State of Arkansas Archives: on Budget & Economy


Anthony Bland: Use public policy to attract and create higher paying jobs

In terms of livable wages, Arkansas ranks near the bottom of all states virtually every year, he said. Public policy making must change to attract and create higher paying jobs. "They (Republicans) have older people in their families and they have kids. They deal with these problems every single day. Republican voters know the importance of dealing with these issues and I plan to do that," he said.
Source: Talk Business & Politics on 2022 Arkansas Gubernatorial race Jun 23, 2021

Asa Hutchinson: AdWatch: Worked for lobbying firm after leaving Congress

The Democratic Governors Association said a group affiliated with it, "Jobs and Opportunity," has made a six-figure ad buy. The ad claims former Rep. Asa Hutchinson has a history of "wheeling and dealing" while the Democratic candidate, former Rep. Mike Ross, displayed common sense & fiscal responsibility during his term. "D.C. lobbyist Asa Hutchinson has forgotten what Arkansas values look like," a spokesman said.

Hutchinson's campaign criticized the Democratic group's new ad. "This ad is misleading and hypocritical. They need to check their facts. Asa was practicing law in Arkansas while Mike Ross was voting for these very bills in Washington."

The ad says Hutchinson and the firm where he worked after leaving Congress benefited from the stimulus program. "While Hutchinson and his lobbying firm were cashing in on a stimulus bill and the Wall Street and Detroit bailouts, Mike Ross was fighting for a balanced budget amendment and voting against congressional pay raises," a Ross spokesman said.

Source: Miami Herald AdWatch on 2014 Arkansas gubernatorial race Feb 18, 2014

Asa Hutchinson: Free enterprise is key to national prosperity

Question topic: Free enterprise and the right to private property turn mankind's natural self interest into the fairest and most productive economic system there is, and are the key to national prosperity.

Hutchinson: Strongly Agree

Source: Faith2Action iVoterGuide on 2013 Arkansas Governor campaign Sep 28, 2014

Bruce Westerman: Favors economic growth and cuts as opposed to raising taxes

Westerman indicates support of the following principles for balancing Arkansas' budget.

Q: Establishing a "rainy day" fund?

A: Yes.

Q: Issuing the early release of certain non-violent offenders?

A: Yes.

Q: Increasing tuition rates at public universities?

A: Yes.

Q: Instituting mandatory furloughs and layoffs for state employees?

A: No.

Q: Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients?

A: Yes.

Q: Privatizing certain government services?

A: Yes.

Westerman adds, "If state employee jobs are necessary then I do not support mandatory furloughs and layoffs for those jobs. If the state jobs are unnecessary then they should be eliminated to help stabilize the budget. Since Arkansas must have a balanced budget then cuts will be required in many areas, taxes will have to be raised, or more income generated through economic growth. I favor economic growth and cuts as opposed to raising taxes."

Source: Arkansas Congressional 2008 Political Courage Test Nov 1, 2008

Chris Jones: Government not about running up bills and creating debt

Government should never be about running up bills and creating debt. As governor, Chris Jones will be committed to being a responsible steward of our tax dollars and resources.
Source: 2022 Arkansas Governor campaign website ChrisForGovernor.com May 26, 2022

Conner Eldridge: Start doing something about $18 trillion in debt

Eldridge said that `in Washington, they brag the budget deficit has declined [and that] we should have a big party.` He said the federal government's budget deficit is about $600 billion this year, and `in Washington, they say we wouldn't complain as much about them if we knew all the great things they were doing to help us. `In Arkansas we know better. We know that we've got $18 trillion in debt and that debt has tripled from the time my opponent took office,` Eldridge said. `It is time we start doing something about it now.`

He said both political parties are to blame. `The facts are that somebody who has been there for over a decade does bear responsibility for much of what has happened,` he said.

Source: Democrat-Gazette on 2016 Arkansas Senate race Oct 18, 2015

Curtis Coleman: Work tirelessly to reduce our deficit & pay back $18T debt

America currently has a financial crisis written into law. We have over $18 Trillion of debt, and $127 Trillion in unfunded liabilities, promises we have made that we cannot keep. I pledge to work tirelessly to reduce our deficit, and to start paying back our debt, as well as restructuring our unfunded liabilities so that we can afford them all.

As a small businessman and entrepreneur, I will be a champion of small business in the Senate. I will never vote for crony capitalism, nor subsidies for politically connected friends, and will significantly reduce the red tape which is choking our economy.

Source: 2016 Arkansas Senate campaign website, CurtisColeman.com Nov 11, 2015

French Hill: Cut low-priority spending; smaller federal government

Washington is out of control and career politicians are bankrupting our country. The federal government needs to quit trying to do everything and instead, shift power back to state and local governments. The federal government is too big and spends too much.

The federal government must reform entitlements, cut low-priority spending, and stop performing functions best left to state and local governments or the private sector. We need a cultural change in which the federal government is a smaller, less significant, and much less expensive and intrusive part of everyone's lives. We must enact a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and a line-item presidential veto power that could pass constitutional muster. These types of reforms are a necessary antidote to Congress's failures to exercise self-control.

Source: 2014 Arkansas House campaign website, ElectFrench.com Nov 4, 2014

Jared Henderson: Bring new ideas and out-of-the-box thinking to economy

He believes his economic platform also has a shot at transcending party lines. Henderson wants to assist would-be-entrepreneurs and business owners to develop tech and administrative support in town squares across the state. "Over last 20 years the world has changed underneath our feet. The economy has never been in a period of more rapid and dynamic change than it is right now. So, we need ideas that transcend outdated political debates. That's what I want to bring to this campaign."
Source: KUAR Public Radio on 2018 Arkansas Gubernatorial race Dec 12, 2017

Leslie Rutledge: $3 million to Quick Action Loan Program for small businesses

Source: 2021 Arkansas Governor campaign website LeslieRutledge.com Nov 21, 2021

Mark West: Market-led recovery better than stimulus

Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Stimulus better than market-led recovery"?

A: Oppose

Source: OnTheIssues interview of 2018 Arkansas governor candidate Apr 28, 2018

Mike Ross: AdWatch: Trillions of things in common with Pelosi & Obama

The Republican Governors Association unveiled a six-figure advertising buy for television and radio commercials that claim Ross is too closely aligned with President Barack Obama and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to lead Arkansas effectively. It specifically mentions the president's 2009 stimulus package. "Obama, Pelosi and Ross. Trillions of things in common. All of them wasted," the narrator says in the GOP ad. "That's the real Mike Ross."

Ross is the only Democrat to announce a run for governor, while Hutchinson, who lost the 2006 governor's race to Mike Beebe, who is term-limited, is running against Little Rock businessman Curtis Coleman for the GOP nomination. The filing season opens next Monday.

Over the last two election cycles, the GOP has made gains by tying Democratic Party candidates to Obama and Pelosi, who are unpopular in Arkansas. In 2012 the GOP won control of the state Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction

Source: Miami Herald AdWatch on 2014 Arkansas gubernatorial race Feb 18, 2014

Mike Ross: AdWatch: Voted for $7 trillion in new debt and bailouts

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross is the target of a new ad in the Arkansas governor's race. The ad comes from the Republican Governors Association. Its script:
Source: Arkansas Matters AdWatch on 2014 AR gubernatorial race Feb 24, 2014

Natalie James: Fund projects strengthening under-served communities

Source: 2022 Arkansas Senate campaign website JamesForArkansas.com Jun 7, 2022

Natalie James: Prioritize assistance to small and minority businesses

As your Senator, she will prioritize assistance to small and minority businesses and entrepreneurs.
Source: 2022 Arkansas Senate campaign website JamesForArkansas.com Jun 7, 2022

Nathan LaFrance: Politicians CANNOT control government spending; time for BBA

United States federal debt currently sits at $17.5 TRILLION dollars! Neither the Republicans nor Democrats are serious about getting our country back to financial health--both parties are beholden to too many special interests, and too worried about re-election, to make necessary reforms to federal spending.

Since it is proven that our politicians CANNOT control government spending, it is time for the U.S. voters to control it for them. A vote for Nathan LaFrance to the U.S. Senate is a vote for a constitutional amendment which forces the federal government to adhere to a balanced budget every year.

A balanced budget will be achieved by phasing out and eliminating the vast federal wealth-transfer programs and by significantly reducing the size and scope of the multitude of federal agencies and administrations in existence today.

Source: 2014 Arkansas Senate campaign website, LaFrance2014.com Sep 30, 2014

Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Phase out income tax; stop exponential growth of government

[On tax & spend]: "We have to begin to phase out our income tax, but we have to do it responsibly. We have to make sure we're prepared to make up that lost revenue," she says. "It's not going to be any one thing, but a collection of things that allow us to do that. And it's going to take a little bit of time to get there. One of the other things we can do is stop the exponential growth of government. As conservatives, we have to be able to reign that in and pass those savings on to the taxpayer."
Source: KATV News ABC-7 on 2022 Arkansas Gubernatorial race Sep 14, 2021

  • The above quotations are from State of Arkansas Politicians: Archives.
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Page last updated: Feb 18, 2023