Faulkner County jobs in GOP sights
Party challenges Democrat bastion
CONWAY — With a full slate of Republican contenders for Faulkner County’s top offices, party leaders are hopeful that voters will elect one or more Republicans to a countywide office for the first time since Reconstruction.
Paul Foster, chairman of the Faulkner County Republican Committee, said Thursday that he is confident the party will pick up one countywide seat and perhaps as many as four.
More Republicans have been moving into the county over the years, Foster said, and the committee has been “targeting county officials” this year.
“We’ve just been pushing and trying to get our candidates known,” he said. “That’s the big problem.”
Republicans are competing against Democrats for five top offices — county judge, sheriff, clerk, circuit clerk and tax collector. Of those races, only the sheriff’s contest has no incumbent.
Sheriff Karl Byrd, a Democrat, is backing GOP candi-
date Andy Shock, a major in Byrd’s administration, over Democrat Tommy Earnhart, a retired district sergeant with the Arkansas Highway Police.
Assessor Jeff Stephens and Treasurer Regina Oakley are unopposed in their re-election bids.
Businessman Marvin Lessmann, a Republican, is challenging County Judge Preston Scroggin, a Democrat and former state legislator seeking his fourth term.
Mark Vaught, a Republican alderman from Conway, is challenging Clerk Melinda Reynolds’ bid for an 11th term in office.
Circuit Clerk Rhonda Wharton is challenged by businessman Jack Sotallaro as she seeks her fourth term.
Josh Hooten, a fiscal-support specialist for the state, is challenging Tax Collector Steve Simon, who is up for a sixth term.
Fritzie Vammen, chairman of the Faulkner County Democratic Committee, said a “staggering amount of out-of-state money” has been “invested in Arkansas politics” on behalf of Republican candidates and “cannot be ignored.”
“I expect the county Democratic races to be close, given the heavy financial resources the Republican national party has committed to defeating local Democrats, but I absolutely do believe that our candidates will be elected,” Vammen said in an e-mail.
Jimmy Bryant, archivist at the University of Central Arkansas and a former president of the Faulkner County Historical Society, said no Republican has been elected to a countywide Faulkner County office since Reconstruction.
In the sheriff’s race, Shock, 39, is running on his experience in the sheriff’s office.
“My administrative experience is the biggest thing that sets Tommy and me apart,” said Shock, who began working for the office in 1999.
“The Highway Police and the Faulkner County sheriff’s office couldn’t be more different,” Shock said. “We are involved in detention, criminal investigations, domestic [matters], burglaries, homicides, anything along those lines. The Highway Police, their focus is narrow.”
Shock also cited the growing need for a strong understanding of technology.
Earnhart, 60, said he has more than 25 years of law-enforcement experience, the last 22 with the Highway Police. As district sergeant, he said he had 17 officers in 14 counties under his command.
Earnhart said he would like to see a more efficient budget, so that employees could get raises, and more deputies on rural roads rather than main ones.
He also said the sheriff’s office should avail itself of the civil county attorney’s services rather than rely so much on another costly attorney.
As county judge, Scroggin, 46, said he believes his experience in state and county government since the late 1980s helps him know “how to get things done.”
He said he wants to continue to improve county roads and to work with the city and the state on Arkansas 25’s relocation.
“I’m not a politician, never have been,” Scroggin said. “I believe in hard work and trying to plan ahead.”
Challenger Lessmann, who has a law degree, called for more efficiency, transparency and accountability in government.
Lessmann said he has done business and risk-management consulting, and wants to see more emphasis on public safety in addition to roads.
“We need to do better,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll never have anything close to [another Vilonia tornado] again, but if we do, I’m not sure we’re ready.”
Reynolds, 55, cited her 32 years in the clerk’s office, where she was a deputy for 12 years. She said in an e-mail that she has been involved in “somewhere around 90-100 elections with no major problems through those years.”
“In my office, we try to help everyone that comes in as much as possible (rich or poor, Republican, Democrat or Independent) in a friendly and professional manner,” she said in the e-mail.
When she started in the office, “we did everything with a typewriter and paper.” But now, she said, “The office is ... in the 21st century. Through the years, we have kept the office up to date [on technology] as funds became available.”
Vaught, 43, cited his 20-year background in informationtechnology management and six years on the City Council.
“I’m running on issues of transparency and efficiency through the increased usage of technology,” Vaught said.
He can rely on his own technological abilities rather than hire someone to do such work, he said.
He said he also wants to “eliminate the mistakes that were made in some previous elections” on ballot information. “I ... pay very close attention to details,” he said.
Wharton, 53, cited her 25 years of “on-the-job training, plus serving on many committees and boards related to my job,” such as president of the Arkansas Circuit Clerks Association.
She said the office’s major responsibilities are the protection, preservation and safety of county records and efficient customer service.
Without the essential experience, she said, “You can’t just walk into this office and start working” because so many specialized programs require training.
“We have made many advances in this office over the last 25 years, going from hand writing everything to almost complete automation,” she said in an e-mail. “Very rarely do we use a pen except to sign our names to documents.”
Sotallaro, 65, has worked as a statistical programmer and in a data center among other jobs over the years.
“I know how to do records management, how to run staff and interact with people,” he said.
He said he wants to provide better service to constituents and customers, and start “a government-on-the-road” program where the office would schedule time outside Conway.
Sotallaro also cited the need for improved technology to be put in place over a couple of years and said his background will help the office be “more efficient, cost-beneficial and ... provide better service.”
Simon, 60, said his knowledge of tax-collection laws is “very valuable to this position.”
“In spite of some of the negative aspects of the job — no one likes to pay taxes — I do enjoy serving the people,” Simon said.
“I believe I have been able to help many folks with their problems and concerns,” he said.
Hooten, 34, mentioned his accounting experience and said he wants to improve customer service.
Hooten suggested giving people an incentive to pay their property taxes before the deadline.
If they get 1 percent or 2 percent back, that gives “somebody a reason to pay early,” he said, noting the money would come from unspent budgeted funds. “We’re hoping to get interest on the money coming in early,” he said.