Governor seeks to tip scales in 8 races

Gov. Asa Hutchinson is endorsing candidates in eight legislative races in Tuesday’s Republican primary, something some in the state GOP call more divisive than helpful.

The governor said he has financially supported his endorsed candidates through his political action committee — called the ASA PAC. He also has recorded robocalls for them and authorized them to use certain remarks by him in their direct mailers.

Hutchinson, the titular head of the state Republican Party, has defended the candidates against what he calls “unfair attacks” — that because they have supported the state private option, they also support Obamacare. Seven of the candidates had voted at his request to authorize the use of federal funds to buy private health insurance for low-income Arkansans under the private-option program.

Hutchinson said he generally doesn’t endorse legislative candidates in GOP primaries, and that’s “a good rule.

a safer rule.”

“There is a lot of Republican primaries out there that I am not engaged in. I assume probably the majority of them I am not engaged in,” he said last week at the state Repub- lican Party headquarters in Little Rock.

But there are eight candidates — mostly running for re-election or who are in legislative offices but are run- ning for different positions — who “have supported me and my agenda as governor, and I have a loyalty to them. So, I have indicated my support for them,” Hutchinson said.

There are 18 GOP primary legislative races on Tuesday’s ballot — 15 for House seats and three for Senate positions.

Hutchinson is supporting a candidate in the three Sen- ate primaries. He favors Rep. Lance Eads over Washington County Justice of the Peace Sharon Lloyd (both are of Springdale); Sen. Eddie Joe Williams over Lonoke Coun- ty Justice of the Peace R.D. Hopper (both of Cabot); and Sen. Jane English over Rep. Donnie Copeland (both of North Little Rock).

ASA PAC has contributed $5,400 ($2,700 for the primary election and $2,700 for the general election) to each of the three — Eads, Williams and English, according to the lawmakers’ campaign-finance reports. The state’s individu- al contribution limit is $2,700 per election.

The governor is endorsing a candidate in five House pri- maries.

He supports Rep. James Sturch over Phillip Finch (both of Batesville); Rep. Re- becca Petty over former Rep. Debra Hobbs (both of Rog- ers); Rep. Sue Scott of Rog- ers over Austin McCollum of Bentonville; Chris Steplock of Greenbrier over Rep. Josh Miller of Heber Springs; and Rep. Jana Della Rosa of Rog- ers over former Rep. Randy Alexander of Rogers and Jana Starr of Springdale.

ASA PAC has contributed $5,400 apiece to Sturch, Petty, Scott and Della Rosa, according to their campaign-finance reports, and $5,400 to Steplock, said ASA PAC spokes- man Marie Holder.

According to the latest report on file with the secretary of state’s office, ASA PAC received total contributions of $416,325.25 and spent $80,273.82 on administrative expenses and contributions to candidates, leaving $336,051.43 in the bank as of Dec. 31.

Hutchinson said he had a previous political action committee called A Secure America that had a broader purpose, and “we reformed it since I became governor just to refocus its efforts on Arkansas agendas and legislative races in this state.”

ASA PAC “was formed because a lot of people really care about effective legislators, and those that have worked hard to support my agenda of lowering taxes and growing business in this state, I wanted to be able to support [them], and the PAC serves that function,” Hutchinson said.

The Republican governor has become more publicly active in his party’s legislative primaries than his predecessors were, said Jay Barth, a political science professor at Hendrix College in Conway.

“Obviously, it is some test of his political capital,” Barth said of the governor endorsing candidates in Republican primaries. “There is a lot of riskiness. If it goes awry, it could be embarrassing and show some weakness in his own party.”

Eads, Williams, English, Sturch, Petty, Scott and Della Rosa voted to authorize the use of federal funds for Arkansas’ version of the Meding icaid expansion that’s called the private option.

Miller has voted against funding the program and has criticized the governor at times.

The private-option program has divided Republicans ever since the Republican-controlled Legislature and then-Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe authorized it in 2013 to begin in 2014.

The private option covers adults who have incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level: $16,243 for an individual, for example, or $33,465 for a family of four.

The program provides health insurance to about 210,000 Arkansans. The state will start paying 5 percent of the program’s cost in 2017, and the cost will gradually increase to 10 percent by 2020.

During a special session this spring, Hutchinson wants to alter the private-option program to encourage more job training and personal responsibility by its recipients starting next year. He also wants to rename it Arkansas Works. A special legislative session to change the program is to start April 6, the governor has said. The special session would be followed a week later by the regularly scheduled fiscal legislative session, in which the funding for Arkansas Works would be considered.

Over the past three years, authorizing the private-option funding required a three-fourths vote in both the 100-member House and 35-member Senate. Some Democrats and Republicans wonder if they will have enough votes to meet that three-fourths threshold to authorize funding the program for fiscal 2017, which starts July 1.

At a news conference earlier this month, Hutchinson defended state legislators who have supported the program. He said it’s not contradictory for state legislators to support the private-option program while also opposing the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. He said he wanted to “debunk” arguments to the contrary.

“I hope that Washington replaces Obamacare, but until then, we would only be punishing Arkansas to turn down federal money that 30-plus states are accepting,” Hutchinson said, referring to other states that also have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. “It is perfectly consistent, it is perfectly conservative and logical to oppose Obamacare as a federal policy and yet to accept federal dollars under the Medicaid program in Arkansas,” he said.

Hutchinson said reversing the Medicaid expansion would create a state “budget hole” of more than $100 million. The state’s general revenue budget is $5.19 billion for this fiscal year.

But Copeland said the program is “just a bad deal no matter what you call it.”

“Taking the Medicaid expansion is the same as embracing Obamacare,” he said, adding that the governor could make up for the warned-about budget hole by tapping into $120 million in state discretionary funding. He said the $120 million includes state money set aside in a rainy-day fund for economic development projects, and for legislative and governor general improvement fund projects.

But Hutchinson said, “If we don’t have our Medicaid expansion, we are not going to have any surplus.” He said, “the budget gap of $100 million-plus cannot be filled by surplus. Only a part of it could be filled by surplus, and there would be significant cuts in the budget beyond that.”

He said opponents of the Medicaid expansion don’t like him linking the continuation of the private option to his plan for improving state highways. The plan would in part use state surplus money as matching funds to obtain more federal highway dollars.

Attorney Brenda Vassaur-Taylor of Fayetteville is a spokesman for the Commerce in Action nonprofit, which manages several PACs and is supporting the opponents of Hutchinson-endorsed candidates.

Vassaur-Taylor and businessman Joe Maynard of Fayetteville are co-founders of the Commerce in Action. She said the PACs the group manages focus on electing “candidates who say they believe in and will vote for policies good for small business, which means less government and less dependency on government.”

Vassaur-Taylor said Hutchinson “has certainly clarified his policy positions regarding Medicaid expansion, which in turn may reveal his position regarding other policies when federal dollars are at stake.”

“Many have told us that his involvement [in GOP legislative primaries] is not received well and have considered it as the beginning of a ‘civil war’ within the party as they believe his clarified positions are not consistent with Arkansas’ conservative Republican platform,” she said in an email.

Hutchinson, a former Republican Party chairman, said he respectfully disagrees with Vassaur-Taylor.

“I am a loyal Republican. I have fought for decades for the principles of our party, and I continue to do so, and every position I have taken is consistent with the principles of our party,” he said.

“But I also will say that my first allegiance is to the people of the state of Arkansas. I hope that’s how my decisions are weighed as to what is good and best for Arkansas,” said Hutchinson.

Hutchinson is a former 3rd District congressman, a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security undersecretary and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration director, and a former U.S. attorney.

In a 2014 GOP primary runoff, Vassaur-Taylor and Maynard’s groups helped Scott Flippo of Mountain Home upset then-state Rep. John Burris of Harrison. Burris was one of three leading legislative architects of the private option that Flippo opposes.

English said the Vassaur-Taylor and Maynard groups “are looking to be a major force in the Legislature.”

“All they care about is hav control of the Senate,” not what’s in the best interest of Senate District 34, English said in reference to the district she represents.

But Vassaur-Taylor said it appears “that the governor has chosen to make this primary election a referendum on his own administration and their plans for Arkansas,” rather than electing legislators to represent state districts.

Some candidates are unhappy about the governor’s attempts to influence their races.

Lloyd said she has known Hutchinson for more than 20 years and helped in several of Hutchinson’s campaigns.

She said that when she entered the race, she expected to face incumbent Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, who had supported Hutchinson on the private option.

She said she asked Hutchinson not to endorse any candidate in the race. But the governor decided to support Woods. Woods later decided against seeking re-election, and Eads became her primary opponent. Eads now has the backing of Woods as well as the governor.

Lloyd said Hutchinson told her that he would support Eads because Eads would follow the governor’s agenda.

“I feel like he wants a rubber stamp, and he knows I won’t do that,” said Lloyd, who opposes the Medicaid expansion.

Hutchinson, who appointed Lloyd to the Washington County Quorum Court last year, said he has a good history with her. He said he let her know, when she was thinking about running for the Senate, that he planned to support Woods. He said he didn’t want it to come as a surprise to her. When Woods decided not to run, he shifted his support to Eads.

“I want somebody in the state Senate that is going to thoughtfully look at an issue. … I can’t support Sharon because she is controlled by one voice, Conduit for Commerce,” he said.

Conduit for Commerce is a sister organization to Commerce in Action, according to its website.

Conduit for Commerce lists as its aim providing Arkansas voters with credible information on the voting records of all political candidates from any and all political parties in a nonpartisan manner. Along with Maynard, Vassaur-Taylor is its co-founder.

Vassaur-Taylor said “we support Sharon because she is not controlled by anyone. … No one has to control people who vote according to their convictions.”

Eads said he and Hutchinson “have a relationship, and I’ve been willing to listen.

“I definitely won’t be a rubber stamp,” he said.

Finch, who was the chairman of the Independence County Republican Committee for five years, said he worked to get Hutchinson elected as governor in 2014, so he was surprised when the governor endorsed Sturch.

He said he told the governor “it was a gut punch.” And the governor indicated that his role in the race would be a “light footprint,” Finch said.

“I am not sure it has been a very light footprint,” said Finch, who opposes the state’s Medicaid expansion.

Sturch didn’t reply to several messages left on his phone last week.

Hutchinson said Lloyd and Finch “are good people.

“It’s just that you’ve got to make judgments,” he said.

“Rep. Sturch is a thoughtful freshman member of the Legislature. He deserves another term, so that’s an easy call to support him. Once again, he was being attacked, and so I was happy to defend him and support him.”