The Arkansas attorney general's race has at times turned bitter, with the candidates criticizing one another and attempting to co-opt voters' frustration with corruption in the state Legislature.
The Republican currently in office, Leslie Rutledge, has staked the race on her record, pointing to a 305 percent increase in convictions under the Medicaid Fraud Act during her tenure and the creation of a Public Integrity Division to investigate corruption. She says her challenger, Democrat Mike Lee, lacks an understanding of the office.
But Lee, a former toy-safety regulator for the federal government, has contended that Rutledge has been an ineffectual -- and too often overtly political -- attorney general.
Rutledge's anti-corruption unit, he says, was set up only earlier this summer, after five former lawmakers were convicted or pleaded guilty in federal court.
So far, the anti-corruption division has announced no arrests, though Rutledge has said her office is investigating an unknown number of former legislators.
Meanwhile, Lee has made a point to criticize other aspects of Rutledge's record, saying she has been too focused on joining lawsuits against the federal government.
He also had renewed calls for the release of Rutledge's full decade-old personnel file from her time as a staff attorney at the state Department of Human Services, which had been marked "do-not-rehire."
The unreleased pages from her file were eventually made available in August, showing she received "satisfactory" marks. Rutledge called the issue a "distraction."
Several weeks later, the Democratic Attorneys General Association -- rivals to a GOP group led by Rutledge -- released online video of Rutledge taking state-funded security personnel with her on out-of-state political trips.
"I really don't think he's as mean as he is being asked to be," Rutledge said of Lee. "He doesn't seem comfortable making those statements."
Asked what pitch he was making to voters, Lee said in an interview, "First and foremost, [Rutledge's] fitness for office."
"She has had a focus on the outside, things on the outside, not the people of Arkansas," Lee said. "Other things that are important and need to be done are not being done. Things are falling through the cracks."
Also running in the race is Kerry Hicks, a Libertarian candidate who is not a licensed attorney, but who has said he'll de-politicize the office.
ETHICS AND CORRUPTION
In September, Lee unveiled a 17-point plan to combat corruption and strengthen ethics laws for lawmakers, which he said he would introduce as part of a legislative package during the 2019 session, if elected. During her first campaign in 2014, Rutledge said she would not offer a legislative package as previous attorneys general had done, saying she did not believe that was within the office's main purpose.
She has kept that promise. She said that during the next session, she would advise lawmakers on whatever ethics changes they proposed, though she would not put forward any of her own bills.
Some of the key points of Lee's legislative proposal included a fivefold increase in the maximum fines that could be levied by the Ethics Commission, greater disclosure of the work done by lobbyists and a prohibition on "dark-money" spending by political groups that do not disclose their donors.
Rutledge's campaign noted that the Democrat had filed one of his first campaign-finance reports late and mistakenly attributed an in-kind donation to a restaurant, rather than the restaurant's owner.
"What happened in my campaign doesn't fit the bill for corruption," Lee said, calling the mistaken attribution a "clerical error."
Rutledge's campaign said even a mistake would be subject to a fine under Lee's proposal to end the Ethics Commission's "mulligan rule." Lee said, "I'm not taking a mulligan," and promised to pay whatever fine was levied.
Both Lee and Hicks, the Libertarian, have suggested that Rutledge acted too late in going after legislative corruption. Hicks said during a recent debate that the attorney general's office "shouldn't have to wait for the FBI to take the lead" on investigations.
Rutledge denied the accusation, saying she had her Public Integrity Division "in mind a couple of years ago."
"When you launch a new program you cannot do it overnight," Rutledge said. "So it was certainly not a reaction to what's going at the state Capitol."
Both Lee and Rutledge called for a ban on loans among state lawmakers, after such lending practices were reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
OPIOIDS SUITS
At a news conference in March, Rutledge said she was prepared to tackle a "health care crisis" unleashed by opioid manufacturers by taking three major pharmaceutical companies -- Purdue Pharma, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson -- to court in Pulaski County on a claim of deceptive trade practices.
Rutledge's lawsuit, however, came a little more than a week after a coalition of 87 counties and cities filed their own, more expansive lawsuit against those companies and other opioid manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Claiming that only her office had the authority to represent the entire state in such litigation, Rutledge later filed a motion to have 2nd Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington dropped from the case, though her petition was denied by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Rutledge's request at the time drew rebukes from the heads of the Arkansas Municipal League and Association of Arkansas Counties, which said the attorney general "had no intention of working together."
But Chris Villines, the director of the counties association, said Friday, "There's no bad blood." He expressed a desire to see both lawsuits succeed.
Lee, however, has continued to knock Rutledge for her handling of the legal cases. He called her lawsuit "limited" in scope, and pointed to a Newsweek article praising the cities and counties lawsuit for "paving the way" for future litigation.
"On day one, I will dismiss Leslie Rutledge's lawsuit," Lee said. "And on day one, I will join that united effort of 75 counties as attorney general."
Rutledge said it was Lee, however, who would be limiting the benefit for Arkansans if he dismissed her suit.
"On day two he would realize what a huge mistake he has made," she said.
[2018 ELECTIONS: Full coverage of all Arkansas races]
LITIGATION
At the debate last week, Lee criticized Rutledge for her proclivity for joining and filing suits against the federal government -- something she promised to do during her 2014 race -- especially her decision to join a 20-state lawsuit seeking to upend the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's signature health care law.
Lee said that if Rutledge and the other state attorneys general win the suit, it will jeopardize coverage for the more than 258,000 Arkansans who get their health insurance through the state's private-option Medicaid expansion program, which is subsidized by the federal law.
In a later interview, Rutledge called that claim "ridiculous."
She added that just because the state "made the best of bad situation" with the Affordable Care Act "doesn't make the law constitutional."
"All these people are not going to be just automatically kicked off of health care, but Congress would have time" to come up with a solution, if the law is overturned, Rutledge said.
Rutledge also has joined or filed lawsuits seeking to end the federal government's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; expansion of "critical habitats" for endangered species; Waters of the United States rule; and Obama's Clean Power Plan.
Asked if he would forgo any lawsuits against the federal government, Lee declined to make such a pledge.
"Washington is a mess right now," Lee said. "I think there's a place for Democratic attorneys general to make sure the people of Arkansas don't suffer from any policies coming out of this mess that we have in Washington."
Hicks said during the debate that he did not believe Rutledge was being "effective" by suing the federal government.
QUALIFICATIONS
Despite not being a licensed attorney, Hicks said he went to "paralegal school" and was prepared to handle the duties of the office.
"The attorney general doesn't have to go before a court himself or herself, there's a whole staff of lawyers" in the office, Hicks said. "The attorney general is the administrator of a law office."
The Arkansas Constitution does not require that the attorney general be licensed to practice law.
Asked if Hicks was qualified to serve as attorney general, a spokesman for Lee's campaign said, "It would be very difficult to serve without a law background."
Rutledge's campaign provided a quote pointing the attorney general's own experience as a prosecutor, campaign adviser and attorney for the Republican National Committee.
Early voting in the general election begins Oct. 22. Election Day is Nov. 6.
Metro on 10/14/2018