Michael Cook was Chief of Staff for former Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter until Halter’s failed U.S. Senate candidacy. He now writes a column for Talk Business.
Mr. Cook published a blog post this week encouraging Democratic candidates not to fill out the Arkansas Voter’s Guide survey we send every election year. The reason? Mr. Cook says Family Council is nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party of Arkansas.
Now, let’s get something straight from the start. We do not side with a particular party, and the Arkansas Voter’s Guide is not in any way designed to favor one candidate over another. I’m as easily frustrated with Republican lawmakers as I am Democratic lawmakers, and if we did start playing favorites, I would be in serious trouble with Family Council’s supporters and the 135 Arkansas lawmakers we have to work with on every piece of legislation we propose.
The voter’s guide survey is designed to help voters know where their candidates stand. Our goal is to ensure the most liberal voter and the most conservative voter can both use our guide to pick the candidates they like. That’s why Arkansas Times editor Max Brantley told me several years ago that he uses the Family Council voter’s guide. We always go to great lengths to guarantee that’s the kind of guide we publish. The only impact we care about having on an election is doing everything we can to make sure voters know who their candidates are and what they stand for.
You want to know something? I laughed when I read Mr. Cook’s accusation. Do you know why? Lately, we do work a lot with Republicans when we’re out at the Capitol, but it was not always that way. When I first started this work over two decades ago there simply were no Republicans to speak of in the legislature; the lawmakers were almost entirely Democratic. And of the handful of Republicans serving in the legislature, many of them would hardly give me the time of day.
Who do you think I worked with? Who do you think Family Council lobbied for pro-life legislation, the legalization of home schooling, and new tax breaks? We’ve had support from the Republican Party, to be sure, but none of it would have been possible without the support of Democratic lawmakers as well. They have been the party in power the entire time I’ve been going out to the Capitol, and their votes are essential to passing legislation.
Mr. Cook represents a new breed of Democratic activist to emerge in Arkansas. They thrive on rhetoric and emotion. The Democratic lawmakers of years past were not afraid to drive a stake in the ground on an issue, offer a solution, and let the voters decide if their ideas were worthwhile. This new generation of Democratic pundits have more in common with Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid than they do David Pryor, Mark Pryor, or Bill Clinton: They’re a lot of talk, but no real answers to the questions Arkansans are asking.
Case in point: Mr. Cook says our survey questions do not deal with issues Democrats care about. Well, this year’s survey asks candidates for their opinions on, among other things, economic stimulus, taxes, voter ID laws, and healthcare. Last I checked, those were things Republicans and Democrats both care about. For him to say these questions are somehow irrelevant shows just how out of touch he is with both voters and, perhaps, his own party.
If I were a candidate running for office, I would view the Arkansas Voter’s Guide as an opportunity to express my views and plans to improve our state to thousands of readers. The guide enjoys wide circulation statewide, and receives thousands of views online every time we publish one.
The notion that our survey is a tool for the Republican Party is simply laughable. The only group it is intended as a tool for are the voters of Arkansas.
Max Brantley