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No foe for Pryor as filing closes; lawmaker who resigned after harassment plea seeks office Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas' abbreviated candidate filing period ended Monday without Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor drawing a Republican candidate but with a former House member filing to regain the seat he gave up after pleading guilty to a harassment charge involving a teenage girl. Former GOP congressional candidate Tom Formicola passed on challenging Pryor's run for a second six-year term, while former House member Dwayne Dobbins of North Little Rock filed as a Democrat for the House seat his wife won in 2005 after her husband left office in disgrace. State Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney said Formicola's decision was no surprise, but Gwatney said he was taken aback by Dwayne Dobbins' surprise filing and would recruit an independent candidate to run against the former legislator. No Republican filed for the seat now held by Dobbins' wife, Rep. Sharon Dobbins, D-North Little Rock. "In my opinion, (Dwayne Dobbins) is not the kind of person who the Democratic Party and I, as chairman, can support to be a House member as a Democrat in the state of Arkansas," Gwatney told reporters Monday afternoon. Neither Dobbins nor his wife returned telephone calls seeking comment Monday afternoon. The weeklong filing period for this year's elections - a full week shorter that in past elections - ended at noon with a crowd cheering the countdown and Secretary of State Charlie Daniels banging a gong in the Capitol rotunda. In all, 318 candidates filed to run in the May primary or for nonpartisan judicial seats during the filing period that began March 3. Neither of the state's four U.S. House members drew an opponent. Of the 100 House seats on the May 20 ballot, 16 will have Democratic primaries and 22 will be contested in the fall general election. Of the 18 Senate seats on the ballot, three will have Democratic primaries. Just one seat, Senate District 30, will be contested in November. In that race, Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, is seeking re-election against Democrat opponent Joe White of Conway. Pryor was expected to have a Republican opponent but Formicola, who formed an exploratory committee last month, but backed out after a weekend of reflection, said state GOP Chairman Dennis Milligan. "He put a lot of thought and prayer into his decision," Milligan said, adding Formicola, who ran for 2nd District Congress two years ago, was not sure he could balance his full-time job as an executive for a medical technology firm with the grind of a U.S. Senate race. In a statement released by the state Republican Party, Formicola said he planned to help "Republican candidates for the Legislature state Senate and presidency win their elections in November." Rebekah Kennedy, a Fort Smith lawyer, has said she will run against Pryor as a Green Party candidate. Don Hamrick, a merchant seaman from Wilburn, is seeking to collect 10,000 signatures to have his name placed on the ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate. Despite Formicola's decision, Milligan said he was pleased with the Republican candidates running for the Legislature. "I think we have one of the best recruiting classes that has been on record for some time," he said, adding he expects the GOP to pick up three to five legislative seats. Republicans now hold 25 House seats and eight Senate seats. He specifically pointed to House races in Saline and Sebastian counties. Three Republicans and two Democrats have filed for the District 29 seat held by term-limited Rep. Janet Johnson, D-Bryant. In the District 62 House race, Rep. Shirley Walters, R-Greenwood, is term-limited and her husband, former Republican state Sen. Bill Walters, has filed as a Democrat to replace her. Republican Terry Rice of Waldron also filed to run for the seat. Milligan said he regretted the GOP did not recruit a candidate to run in the House District 39 seat, which Dwayne Dobbins filed for Monday. In 2005, then-Rep. Dwayne Dobbins was charged with felony sexual assault after a woman reported that Dobbins improperly touched her at her home in September 2004, when she was 17. Dwayne Dobbins later pleaded guilty in Pulaski County Circuit Court to misdemeanor harassment and resigned from the Legislature as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. He was sentenced to a year's probation, fined $1,000 and ordered to undergo counseling. Sharon Dobbins was later elected to the seat in a special election. Gwatney, who spoke with Prosecutor Larry Jegley on Monday, said nothing in the plea agreement prevented Dwayne Dobbins from seeking public office. "As chairman of the party, I'm not prepared to assist Dwayne Dobbins to run for that," Gwatney said. "We'll take his filing fee and he can run. There's no rule in the party that can prohibit him, but there's also nothing to prohibit me from seeking somebody to run as an independent." Jegley described Dobbins' filing as "shameful," and added, "it's a good example of why people are cynical and distrustful of politics and politicians." |
