In his bid to beat Sen. David Burnett of Osceola, Rep. David Wallace, R-Leachville, claims the Democratic incumbent has one of the more liberal voting records in the Senate and Wallace is touting his endorsements from Arkansas Right to Life and the National Rifle Association.
Burnett counters by pointing to his experience and to his legislation to create jobs. He says he might be better described as a moderate.
They’re vying in Senate District 22 in the Nov. 8 election. Senate District 22 includes Mississippi and Poinsett counties and part of Craighead County. The Senate is composed of 24 Republicans and 11 Democrats.
The legislative job pays an annual salary of $39,400, plus per diem and mileage for attending legislative meetings. The term is for four years.
The race has been spiced in recent weeks by ethics complaints filed against Burnett, alleging that he improperly accepted contributions from 14 businesses, and against Wallace, questioning the source of his more than $122,000 in loans to his campaign. So far, Burnett has reported returning seven contributions to businesses that he said he inadvertently accepted. Meanwhile, Wallace said he has lent personal funds to his campaign, including his legislative pay and stock options — not funds from his companies, a bank loan or line of credit.
In another matter pertaining to Wallace, in late August, an attorney for Wallace in New Orleans, Jesse Wimberly, disputed news reports that a company in which Wallace is a partner was connected to a bus carrying laborers that was involved in a fatal wreck in Louisiana. The passengers included illegal aliens.
Wallace said the company, called Wallace Rush Schmidt, “had no association at all with that bus.”
In August, Wimberly said an independent headhunter hired a bus company to round up potential laborers for Wallace’s business, which would provide workers for flood relief in Baton Rouge. The attorney said Wallace’s business had no connection with the bus company, other than the fact that the staffing consultant was providing the potential hires for Wallace’s business to screen to see if they could be employed. Wallace said his company hires only laborers with proper immigration papers.
Wallace, 67, has been in the state House of Representatives since 2015. He served on the Leachville City Council from 1992-1994 and from 2010-2014. He is a retired Army lieutenant colonel and owns about 40 rental properties.
Burnett, 75, has been in the Senate since 2011. He was a prosecutor for eight years, starting in 1975, and a circuit judge for 26 years, starting in 1983. He is an attorney.
Wallace said voters should vote for him because he works to help people every day.
“I return my phone calls and David Burnett does not,” he said, adding it’s a complaint that he has heard from a range of people from small-town mayors to school principals.
Burnett said it’s “just a flat lie” for Wallace to suggest that Burnett doesn’t return phone calls from mayors, principals and others.
Wallace said Burnett “has one of the most liberal voting records” in the Senate, without citing a particular vote ranking.
“I have a conservative voting record,” Wallace said.
He said he’s been endorsed by Arkansas Right to Life and the National Rifle Association, the latter of which gave him an A grade and Burnett a C-minus.
Asked about Wallace’s assertion on Burnett’s “liberal” voting record, Burnett said, “I don’t think that’s true either.”
“I don’t mind crossing party lines to vote, but I am not a liberal,” Burnett said. “I look at what is best for northeast Arkansas. … I might be a moderate. As a prosecutor and circuit judge, I was probably right wing.”
On one issue that often comes up in the Legislature, Wallace declined to specify under which situations he would favor allowing abortions.
“I am not going to go down that road. There are laws in place and people who do that need to abide by the laws in the state of Arkansas,” he said.
Burnett said he opposes abortion except to save the life of the mother and maybe in some instances of rape and incest.
“It would depend on the case,” the former judge said.
He said he considers himself “pro-life,” but he voted against legislation to ban most abortions after the 12th week of gestation because he believed the bill was unconstitutional and would cost much money to defend. A federal judge later ruled the measure unconstitutional.
On national politics, Burnett said last week that he hasn’t decided yet for which presidential candidate he’ll vote. “That is a hard decision. I probably won’t do that until I go into the ballot place,” he said.
Wallace said he’ll vote for Republican Donald Trump, a New York real estate developer and reality TV star.
“I have the courage to do that,” Wallace said. “[Burnett] just wants to try to straddle the fence because that is a hot subject.”
Hillary Clinton is the Democratic presidential nominee. Clinton is a former U.S. secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady of Arkansas and the nation.
Burnett said voters should re-elect him based on his experience and legislative achievements.
“I have produced jobs and income for northeast Arkansas,” Burnett said.
He noted that he sponsored 2013 legislation authorizing a $125 million state bond issue for the Big River steel mill near Osceola.
Wallace said, “All of us want to create more jobs.”
Both Wallace and Burnett said they support continuing Arkansas’ version of Medicaid expansion providing medical coverage for low-income people.
“I support the governor for his stance on it,” Wallace said. “It is a very pragmatic choice. There are funds out there and the state of Arkansas needs those funds.”
Burnett said Arkansas’ version of Medicaid expansion benefits about 300,000 Arkansans. He said Wallace changed his position, after previously campaigning against the program.
But Wallace said the state would have had a funding shortfall if the Legislature earlier this year failed to allow the use of federal and state funds for the program.
First approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Mike Beebe in 2013, the expansion of the Medicaid program extended health insurance coverage to adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level: $16,394 for an individual, for instance, or $33,534 for a family of four. Most of those covered under the expanded part of the program receive the coverage through what is known as the private option, which uses Medicaid funds to buy coverage through private insurance plans.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s Arkansas Works program would continue the coverage while making changes that the governor has said would encourage enrollees to stay employed and take responsibility for their health care. The state is seeking a waiver from the federal government for the Arkansas Works program to start next year. The state will have to pay 5 percent of the cost of the program starting in 2017, and its share gradually will increase to 10 percent by 2020.
On another issue, both Burnett and Wallace said they plan to vote against two ballot measures that would allow patients to use medical marijuana recommended by a doctor and a proposed constitutional amendment to allow three casinos in southwest and Northwest Arkansas.
As an attorney who serves on the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, Burnett said he has “mixed feelings” about a proposed amendment that would require the Legislature to set a maximum cap of at least $250,000 on noneconomic damages for pain and suffering in lawsuits against medical providers. The proposal also would limit fees for winning lawyers in those cases to one-third of damages.
He said he hasn’t decided how he’ll vote on the proposed amendment.
Wallace said, “We made it too easy to sue our doctors, to sue lawyers [and] business for that matter. I think we need tort reform. I am still looking at that, but I am probably leaning toward [voting for] limiting that.”