Republican Candidates Forum

There was a good crowd attending the Washington County Republican Committee's public forum in Springdale. All the candidates were excellent and they've never sounded better. The Republicans have been lucky to get such great people to run for office.

First to go were the candidates for Lt. Governor; Doug Matayo, Jim Holt and Chuck Banks. I thought that Matayo was strong and steady throughout the debate. A couple of times I thought that some things Holt was saying would jolt him, but he held tight. Holt kept throwing out numbers. When some one starts doing that I think they're trying to be a smarty pants and I get kinda turned off. He was tossing out too many numbers and my eyes sorta glazed over. I have a tendency not to believe any numbers unless I know them to be accurate. Banks was a live one. As the debate progressed he got a little feisty. He really got heated up about illegal immigrants. I liked it. It's good for a candidate to show some passion.
The most interesting question was what would you do if you became Governor? Banks said he'd continue Asa's "Grow Arkansas", Matayo would build coalitions between Republicans and Democrats, and Holt would get rid of the liberal bureaucrats and advisors within the government.
My impressions: Matayo is the most qualified, Banks is probably the most electable, Holt needs to attach a brain to his mouth. (OK, I probably shouldn't have said that but, well, he needs to think before he speaks.)



The next debate was the State Senator, District 35; Jim Bob Duggar and Bill Prichard. Prichard seemed to be the more experienced but Duggar showed that he was well match with Prichard. It's going to be tough to choose between them, since they agree on most stuff. I think the most helpful question was what would be their priorities if elected. Prichard's was the budget with it's run-away spending and education. Dugger was concerned about roads in NW Arkansas, the utility costs and immigration.


Last was the State Rep. District 93; Kathy McFetridge and Jon Woods. These two are different. Woods is a true, die hard, conservative Republican. McFetridge is a Republican, but more toward the liberal side. On the issue of returning tax money, Woods said it's taxpayer's money, return it to them. He made a pledge that he would not vote for tax increases. McFetridge spoke of finding a balance. I'm not quite sure what she meant by that other than not to give the money back. She did say she wanted the tax on groceries eliminated. One additional comment she made in regards to school vouchers; she support tax increases to fund them.
Another area they differed was toll roads. McFetridge said she supported toll roads while Woods opposed them because he felt that NW Arkansas shouldn't pay twice for our roads.
How you vote for McFetridge or Woods is going to depend on what type of Republican you are. The Republican Party encompasses a range of ideas. Although we may have some different views we do have some core values. We need to embrace and promote those values. I hope that the Republican Party is more accepting of some different points of view from their fellow Republicans. We should not follow the hypocrisy of the Democrat Party who say they are tolerant and yet thrash those who do not accept the more liberal ideas of the party. Republicans should be able to say we have disagreements but in the end we are still Republicans.

Previous entries on candidates:
Lt Gov

Senator Dist 35

Rep Dist 93