State Sen. Jason Rapert on Thursday jabbed Attorney General Leslie Rutledge over her office's advice to lawmakers about enacting a Texas-style civil cause of action anti-abortion law in Arkansas as he called for her to reveal the details behind a charge against her for interfering with a law enforcement officer that a judge dismissed in 2002.
The exchange took place during a nearly two-hour debate among eight candidates for lieutenant governor where businessman Chris Bequette called former state Republican Party chairman Doyle Webb, Rapert and Rutledge RINOs -- Republicans in name only -- and state Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe took aim at Rutledge and Rapert.
Six Republican candidates for lieutenant governor, including Washington County Judge Joseph Wood, as well as Democratic candidate Kelly Krout of Lowell and Libertarian candidate Frank Gilbert of Little Rock participated in the debate, which was sponsored by The Arkansas Press Association.
The Republicans will vie in the May 24 primary. If the none of the GOP candidates win a majority of the votes in the primary, the two top voter-getters will advance to a runoff election on June 21 to determine the Republican nominee in the Nov. 8 general election.
Rutledge, of Maumelle, who has been the state's attorney general since 2015, said Arkansans know her as "a Christian, pro-life, gun-carrying conservative woman," who was raised on a cattle farm and is now married, with a 3-year-old daughter, to a row-crop farmer.
She said that she "has fought to protect our rights, such as our pro-life values, [and] that's why Arkansas has been named the most pro-life state in the United States for two years in a row." She said she's also fought to protect Arkansans' Second Amendment rights, young girls in school, and religious liberties.
But Rapert, of Conway, said that "You can't be pro-life and fight pro-life legislation and I am tired of hearing some of the people on this platform," who have fought against the Arkansas Legislature enacting legislation including a Texas-style civil cause of action provision.
"Attorney General Rutledge sent her team to tell Republicans they should not support it," he charged.
Afterward, Rutledge told reporters that her staff provided legal advice to state lawmakers about the potential impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's pending ruling on Mississippi's anti-abortion law on Arkansas' anti-abortion laws and potential anti-abortion legislation in Arkansas.
She said that her staff didn't take a position on Rapert's proposed bill to couple a Texas-style civil cause of action provision with a ban on abortion except to save the life of a mother. The provision allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits to enforce the abortion law, bypassing government officials.
In 2021, the Arkansas Legislature enacted a law sponsored by Rapert to ban abortion except to save the life of the mother. A federal judge has enjoined the enforcement of that law.
During Thursday's debate, Rapert said that court records show that in 2oo2, Rutledge was charged with interfering with a law enforcement officer in Batesville and that the charge was later dismissed by a judge. The court records show the judge was Chaney Taylor Jr.
Rapert said that Rutledge should provide details about what transpired.
However, during the debate, Rutledge said she would focus on her accomplishments as attorney general, including defending the state's anti-abortion laws in court and her participation in challenging polices set by President Joe Biden's administration rather "than rehashing some 20-year-old nonsense that got dismissed immediately.
"I am looking to the future of the great state of Arkansas, not to the past," she said.
Asked about the dismissed 2002 charge after the debate, Rutledge told reporters that "it was a traffic stop where someone else was driving and they had parked and they were questioning the other person and I said, 'Hey, I am a lawyer, let me make sure she is answering the questions and cooperating.'
"And when I said that and I stood up and then they said, 'Ma'am you can't be interfering,' so it was a big old misunderstanding and that's why as soon as the court saw it, they were like this is ridiculous you can't have lawyers being arrested for telling somebody to cooperate with law enforcement," she said.
"It was just a silly, cheap, political shot by Jason," she added.
Bequette, of Little Rock said he's running for lieutenant governor because Rapert, Rutledge and Webb, and too many other Republicans have failed to do their job with the GOP in control of state government over the past several years.
He said these Republicans have failed to make state government truly smaller, come close to abolishing the state income tax, crack down on crime that rages in the state, enact statewide school choice, and reign in the out-of-control higher education system.
Bequette said he would provide Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis-style leadership as lieutenant governor. He said he would take no salary as lieutenant governor and have no paid staff, and the lieutenant governor doesn't need an office.
Webb, of Benton, said Bequette, who now "calls other people RINOS," indicated he was too busy when he tried to get him to run for the state's attorney general post about a decade ago.
But Bequette said Webb is the reason that there are so many RINOS in the Legislature, adding that he couldn't run for attorney general about 10 years ago because of his family situation.
And, in response to Bequette's "RINO" tag, Rapert said he has been on the front lines making sure that the Republican platform is held up in the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Bledsoe, of Little Rock, said Rutledge has significantly increased the attorney general's spending on advertising and Rapert has voted to raise some taxes.
Rapert said he has voted for bills to cut more than $1.2 billion in taxes while Republicans were in control of state government and Bledsoe "needs to go back and talk to his boss about this."
Krout , the Democrat, countered that said the state's income tax cuts are largely benefiting the most wealthy Arkansans and not low-income Arkansans.
At one point, Bequette said Rapert has voted to raise gas and diesel taxes. And Rapert countered that Bledsoe is paid about $14,000 a month to be a part-time surgeon general.
Afterward, Rutledge said her office's increased radio and television spending has been paid out of lawsuit settlement funds -- not tax dollars -- and the public service announcements have dramatically increased the number of calls from Arkansans to the attorney general's office, which has attempted to help these people.
The funds for the public service announcements make up about 6 % to 7 % of the lawsuit settlement funds that the office has allocated, she said.
"It is really just a silly political hit by my opponents desperately trying to break into a field when they have less than 10% each," Rutledge said.
During the debate, Webb said he is the only candidate who has served in the lieutenant governor's office and he's the only candidate who actually wants to be the lieutenant governor.
He said he was chief of staff to the late Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller for about 1,500 days and "I was never bored when I was serving the people of Arkansas." He said he wants to work as lieutenant governor to enact more school choice, create more jobs, streamline state government and eliminate the state income tax.
Bequette questioned why Webb didn't begin pushing for more school choice options when he started as chairman of the state Republican Party.
Bledsoe also said he wants to eliminate the state income tax, support law enforcement and work on school choice, which "is not just an education issue, it is a moral issue," he said.
Bledsoe said he is a physician, not a politician, who is Christian, pro-life, pro-entrepreneur, anti-mandate and anti-Marxist.
"I am running today for lieutenant governor because politics has become too important to leave to politicians [and] we don't need the same three or four people running for every office," he said.
Rutledge said she wants to work as lieutenant governor to permanently eliminate the state income tax, to protect 2nd Amendment rights, keep the state "the most pro-life" in the nation, and grow jobs in the state.
But Bequette said he never heard Rutledge talk about eliminating the state income tax until after she announced her bid for governor in July 2020. In November of 2021, Rutledge decided to abandon her bid for governor to run for lieutenant governor.
In fiscal 2023, which starts July 1, the state Department of Finance and Administration projects the state's individual income taxes will total $3.48 billion of the state's total general revenue of $7.53 billion. The department projects net general revenue available for distribution in fiscal 2023 at $6.21 billion with a general revenue budget for state-supported programs at $6.02 billion and a general revenue surplus of $194 million.
Wood, of Fayetteville, described himself as uniquely qualified to be the state's next lieutenant governor because he has served as an executive in the secretary of state's office, in local government and the private sector.
Gilbert, the Libertarian, said the authority of the lieutenant governor's office has been gutted during the past several years.
Republican Tim Griffin of Little Rock has served as the state's lieutenant governor since 2015 and is barred from seeking re-election under the state's term limits amendment. He is running for the Republican nomination for attorney general in this year's primary election.
The official duties of Arkansas' lieutenant governor as described by the Arkansas Constitution are to preside over the 35-member Senate with a tie-breaking vote, and to serve as governor if the governor is impeached, removed from office, dies or is otherwise unable to discharge the office's duties, according to the office's website.
The position is considered to be part-time. The salary for the post is currently $46,704 a year.