Republican attorney general candidate Leslie Rutledge called fellow candidate David Sterling’s plan to reinstate the use of the electric chair to carry out the death penalty “irresponsible rhetoric,” during a debate at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock W.H. Bowen School of Law Wednesday evening.
Rutledge and Sterling traded several barbs during the debate, which also included Republican Patricia Nation.
The winner of next month’s Republican primary will face state Rep. Nate Steel, D-Nashville, in the general election in November. Steel is the lone Democratic candidate for the seat.
Sterling defended his comments on reinstating the use of the electric chair, arguing that he would also urge the Legislature to prescribe the use of pentobarbital - a short-acting barbiturate - in executions, which he said has been used successfully in Texas, Ohio, Tennessee and Oklahoma.
But if the state is not able to obtain the appropriate drugs, Arkansas law allows the use of the electric chair, he said.
“I will carry out the law that Arkansas has on the books,” Sterling said.
Rutledge, who referred to the state’s electric chair as “Old Sparky,” said the device has not been used in years and is currently held in a museum. She said she would instead “work with the federal government to ensure that we have the drugs to carry out executions.”
The last execution in Arkansas was in 2005, and since then the state has seen several legal challenges that argue the Legislature has given too much authority to the Department of Correction to carry the death penalty out.
Nation said she supports the death penalty but said it was up to the Legislature to set the protocols.
Former Republican state Rep. Dan Greenberg, president of the Advance Arkansas Institute, hosted the debate. Greenberg said he hopes the institute will host another debate in the fall for the Republican and Democratic candidates.
All three candidates said the passage of Act 746 by the Legislature last year created legal open carry of firearms in the state. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has said he doesn’t believe Act 746 allows people to open carry.
Sterling of Little Rock, who practices business and commercial law, said he disagrees with the attorney general and that he has participated in open-carry marches “celebrating” the act’s passage.
“Everyone [in the Legislature] is pretty much in uniform agreement that that was the intent,” Sterling said.
Nation of Jacksonville, a criminal defense and real estate attorney, agreed that the act dealt with self-defense when it was passed.
“I do believe that we have constitutional carry in the state of Arkansas,” Nation said.
Rutledge of Little Rock, a former attorney for the Republican National Committee and former counsel to Gov. Mike Huckabee, has also said the law allows for open carry. But she said she has heard from some law enforcement officials that the law needs to be clarified because there is some ambiguity about its meaning, and criticized Sterling for calling it “clear.”
“I think that we just have to use good common sense,” Rutledge said.
The candidates agreed that the attorney general’s office should be transparent in how it spends money the state wins in court settlements.
Greenberg asked the three Republicans if they would defend all of the state’s laws if they were elected, citing some attorneys general who have not defended marriage laws in their states.
Nation said Amendment 83 to the state Constitution defines marriage as between a man and a woman and “there is a duty to enforce the laws and that’s how I see this issue.”
Rutledge said she would “enforce and defend all laws and the constitution.”
Sterling said “I won’t pick and choose” on any issue, including same-sex marriage.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 04/10/2014