Allen, Armstrong make case to voters in District 30 race

A map showing House District 30.
A map showing House District 30.

Former state Rep. Fred Allen is touting his legislative record and experience in both state and federal government in his bid to oust Rep. Charles Armstrong in the March 1 Democratic primary.

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Arkansas Secretary Of State

Former state Rep. Fred Allen.

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Arkansas Secretaray of State

Rep. Charles Armstrong

Armstrong is highlighting his service on the House Education Committee and his work for constituents in House District 30.

Both men are from Little Rock. House District 30 covers the southwest corner of Little Rock below Interstate 630 to the Pulaski County line, where Interstate 30 crosses into Saline County.

The winner of the primary will be unopposed in the November general election.

It's the second time that Allen and Armstrong have competed in a Democratic primary in the past 10 years.

In 2006, Allen won election to the state House of Representatives after winning the Democratic primary in then-House District 33, defeating Armstrong and two others.

Allen, 62, was in the state House from 2007-13, serving as the chairman of the House Insurance and Commerce Committee during his last two years. In 2012, he lost a challenge to state Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock.

He owns the Destiny Developers construction company in Little Rock and is a freelance photographer.

Armstrong, 70, has served in the state House of Representatives since 2013. In 2000, he lost in a three-way Democratic primary in then-House District 56, which Elliott won after a runoff with Orville Abrams Jr. of Little Rock.

He is retired and is a former assistant director of the Pesticide Division at the state Plant Board. He served on the Little Rock School Board from 2006-12.

Allen said that in addition to his legislative experience, he's the only candidate in the race who worked as an administrative aide for U.S. Sen. David Pryor, D-Ark., and as a senior executive assistant to Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, also a Democrat.

"I think if you will go back and compare my record to his record, there would be no comparison at all when it comes down to leadership skills, [the laws] that are on the books," Allen said. "If you compare what I did in my first four years in the General Assembly to what he did, it would speak for itself. ... I have a better one."

Allen said he successfully sponsored legislation to require insurance companies to provide coverage for prostate cancer screenings for men starting at the age of 40, to establish a pre-college readiness program in the public schools, to create the Alternative Energy Commission, and to require grocery stores to provide hand wipes for customers to sanitize shopping carts.

But Armstrong said: "I believe that my leadership skills have stood just as good as his or better. My record shows I have passed good bills with substance to them like the alternative sentencing bill," enacted into law last year.

Armstrong said his measure revised the state law that allows a judge to suspend an offender's sentence or place the offender on probation and require the offender to enroll in a training program and get a job after successfully completing training. The judge may expunge the offender's sentence after three to five years, Armstrong said.

When Allen announced in October that he would challenge Armstrong, Allen said he felt that he could do a better job for people in House District 30, where "they just feel they have inadequate representation."

Armstrong said he disagrees with Allen.

He said voters should re-elect him because he's helped people in his district in the House since 2013, "being available 24/7 and fighting their causes ... and helping them work out their problems with state government ... and tried to pass legislation that helps the community."

Armstrong said he's served on the House Education Committee during the past three years and "tried to help the school district to come up with programs where we can educate our children where they can be employable when they get out of high school and college and try to make them college-ready and put General Improvement Funds to help them with STEM programs at Philander Smith, [the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff], Shorter College and Pulaski Tech."

STEM refers to science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.

Armstrong said he was an outspoken opponent of ill-fated legislation proposed by House Education Committee Chairman Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, in 2015 to give the state Board of Education more authority to turn academically distressed schools into state-operated school districts, and to allow the state education commissioner to run an achievement school district or contract with a nonprofit to run it.

Both Allen and Armstrong said they support the state's 3-year-old private option program under which the state uses federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for some low-income Arkansans. Gov. Asa Hutchinson wants to overhaul the program.

Allen said he hasn't supported legalizing the medical use of marijuana. "I am just kind of undecided on that now," he said.

Armstrong said he supports legalizing the medical use of marijuana as long as a doctor is required to prescribe the marijuana for a patient.

Allen said he favors allowing women to make their own choices about whether to have an abortion.

As for his stance on abortion, Armstrong said he wants to "uphold the Constitution."

Through Dec. 31, Allen reported raising $8,900, lending his campaign $700 and spending $4,260. Armstrong reported raising $7,500, lending his campaign $4,000 and spending $4,935.

Metro on 01/31/2016

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