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| Governor Asa Hutchinson |
Hutchinson’s administration oversaw “the largest tax cut in the state’s history,” which was absorbed by economic growth and job creation including last year’s “lowest unemployment rate in Arkansas history.” GDP growth was 3.5 percent, higher than the national rate, he said, and during his administration more than 60-thousand jobs were created.
Hutchinson responded to criticism
of him for not signing a bill prohibiting Sharia law being used in
Arkansas courts: “The bill did not say ‘Sharia law.’ It said ‘foreign
law.’” He said as a longtime lawyer he had never seen a problem related
to this, and was concerned that the language of the bill could cause a
problem for a foreign-based company operating in Arkansas. However,
Hutchinson said “I am opposed to Sharia law in American courts.”Other critical issues to which Hutchinson responded included cutting taxes, which eventually totaled $150 million, while raising others, such as tire disposal fees. He said some categories of the fees were lowered while others increased. Also, he defended referring increased funding of the state’s highway program to the voters and responded to criticism that he oversaw the biggest spending in Arkansas history. Hutchinson noted that similar accusations have been made against governors of Texas and Tennessee and against President Trump. Arkansas, he said, is increasing in population and needs
more money for prison reform, foster care, and education. Prison spending requires an additional $30 million for space increase for prisoners and K-12 education has a constitutional mandate to match inflation.
On the other hand, the
governor said Arkansas Medicaid spending is down $117,000. “There are
fewer people on Medicaid in Arkansas than when I became governor and
there are fewer people on food stamps.” Except for people employed, in
school, or contributing time to voluntary organizations, he favors a
state-mandated work requirement for Medicaid recipients. Hutchinson said the state’s manufacturing and agriculture are dependent on the North American Free Trade Agreement and that Arkansas’ top two trading partners are Canada and Mexico. “NAFTA is 25 years old. It needs to be modified,” he said, indicating that he has to trust President Trump, who has been critical of NAFTA, to make a good judgment on the agreement.
Other accomplishments during his administration noted by the Governor were:
--Strong defense of the National Rifle Association. --Signing of every pro-life bill. Videos of Planned Parenthood abuses prompted him to defund and decertify Planned Parenthood in the state as a Medicaid provider. --Resistance to an Obama administration mandate requiring gender-neutral bathrooms in local school districts – “I wrote local school superintendents telling them to disregard the Obama directive; local school districts are doing just fine.”
Hutchinson also gave a brief biographical sketch of himself, noting his career as a Republican. Besides being chair of the Benton and the Sebastian County Republican Committees, he served in the 1990s as the state Republican chairman. And, he said: “In the early days, the Republican Party was too small to divide. I fought for the principles of our party and I’ll support the Republican platform.”
The Washingon County Republican committee meets the third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Willie James Event Place in Tontitown.
