Oct 11, 2:58 PM EDT

Ark. Lt. Gov. hopeful criticized over ads

By ANDREW DeMILLO
Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- Republican lieutenant governor nominee Jim Holt said Wednesday he regretted running radio ads that inaccurately said Democratic rival Bill Halter spent 25 years in California.

Holt said he pulled the ads after they ran for two days in two cities, but said he still thinks it's relevant to criticize the amount of time Halter has spent out of state.

Halter lived in California for four years while attending college and worked in Washington during the Clinton administration. A Halter spokesman said the Holt ads were "desperate" and that an apology is due.

BY MICHAEL R. WICKLINE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE 

   A day after suggesting that lieutenant governor candidate Jim Holt flip-flopped on school district consolidation, candidate Bill Halter’s campaign said Tuesday that Holt’s legislative voting record shows he often opposes the interests of rural schools.
nbsp;  Holt’s counter was that Halter “just doesn’t get it” because Halter hasn’t served in the Legislature. Holt also claims that he has “rural school advocates” to defend his voting record.
   This exchange of dueling news releases came in the campaign for state government’s No. 2 elected office, the occupant of which presides over the state Senate, breaks the rare tie vote in the Senate and serves as acting governor when the governor is out of state or unable to serve.
   Halter, a Democrat from North Little Rock, is a business consultant and former Clinton administration official. Holt is a Republican state senator from Springdale.
   Late Monday, Halter spokesman Bud Jackson accused Holt of “a blatant flip-flop” over school district consolidation.
   Halter cited a Sept. 16, 2002, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article in which Holt said that the state should have something closer to 100 school districts rather than the 310 it had at that time.
   “The state has 100 representatives,” Holt said in the article, referring to the members of the House of Representatives. “Why couldn’t we have 100 school districts based upon school enrollment?” The article was about his state Senate race, which he won in November 2002.
   Holt called Jackson’s remarks “absurd,” contending that saying he hasn’t protected rural schools is like unsuccessful Republican challenger Chuck Banks calling Holt “a tax and spend liberal.”
   Holt said Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, thought “we should consolidate,” and he had been in the House only a year and a half when he made his remarks.
   “I was referring only to administration and I hadn’t studied the issue fully when people asked what we should do to meet the court’s mandate and have a more efficient school system,” he said. “After researching it fully, I saw there was no savings to anyone, only expense.” Holt said he hasn’t voted to consolidate even one school.
   In November 2002, the state Supreme Court ruled that the state’s public school financing system was unconstitutional.
   Halter’s campaign followed up with a news release carrying the headline, “Holt Follows up Flip-Flop with Fib.”
   Jackson said Holt’s votes prove he often opposed the best interests of rural schools.
   He said Holt, among other things:
   Proposed a constitutional amendment in 2003 that would have gutted the funding of small and rural school districts.
   Was the only state senator in 2004 to vote against providing incentives for recruiting and retaining teachers in small school districts with fewer than 1,000 students.
   Voted two times against increasing per pupil funding in this year’s special session and another time in 2005.
   Voted against a measure that created a new formula for distributing state aid to school districts in 2003 in response to the state Supreme Court’s 2002 ruling declaring the school financing unconstitutional.
   Holt said that because Halter hasn’t been in the Legislature, he doesn’t understand.
   “These bills had to do with government control and government spending rather than support of small schools. Are the people going to believe a liberal from California’s view on Holt’s voting record or credible witnesses who have been supporting small schools for years?” Holt asked.
   Halter received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.
   In Holt’s news release, Danville School District Superintendent Jimmy Cunningham; Lavina Grandon, who heads the “Save Our Schools” organization; and Debbie Pelley of Jonesboro, a Holt campaign volunteer who has argued against consolidating rural schools, defended Holt’s voting.
   Cunningham, a former president of the Arkansas Rural Education Association, said in the news release that Holt “was one of our strongest supporters of our rural schools and one of the strongest opponents of consolidation.”

BY MICHAEL R. WICKLINE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

   Lieutenant governor candidate Bill Halter, a former Social Security acting commissioner, Monday panned his foe, Jim Holt, for what he called Holt’s support for privatization of Social Security, an option Halter said would eliminate about $1 billion in annual benefits for Arkansas’ Social Security recipients beyond what they pay in taxes.
   Holt countered that he wants to protect Social Security and questioned whether Halter improved the solvency of the program.
   “It is we the people’s money in the first place and if we can get a better return on our money with greater security for our Social Security supplemental retirement plan being rock solid, then I’m all for it,” he said.
   Halter, a Democrat from North Little Rock who also served a stint as deputy commissioner for Social Security, said Social Security is not a typical issue in the race for lieutenant governor but that the candidates’ major difference of opinion on this issue is one that voters should understand when casting ballots.
   He said Social Security is a relevant issue in the race because of the program’s financial importance to the state’s elderly.
   He said he wants to be an advocate for the state’s elderly as lieutenant governor.
   Holt, a Republican state senator from Springdale, said he wonders whether Halter knows that he’s running for lieutenant governor, which doesn’t ordinarily deal with Social Security.
   Halter “needs to be focused on real state solutions that will put more money in the hands of Arkansans,” Holt said, saying the state needs to reduce taxes.
   Halter said Holt supports the Constitution Party and that it advocates eliminating Social Security and calls Medicare “socialized medicine.” Halter noted that Holt was the 2003 keynote speaker at the party’s convention in Arkansas and Holt’s former campaign managers have served as the Constitution Party’s chairman in Arkansas.
   Holt said the Constitution Party is mainly Democrats and Republicans who don’t feel adequately represented by their government.
   “We are trying to bring people of Arkansas together, and the diversity of our campaign is proof of that. Of course, my opponents will try to say ridiculous statements when they are trying to win an election,” Holt said.

BY MICHAEL R. WICKLINE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

   The campaign of Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Bill Halter asked his Republican opponent Thursday whether the Republican candidate for governor is a socialist.
   GOP lieutenant governor nominee Jim Holt brought up socialism in June when he was defending his opposition to a state minimum wage increase and expansion of pre-kindergarten programs.