3rd District race tempting for Green and his belief in the system

story by Marla Cantrell
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Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren, is still considering a run for the 3rd Congressional District. Green has thought about politics for many years.

When he was eight, Green placed a recorder on top of the family’s TV to tape the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. For weeks he listened to the speeches, dreaming of the day he was old enough to run for office. At nine, he sat on the counter in the county clerk’s office watching as votes were counted.

“I’d stay until three or four in the morning,” Green said. “I would figure percentages for them on a piece of paper and they would post votes. We didn’t have a calculator.”

By the time he was 16 he was breaking rules, campaigning for his uncle while carrying out groceries. Green was called to his boss’ office. He kept his job, his uncle was elected county coroner, and Green got one of the best pieces of political advice he’s ever heard.

“My uncle told me, ‘If you can’t afford to lose, don’t run,’” Green said.

It came in handy when, at 21, Green ran for Crawford County Circuit Clerk. It was an open seat. Four candidates ran. Green made it to the runoff but lost the election.

“I was so tired the night of the election I didn’t care,” Green said. “I knew I’d done all I could do. I lost. It’s not about winning. It’s about being part of the process.”

EYE-OPENING POLITICS
He’s now 53 and he still loves the process. No one knows that better than his wife Mary Beth, who had no political aspirations of her own until Green convinced her to run for the Arkansas Representative District 66 seat in 1998. It was just four days before the filing deadline. The Republican candidate backed out and the party scrambled to find a replacement. First they approached Rick but job obligations kept him from the race.

It took Rick only one day to talk Mary Beth into running.

“We stood there at the King Opera House where we had the watch party and I got to announce she had won,” Green said. “At that moment I stepped back, she stepped to the microphone and she took control of it.”

Rick stayed home with the couple’s five children. Mary Beth traveled back and forth to Little Rock, immersed herself in the legislative process and found her stride. Mary Beth served three terms. In 2005, Rick followed.

“There were three of us going in, replacing our spouses,” Green said. “The other two were following their husbands. I was the only man who had ever done that.”

Green said one of the first things he learned was how diverse Arkansas is.

“It was an eye-opener for me,” Green said. “I had never talked to representatives who lived in the Delta. I visited those towns and realized there’s no economic development there. Everything there if you get south of Little Rock is timber, and rice, and those industries have suffered.”

POLITICS OF GROWTH
Green sees the northwest part of the state as a prime target for growth, due in large part to its proximity to the river, the rail, and the roads. The trick is making it work together. That’s where the Regional Intermodal Transportation Authority comes in, something Green said was his greatest accomplishment.

During the 87th Arkansas General Assembly, he pushed legislation that provided $375,000 to organize the authority, put together a board and come up with a plan to make the area irresistible to businesses that previously dismissed this part of the state.

“We’re no longer limited by truck,” Green said. “It could be by barge, train and we got it launched.  It could turn out to be one of the biggest economic engines in our area.  …  We are sitting at one of the best crossroads in this state. Most areas don’t have a river, don’t have an interstate, and highway and railroad.”

POLITICAL HEADACHES
While he celebrates the intermodal authority, he’d rather not relive last year’s tobacco tax vote. Green was co-sponsor of HB 1204 that provided funding for a statewide trauma system, expansion of the ARKids First program, the addition of a second University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences campus in Fayetteville, as well as other health initiatives. The tax increased the cost of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco by 56 cents.

“It was gut-wrenching for me. There were people arguing we were targeting a specific group and I struggled with it. … I talked to the speaker of the house, health representatives.”

Green was one of only six House Republicans to vote for the bill.

“It’s easy as a Republican to say, ‘I’m not going to vote for a tax,’” Green said. “When I read how much cigarette smokers cost our state in health care, I decided that money could be used for other things. I thought, I’m just returning part of that money to the state that should have been used otherwise.”

Smokers were mad; some in the Republican Party were even madder.

“I went through a lot of criticism by the party,” Green said. “People, to this day, still don’t speak to me because of that. I felt like I was doing what was best. … Republicans are real quick to never vote for a tax but when they cut the ribbon on a highway that was built by a tax, they’re out there cutting the ribbon with them. That’s a double standard.”

CONGRESS OR STATE SENATE?
As hard as the tobacco vote was, bigger challenges lie ahead for lawmakers. Green said the 2011 session won’t be for the faint of heart. An increasing strain on the state budget will demand creative thinking and hard choices for the legislators, many of whom will be freshmen.

“At least 13 senators (are) terming out,” Green said. “Most have three or four representatives in their district. Some will leave in their first or second year to run for the Senate. And of course you have turnover every two years. We could easily have one of the youngest groups. This is the first time term limits are hitting the Senate.”

But the 2011 session won’t be Green’s problem. Right now, he’s trying to decide whether he’ll make a bid for the seat now held by U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, who is running in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate seat. Green also has an Arkansas Senate seat to consider. Fellow Crawford County Republican Ruth Whitaker will be term limited in her Senate seat in 2012.

All those November nights from his childhood, watching as the votes were counted and the candidates waited in nervous groups on the courthouse lawn, solidified his belief in the system. And he’s not ready to step away from it yet.

“Democracy works,” Green said. “If you don’t have people stepping up and running you don’t have democracy. If you don’t have debates, you don’t have democracy. So I’m protective of those things. That’s the love of my life.”