Arkansas State Senate District 27 was created in the wake of the recent round of legislative redistricting and includes parts of Jefferson County, which means that State Reps. Garry L. Smith and Bobby J. Pierce have brought their Democratic primary campaigns for the senate seat to this part of the state.
The winner of the Tuesday primary election will face GOP candidate Henry L. Frisby II, who is unopposed in the Republican primary, in the Nov. 6 general election.
Smith
Rep. Garry L. Smith (7th District) said that he is hoping to secure the District 27 seat in order to continue working for the people of southern Arkansas.
“When I got elected to the House I knew that District 25 Senator Gene Jeffress was term limited,” Smith said. “Once the 2010 Census results came out and the new districts were created I decided to run for the open District 27 state senate seat. I want to continue working for the people.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“There are a lot of things to do economically speaking as well as in education and rural health services in the southern part of the state,” Smith said. “I feel like my duty is to continue.”
Smith said that he served for seven-and-a-half years on the Harmony Grove school board, 14 years on the Quorum Court and is in his fourth year in the state House of Representatives.
“I understand the needs of the people,” Smith said. “They are great and many. One of the big issues is to bring on the lignite development in south Arkansas. It can be made into synthetic crude oil. The natural gas in the Fayetteville Shale is peanuts compared to lignite. In my opinion we cannot ignore any energy source. The Lion Oil refinery in El Dorado is interested in any kind of crude oil. There are samples at the North American Research Center in North Dakota being tested and converted into liquid crude oil. Lion Oil will see how efficient it is to make the lignite into fuel. They will also be able to capture all of the things that would harm the environment so it is good both ways.”
“There is a lot of opportunity out there,” Smith said. “There is a growth hormone in lignite that you can put into animal feed, especially for chickens. Lignite can produce a tremendous income stream as well as tax revenue. There would be a conversion tax, and the transport of fuel would be subject to a road tax. This would give Arkansans energy stability. A fund has been established at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia to help determine how many barrels of oil each piece of land has. This will protect the small person and allow them to get what they are entitled to. Arkansas is a natural resource state.”
Pierce
Rep. Bobby J. Pierce (19th District) wants to secure the District 27 seat in order to continue what he started in the House.
“I want to continue to work for the technical training of young people and for education in general,” Pierce said. “I worked with two year colleges to get them the money that they need, including an increase in lottery scholarships for two year students from $2,500 up to $4,500, which is what four year college students receive. People don’t like to hear it but not everybody is college material. We are going to graduate all of these people but where are they going to work? We need to train those kids to be able to have the skills they need to get hired.”
“We wasted $22 million in lottery scholarships with 46 percent of students entering college dropping out after the first semester,” Pierce said.
Pierce said that he is able to work with whoever he needs to in order to get results.
“I am able to work with everybody across party lines and just get the job done,” Pierce said. “That’s what I’m known for.”
Pierce said that he was instrumental in finding a way to get state employees of the Forestry Commission returned to work paid after an incident of misappropriation of funds that occurred late last year resulted in the layoffs of 15 firefighters.
Pierce and House Speaker Robert Moore approached Gov. Mike Beebe about redirecting $550,00 from the Arkansas Agriculture Commission to the Forestry Commission to make up for a budget shortfall there. The governor agreed to redirect the funds.
“I am a person who works hard,” Pierce said. “I don’t have a college degree but I do have a degree in hard knocks. I am in my sixth year, or third term in the state House. In that time I have risen from 87th in seniority to the Speaker Pro Tem, the number two seat in the House.”
Pierce is a small businessman with a utility contracting operation and a hardware store.
“I employ 20 people and that is the size business we need to look at,” Pierce said. “The federal government defines a small business as one with 500 or fewer employees but really I see it as 20 or fewer employees. I think it is great that we are trying to bring in businesses to the state from elsewhere but we have to work with the people who have been here in the state for the past 20 years as well to see what we can do to help them grow.”