shower with the girls after physical education class.
The comments drew criticism this week from several sources, including the Washington Post and a columnist with USA Today. Asked if he stood by his comments and felt that transgender individuals were a threat to children, Huckabee said that the only people concerned about that issue were the media.
Huckabee said the comments weren't important now that he was running for president.
"I'll let people read whatever they want to," he said. "I'm not talking about it now. I'm running for president now. I wasn't in February."
Huckabee also faced criticism on his Facebook page and in national media after he publicly defended a reality-TV family after a member of the family, Josh Duggar, admitted to wrongdoing. The admission came after several media outlets reported that Duggar had inappropriately touched several girls during his early teen years.
The Duggars, an Arkansas family and stars of the The Learning Channel's 19 Kids and Counting, are longtime Huckabee supporters and campaigned for him during the 2008 race.
On his way out of a meeting with reporters in Little Rock, Huckabee wouldn't talk about the issue. Asked whether the Duggars would campaign with him again, Huckabee said, "I don't know, it'd be up to them. Ask them."
Metro on 06/04/2015