Candidates for Arkansas attorney general discussed a wide range of topics during a debate Thursday afternoon, but they agreed about the absence of candidate Tim Griffin.
Democrat Jesse Gibson and Republican Leon Jones Jr., both of Little Rock, participated in a day of debates hosted by the Arkansas Press Association. Griffin, a Republican from Little Rock who is running for attorney general after spending the last eight years as lieutenant governor, didn't attend the event.
Gibson took this opportunity to hammer Griffin on his absence and his policies.
"This issue about protecting rights, our current administration has been missing. It's kind of metaphor that we got Missing Griffin. Where is the Lt. Governor? If he wants to run for the people's vote, where is he?" Gibson said.
Jones also harped on Griffin's absence from the debate stage.
"Those who want to lead should show up, and those who want to be leaders should be here to answer questions," he said.
Griffin's campaign manager David Ray, who is also a Republican state representative from Maumelle, said Griffin missed Thursday's event due to a conflict.
"Lt. Governor Griffin has appeared at several events with his primary opponent in multiple areas of the state, but he had a conflict with today's event," Ray said in a statement. "Regarding our Democrat opponent, there will be plenty of time to address him following the May 24th primary."
Jones and Gibson also spoke about how they viewed the role of attorney general.
Jones throughout the debate outlined his view that the attorney general should protect the laws that are passed by the General Assembly, no matter what.
"The legislators chose to draw the map the way they did and the attorney general has the mandate to defend the laws that are passed by the General Assembly," he said in answering a question about congressional redistricting in the state. "If the legislators saw fit to draw the map the way they did, it's not the attorney general's office position to question it."
Gibson said his philosophy differs.
"The attorney general's office is not the private law firm for the legislator to engage and deal with every whim they might seek to take forth," he said. "The role of the attorney general is to be an independent watchdog.
"We have seen far too often the acts of legislators costing taxpayers money. Every session there is multiple bills challenged on constitutional grounds that attorney general should have told them wouldn't stand. That they are spending taxpayer dollars and not being good stewards of that money."
Social media companies' rights to ban or restrict online discussion was also debated.
Gibson said the First Amendment does not protect the right to discuss views on any medium.
"The First Amendment does not guarantee, specifically a private company, that you have to let someone utilize their medium to get their message out," he said. "...I really want to go after social media companies that profit off disinformation. I know good people who chose not to get the covid vaccine because they were misled online."
Jones said he fully believes that people have the right to express their views.
"Listen, I am running for attorney general as a Black Republican in the state of Arkansas. People have said vile things online, but they have the right to say it and that right should be protected," he said.
Both candidates agreed the attorney general's office needed to bolster its human trafficking department.