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Spotlight on Faulkner County Thursday, May 29, 2008 By John Brummett The presidential race will be epic, especially if there is a candidate with state ties on either or both of the tickets. After that, we may get to decide whether to approve a statewide lottery for college scholarships and bar gay people from adopting kids or serving as foster parents. Otherwise, there's nothing of much statewide political interest on the ballot for November, except, that is, in Faulkner County. There you have state Sen. Gilbert Baker of Conway, a man of energy, optimism and an odd if admirable mix of bipartisan cooperation and religious conservatism. He's the Republican incumbent, having been elected to the Senate in 2001. Before that he was a tenured music professor at UCA. Now he's employed as music director at his church. When the state Republican Party got in serious financial trouble a few years ago, the late Win Paul Rockefeller helped for a while, then Gilbert stepped in as chairman. The party didn't have a lot of electoral success during his tenure, but it probably wasn't his fault. Baker did make Republicans mad by leaving Democratic incumbent legislators alone and emphasizing Republican candidacies for open seats. Some Republicans thought he had his personal legislative politics in conflict with the broader aims of the party. He has indeed worked reasonably well in the nominally Democratic but oddly nonpartisan legislative culture. He's part of that Brotherhood that wrested control of the Senate. In fact, the outgoing Democratic president pro tem, Jack Critcher of Batesville, and the incoming one, Bob Johnson of Bigelow, agreed to be listed as hosts of a fundraiser for Baker. Baker was Republican state chairman in 2006 when the party gave money to a supposedly independent nonprofit group that aired television commercials seeking to say that Mike Beebe was responsible for Nick Wilson's sins. Beebe did not much like that, and, in fact, Beebe has traveled to Conway and announced that supporting retired businessman Joe White of Conway, Baker's Democratic opponent, is a priority of the state Democratic Party. Baker has raised more than $250,000 while White has a gross campaign income of more than $200,000, of which $75,000, Baker is quick to point out, comes from a personal loan by White to his campaign. When I called Baker to chat Tuesday, he insisted on a face-to-face meeting and suggested I take a half-hour drive to the Starbucks just off the downtown Conway exit. Practically everyone who came in seemed to know him. We talked about several things, but, for this purpose, I'll emphasize the discussion of partisanship, or lack thereof. When I suggested that he needed to disavow partisanship, he replied, essentially, yes and no. Baker said he intends to emphasize his accomplishments for Faulkner County - particularly the University of Central Arkansas - while working with Democratic legislators. But he said a two-party system is important and that he does not apologize for trying to advance that cause. His district, Senate District 30, was carried narrowly by Republican Asa Hutchinson in the 2006 governor's race. Beebe won Faulkner County overall, also narrowly. Baker defended the decision by a Republican committee, of which he was a member, to give money to that nonprofit attack group in 2006. But he says he had nothing to do with the group's use of the money to try to smear Beebe, and, in fact, disavows that kind of politics. Baker told me Republicans have made a few gains that have seeped from Northwest Arkansas down through Russellville and, via his election, into Faulkner County. He said "Little Rock Democrats" don't like Republicans getting as close as the county line, and that, if he should lose, the already anemic movement toward a two-party system would be seriously set back. Baker is the favorite, but the Democrats - some of the big ones, anyway - are gunning. ------- John Brummett is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is jbrummett@arkansasnews.com; his telephone number is (501) 374-0699. |
