Thursday, January 26, 2006

Gunner Delay, Candidate AG

Yesterday I heard Gunner Delay at the Wa. Co. Republican Women's meeting. I was very impressed with him. He spoke on 3 issues that he was campaigning on.
1. Utility Rates. He said that one of the duties of the Attorney General was to affectively and aggressively fight for the public on proposed utility hikes. He felt that it was a conflict of interest for the Attorney General to accept donations from the electric company when he's suppose to represent the public. He said he would not be accepting donations from the utility companies.
2. Ethics. There is a practice within the legislature for some to accept retaining fees from businesses(clients) and later represent their issues before the legislature. He felt this was fairly close to bribery. He said that if fees were accepted then the representative should be barred from any legislative process involving that client. He wants to establish a Public Integrity Unit for the Attorney General's office. This division would be charged with the responsibility of investigating and prosecuting corruption charges involving public servants.
3. Rule of Law. Gunner felt that the Attorney General should judge issues according to the law and not for political expediency. He cited the defeated Highway Bond. He felt that the bond violated Arkansas' Constitution and that the Attorney General should have looked into it. He also brought up the KELO decision. He didn't think Arkansans were fully protected from eminent domain seizures. He noted that TIF districts have eminent domain power. A property owner falling within that district may lose their property even if it's well maintained.
I liked what I was hearing from Gunner. I hope I get a chance to hear him speak again. I had to go back to work after the meeting so I didn't get a chance to talk with him.

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