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Democratic Party already campaigning against expected Pryor opponent Wednesday, Mar 5, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Tom Formicola of Little Rock is not an official candidate yet, but the Democratic Party of Arkansas has already begun campaigning against the expected Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor. Formicola, a health care executive who lost the 2006 Republican primary for the Arkansas congressional seat held by Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, said last month he was considering running against Pryor. On Monday, the state Democratic Party issued a statement that accused Formicola of making "elitist remarks" and advocating an undemocratic approach to raising taxes that "harkens back to the likes of King George." Formicola said Tuesday he was "very surprised" to be the subject of negative campaigning even before filing for office. "I've never seen anything like that before," he said. Darinda Sharp, communications director for the state Democratic Party, said the party acted on the expectation that Formicola will run, based on his own statements. In the statement, the party claimed that during Formicola's 2006 congressional campaign, he said he believed the Federal Reserve Board should be able to raise or lower income taxes because Congress takes too long to pass bills. Formicola said Tuesday he never made such an argument. "What I said was that a Federal Reserve-type board should maybe be part of the taxation process, that was all, in order to be able to raise and lower taxes according to economic conditions in a more expeditious manner. ... That would just be, a portion of taxable income would be subject to an outside review board that would make recommendations to Congress," he said. The Democratic Party also contended Formicola showed "an insensitivity to the plight of working men and women" when he remarked in 2006, "If I pay another $1,000 to $2,000 in taxes, it's not going to break my back." Formicola explained Tuesday, "I was talking about the higher-income bracket. There are a lot of people in the high-income bracket that, if the deficit can be narrowed ... feel like they wouldn't mind paying a little bit more in taxes." Formicola laughed when told of the comparison to King George. "I'm not going to comment on that," he said. The filing period for the state's May primary opened Monday and closes next Monday. Formicola said Tuesday he was not quite ready to throw his hat in the ring. "We're still coming down the stretch here with some ideas and putting some numbers together. We're close, but I don't plan on filing this week. It would be Monday," he said. Michael Teague, a spokesman for Pryor, said the senator was not aware of the party's statement. He said Pryor likely would file Friday or Monday. Others who have announced plans to run against Pryor include Rebekah Kennedy, a Fort Smith lawyer who has said she will run on the Green Party ticket, and Don Hamrick, a merchant seaman from Winburn who has said he will try to get on the ballot as an independent candidate. Hamrick filed notice with the state Tuesday that he plans to try to collect the 10,000 signatures needed to get on the November general election ballot. Kennedy had not filed her declaration of candidacy by 5 p.m. Tuesday. |
