In their bids for a state Senate seat, former state Rep. Dean Elliott of Maumelle and Mark D. Johnson of Ferndale emphasize their experiences and raise questions about each other.
Elliott touted what he describes as his conservative voting record in his four-year stint in the House of Representatives.
Johnson in turn points to his experience in government and as a consultant.
In the May 22 primary, Johnson and Elliott seek the Republican nomination in Senate District 15. Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, has represented the district since 2013 and isn’t seeking re-election this year.
The winner of the GOP primary will be unopposed in the Nov. 6 general election. The district includes all of Conway County and parts of Faulkner, Perry, Pulaski and Van Buren counties.
ELLIOTT’S BACKGROUND
Elliott said voters in Senate District 15 should vote for him because “although there is a pretty bad sentiment out there that politicians are bad, I happen to have a very clear conservative voting record.
“I am not someone who is going to go to the Capitol and begin to vote against current conservative issues,” he said. “I have never been an establishment guy. I have always been a conservative first. Tax reform has always been a big issue to me. I have always been an A-rated candidate by the [National Rifle Association], and I was one of just a handful of folks that didn’t vote for a fee or tax increase when I was in the Legislature.”
Elliott, 50, has been director of government affairs for Dillard’s Inc. since 2003. He previously was a self-employed independent sales representative and a real estate agent. He is married with two daughters.
He said he ended his lobbyist registration in Arkansas on March 1 when he filed to run for the state Senate, and now he monitors legislation in other states.
Elliott served in the state House of Representatives from 1999-2003 and served on what was then the Maumelle Board of Directors from 1996-98. He lost his first bid for the state Senate to North Little Rock Democrat Mary Anne Salmon in 2002.
Elliott said he successfully sponsored legislation to prohibit unsupervised furlough f o r p e o p l e convicted of first-degree murder. He also sponsored a measure to require the secretary of state’s office to post campaign finance reports for state candidates online and no longer require the reports to be filed with county clerks.
He served on Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s transition committee. Hutchinson will remain neutral in the race between Elliott and Johnson, said Jon Gilmore, chief political strategist for Hutchinson.
In an email addressed to voters, Republican former Gov. Mike Huckabee said he supports Johnson.
Johnson said Elliott didn’t vote in 338 recorded votes in the House, representing one of every six of his votes, based on research by Johnson’s consultant.
His daughter, Allison Johnson, later provided a list of what she said were 284 of Elliott’s missed votes during most of the 2001 session.
But Elliott said those figures “are incorrect” based on his spot check of that list.
JOHNSON’S BACKGROUND
Johnson, 64, said voters should cast their ballots for him because he has more relevant experience as a self-employed businessman and working with federal, state and local governments. He said he understands the needs of local government and rural communities and how the Legislature works.
Johnson is the son of the late state Supreme Court Justice Jim Johnson, who also served in the state Senate from 1951-54.
Mark Johnson served as a staff member for Democratic U.S. Rep. Wilbur Mills from 1975-77, a congressional liaison for the U.S. Small Business Administration from 1979-81 and director of the state Department of Local Services for Republican Gov. Frank White from 1981-83. He is married and has two daughters.
He is a fundraising consultant to nonprofit groups.
Johnson has been been a private consultant since 1983 and occasionally was a contract lobbyist until 2015 for groups ranging from Dempsey Bakery of Little Rock to the AARP.
“He lobbied for the group that is [one] of the biggest supporters of Obamacare,” Elliott said in an interview, referring to AARP. “I would never lobby for a group that would end up supporting Obamacare.”
But Johnson said he worked for AARP on nursing home safety and against payday lenders from 2003 through 2007 or 2008. He left the group before Barack Obama became president in 2009, and he resigned his membership from AARP when it decided to support the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Johnson said he spoke around the state for a group called The Committee to Rethink Reform to rally seniors to persuade Arkansas’ U.S. senators to vote against the Affordable Care Act.
Johnson filed to run for the state Senate on Feb. 28 — the same day that the state Department of Finance and Administration released a tax lien issued in October 2017 against him for $1,024.12 in individual income taxes and a lien issued in March 2015 for $1,028.67 in individual income taxes, according to state records.
Johnson said he wasn’t aware of these state tax liens until he heard speculation that Elliott would use the outstanding liens against him.
“I got them taken care of immediately,” Johnson said.
DISPUTED LIEN
Last September, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen signed an order reviving a Sept. 26, 2007, judgment awarded in favor of Discover Bank against Johnson, which “remains unsatisfied.”
The total due is $14,053.94, which includes the original judgment for $5,021.05, plus $8,515.85 in accrued interest and costs of $517.04, according to Griffen’s order.
Court records show that Johnson’s attorney, Todd Turner, said Johnson denied responsibility in 2006 for the credit card balance of $5,021.05, but Turner said Johnson never notified Discover Bank in writing of any dispute in regard to this account balance.
In an interview, Johnson said he doesn’t think he is responsible for the credit card debt and this could be a case of mistaken identity because “Mark Johnson” is a common name.
STANDS ON ISSUES
If elected, Johnson said that his top priority would be stiffening the state’s ethics laws.
Both Elliott and Johnson said they support Hutchinson’s plan to cut the state’s top individual income tax rate of 6.9 percent to 6 percent, which the governor projects would reduce tax revenue by about $180 million a year.
They said they also support Hutchinson’s plan to reduce the number of state agencies reporting to him.
Johnson said he likes the direction in which Hutchinson has changed Arkansas’ version of Medicaid expansion that is now called Arkansas Works, but “I don’t think it has been changed enough.”
Arkansas Works provides health insurance to about 280,000 Arkansans. The state is paying for 6 percent of the cost of the program this year, and its share will increase to 7 percent next year and 10 percent in 2020 under current federal law. The state projects its share of the costs at about $135 million in fiscal 2019 and the federal government’s share at about $1.95 billion.
“Until I have been convinced that it is fiscally sustainable, then I would be very skeptical of continuing the program,” Johnson said. “That does not mean I would not vote to continue the program under the right circumstances.”
Elliott said, “As long as we have got Obamacare in place, which should be repealed and I advocated against Obamacare at the federal level in Washington, [and] as long as we have got that framework that we have to work under as a state, this is one of the better ways to do it.
“While the work requirement has been great, we have reduced the Medicaid rolls by over 100,000 folks, so it appears to be taking Arkansas in the right direction with a federal mandate that no one likes,” he said. “As long as it continues to move in the right direction and reduce the rolls and continues to hold folks responsible and accountable, yes, I will support it.”
Johnson said he opposes abortion except to save the life of the mother. As for whether he would allow abortions in cases of rape or incest, he said, “That’s a really tough one. But my whole feeling on the issue of life is that it is a human being.”
Elliott said he opposes abortion except to save the life of the mother and in cases of rape or incest.
