Lesa Crowell, a former parole agent, is challenging incumbent Rep. Mary Bentley, a business owner, for her seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives.
Both candidates say their experiences make them uniquely qualified to represent voters in House District 73, which includes parts of Yell, Pope, Perry, and Conway counties. The election is Nov. 8.
Bentley, a Republican from Perryville who owns Bentley Plastics, said she has the know-how to reduce regulation and grow the local economy.
“It’s really what got me into politics. Our small company works really hard and after spending some time at the Capitol, I learned we really didn’t have any voice for small business in the state,” she said. “Very few people understand what goes on in manufacturing or in a small business. I thought we needed a voice in the Capitol.”
The 54-year-old said she has drawn officials from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism to her district to help enhance its economy.
But her challenger — Crowell, a Democrat from Dardanelle — says that her experience as a parole agent gives her the knowledge to help solve criminal-justice problems that plague the state.
“The prison and parole system is broken. It is so broken. With all of the years I have spent working for probation and parole, I am the fresh set of eyes that the Legislature needs to address that problem,” she said. “It’s a revolving door. I can arrest somebody with a pound of dope and they’re going to go back for six months and they’re going to do it again.”
The 47-year-old, an Army veteran who served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, had been a sex-offender coordinator for Arkansas Community Correction. She took a job as a poultry broker with Poultry Specialties Inc. after she broke her leg.
Crowell said the state needs to increase funding for pre-kindergarten education to increase student achievement. She also wants the state to focus on mental-health matters and drug addiction to reduce crowding in the prison system and rehabilitate repeat offenders.
Both candidates say they want to represent and promote the farming community, but they differ when it comes to providing insurance for low-income residents through the state’s Medicaid expansion.
First approved by the Legislature in 2013, the expansion of the Medicaid program extended 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. More than 300,000 Arkansans have been enrolled for coverage through the Medicaid expansion.
The state will start paying 5 percent of the cost of the program next year, and its share will gradually increase to 10 percent by 2020.
Though Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has made some changes to the Medicaid expansion, Bentley has voted against funding the program and said she will continue to do so.
“It’s not the answer,” she said. “It doesn’t lower our health care costs and I’m very concerned about the costs into the future.”
Crowell said Bentley was too focused on protesting the federal government.
“She’s way too focused on federal issues and she’s way too focused on partisan politics,” Crowell said of Bentley. “She gave a speech and said, ‘I voted against Obamacare.’ No, you didn’t. You voted against Arkansas Works, which [if the measure had not passed] would have shut down Yell County’s two hospitals.”
Crowell said she would support the program if elected.
Bentley said of her record, “I think I’m very focused on things that matter to my district.”
Crowell said an issue on the campaign trail was an incident a year ago in which Bentley threatened to pull funding from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission during a confrontation in which an officer issued her husband a summons concerning an all-terrain vehicle and game baiting.
According to a Game and Fish Commission report dated Oct. 18, 2015, Bentley “made the statement that we … need to be real careful, that times were tough and money was tight and that they (House) are looking for places to get money for funding and the Game and Fish Commission would be a good place to look.”
In the recent interview, Bentley said that at the time, she was confronting health issues in her family.
“I said something I wish I hadn’t said, but I’m not a perfect individual,” she said. “We paid the fine. I had a bad day, let frustration get the best of me and said something I shouldn’t have said.”
“It disappointed me. I worked with Game and Fish all the time when I was in law enforcement,” Crowell said. “Those guys — they’re certified law enforcement just like we are — they’ll back you up anytime you call them. They are good, trained officers and they were just doing their job.”
Bentley said she opposes both the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act and the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, which will be on Nov. 8 ballots.
Crowell said she supports the Medical Cannabis Act because one of her best friends died of throat cancer and marijuana was the only thing that helped her friend cope with the treatments.
“The people that are against it — until they’ve watched someone that they love die and it’s the only thing that helps them — they need to keep their mouth shut,” Crowell said.
Bentley defeated Rep. John Catlett, D-Rover, in 2014 by 196 votes, after losing to him by 338 votes in 2012.
The salary for a House member is $39,400 a year. House members also receive per diem and mileage for attending legislative meetings. The term is for two years.
The House has 62 Republicans, 34 Democrats and one independent, Rep. Nate Bell of Mena. There are three vacant House seats that were held by former Rep. Bill Gossage, R-Ozark; former Rep. Kelley Linck, R-Flippin; and the late Rep. Sheilla Lampkin, D-Monticello.