Collins, Garner differ on more than guns

State Rep. Charlie Collins (left) and Denise Garner
State Rep. Charlie Collins (left) and Denise Garner

FAYETTEVILLE -- No member of the Northwest Arkansas delegation inspired more protests during the last legislative session than Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville. His legislation allows concealed carry permit holders to take weapons onto state college campuses if they get extra training.

The House District 84 contest is about a lot more than Act 562 of 2017, though, said Collins and his Democratic opponent, Denise Garner of Fayetteville.

Arkansas House

District 84

Charlie Collins (R)

(Incumbent)

Age: 55

Residency: Fayetteville; district resident since 1996.

Employment: Co-owner, Crown Partners Executive Search, a job recruitment firm.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, 1985; master’s degree in quantitative economics from George Washington University, 1986.

Political Experience: State House, 2011 to present.

Denise Garner (D)

Age: 61

Residency: Fayetteville; district resident since 1989.

Employment: Founder and director of nonprofit groups.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in nursing and nurse practitioner certification, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Political Experience: None.

"At every meet and greet I go to, the first thing that comes up is guns," Garner said. "The real issue is that Charlie didn't listen, not to faculty or staff, students or parents or the campus police." On any issue, she said, Collins has an opinion of his own and sticks to it.

Collins said his record is a wide, varied and influential; one that benefits residents of his district in particular and Arkansas in general.

"I don't just flap my gums and make promises," Collins said. "On taxation, education, regulation and litigation I've reduced barriers for my constituents and their children to succeed."

In particular, he is "laser focused on income tax policy" in the upcoming legislative session, Collins said. Criticism of the governor's plan to reduce taxes on the most successful Arkansans in the upcoming session ignores tax cuts already passed that benefit Arkansas in lower income brackets, he said.

District 84 stretches from northern West Fork to southern Springdale. It takes in the eastern side of Fayetteville but does not include the grounds of the University of Arkansas, where Collins' gun legislation stirred the most protest. Early voting in the Nov. 6 general election begins Monday.

On health care, Collins said the support of conservative lawmakers like him was vital to getting the state's innovative health care plan passed in 2013 and renewing it in subsequent years.

"I was in the room when we got the variances we needed from the federal Department of Health and Human Services that allowed it," Collins said. He supports the work requirements and other reforms added to the program since, he said.

Yet Collins was one of the few lawmakers who, in the last session, did not vote in favor of a bill that reined in pharmacy benefits managers, Garner said. House Bill 1010 of 2018 passed in a special session after pharmacists across the state protested that certain suppliers were getting favorable treatment.

Garner also criticized state grants Collins steered to Ecclesia College, a private religious school in Springdale that was later found to have given kickbacks to lawmakers who made bigger grants. Collins was never implicated in the kickback scheme. Collins said he supported Ecclesia's work college concept, which allows students to get a college degree without incurring a lot of loan debt. Work study colleges allow students to work off much of their tuition.

As a director of nonprofit efforts, Garner said, she will foster a more cooperative approach if elected. "Democracy doesn't work if everybody doesn't participate," she said.

State House members serve two-year terms and have an annual salary of $39,400.

photo

File Photo/ NWA Democrat Gazette

State Rep. Charlie Collins (left), R-Fayetteville, is shown in this 2014 file photo.

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Denise Garner

NW News on 10/18/2018

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