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By Andrew DeMillo
LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas legislators say that crossing party lines to support — and sometimes raise money for — a candidate is a sign of the bipartisan spirit of the state Capitol.
Leaders of the state's Democratic and Republican parties have come to find the practice a headache. Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Bill Gwatney last week sent a letter to elected officials in his party admonishing them to stop supporting Republicans. While his GOP counterpart, Dennis Milligan, hasn't written to GOP politicians, he still prefers that they remain loyal to party candidates. It's a problem that mars what should otherwise be an extended victory lap for Gwatney, whose party has enjoyed a stretch of good news that began with a sweep of constitutional offices in 2006 and continued with the Republican Party failing to muster an opponent for Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor's re-election bid. Instead, Gwatney is left trying to explain why party activists are a little miffed at the two reports of fundraisers for Republicans with Democratic lawmakers listed among the hosts. A former state senator, Gwatney says there's a difference between being friends in the Capitol and being friends on the campaign trail. "Friendships are good. Friendships should be cultivated. But friendships for legislative purposes should be left at the door of the Capitol," Gwatney wrote. It's a message that may have trouble reaching some in the Capitol, where lawmakers on both sides point to the interparty help as a sign of cooperation and bipartisanship. Incoming House Speaker Robbie Wills, who was listed along with 11 other Democratic House members as hosts of a fundraiser for Republican Rep. Bryan King of Green Forest, defended his support of King as an isolated incident. Wills said he agreed to host the fundraiser before Democrat David Stoppel announced he was running against King. Nonetheless, Wills has defended his involvement and said it's his job to work with everyone despite party affiliation. "Elections are competitive and partisan, but I've maintained cordial relations with Republican members through two election cycles now. My intentions are to have good relations with those Republican members who are serving in the next General Assembly," said Wills, D-Conway. The letter turned into a spat between Gwatney and Senate President Jack Critcher who, along with incoming Senate President Bob Johnson, hosted a fundraiser for former state GOP chairman Gilbert Baker's Senate re-election bid. By hosting the fundraiser, Critcher and Johnson were supporting a former GOP chairman who helped raise money for a group that ran ads in the 2006 governor's race trying to link Beebe to disgraced former state Sen. Nick Wilson, Gwatney noted. Gwatney suggested that Critcher may have preferred that Asa Hutchinson, whom Beebe defeated, reside in the Governor's Mansion. Critcher dismissed Gwatney's comments and said he hasn't given money to Baker's campaign. But the outgoing Senate president said he's not willing to completely bypass his friendships when he leaves the Capitol. "I've been thrown under the bus by Democrats, by Republicans and by independents," said Critcher, D-Batesville. "You don't determine who's loyal to you based on which party they belong to. You base that on the individual." The problem is not limited to the Democratic Party. Vastly outnumbered in the state Legislature and shut out of constitutional offices, Republican lawmakers have also backed Democrats in the Capitol and bucked party orders on legislative issues. That was evident earlier this year when several Republicans voted for Beebe's hike in the state's severance tax despite the state GOP chairman's public opposition to the increase. And Rep. Scott Sullivan, who's running against Larry Teague in the Democratic primary for a state Senate seat in southwest Arkansas, has found some support from Republicans in his bid. Included among his donors on his campaign finance reports is Rep. Keven Anderson, R-Rogers. Rep. Daryl Pace, R-Siloam Springs, is also backing Sullivan's bid and played guitar at a Little Rock fundraiser. Pace, who says his support comes from his friendship with Sullivan, said the fact that there's no Republican in the Senate race didn't factor into his decision to support Sullivan. "When colleagues work together, they make a commitment to each other and that's what I'm doing here," Pace said. Milligan, the state GOP chairman, said he doesn't see widespread instances of Republican legislators crossing lines to support Democrats. He would prefer it if Republicans didn't help raise money for Democrats, but said he's not planning on sending any letters similar to Gwatney's. "There's nothing that says that when you get elected, you have to get the approval of the party chairmen to do anything," Milligan said. But approval isn't what Gwatney is seeking. It's a little perspective, outside the so-called nonpartisanship of the state Capitol. In an interview last week and in the letter, Gwatney points out that he's writing the letter on behalf of activists who have been putting up yard signs and raising money for these legislators. "County chairs don't understand it, local activists don't understand it and volunteers don't understand it. I'm left to defend it, and I don't understand it," he wrote. (Andrew DeMillo covers Arkansas government and politics for The Associated Press.) |
