Election Profiles: Arkansas House District 66

Editor’s note: Between Oct. 13 and Oct. 27, The City Wire will present information from candidates in 15 key races in Crawford County, Sebastian County, Fort Smith and area legislative districts. A schedule of races presented will accompany this article and each article in the series.

Gary Deffenbaugh (R) and Dianna Faucher (D) are hoping to win the seat held by now term-limited Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren.

Faucher, who is retiring as Crawford County Assessor, has 25 years working in county government. Deffenbaugh is a Van Buren High School teacher, with 39 years in public education and coaching.

During a June interview with The City Wire, the candidates commented on the race. Deffenbaugh, who calls Faucher his friend, believes the battle for District 66 will be a close one. Faucher wouldn’t speculate on how close the vote will be.

“You run the best race you can and leave it to your voters,” Faucher said. “If they want you to represent them, it will happen.”

CANDIDATE RESPONSE REQUEST
In 400 words or less, please identify what you believe to be the top three needs/issues in your district and what you plan to do in Little Rock to address the needs/issues.

To the following list, simply note whether you are you FOR or AGAINST the item.
FOR or AGAINST: Renewal of the Governor’s quick action closing fund
FOR or AGAINST: Elimination of the remaining 2% sales tax on groceries
FOR or AGAINST: Raising user fees and/or fuel taxes or other taxes to pay for highway improvements
FOR or AGAINST: Consideration of an increase to the number of terms allowed under Arkansas’ term-limit law.

• Gary Deffenbaugh response:

The first and foremost problem to pursue is jobs and economy. Hopefully, there will be opportunities for tax adjustments on new or established businesses.

I intend to develop a working relationship with local and state Chamber Of Commerce in order to understand what industries and companies are interested in Arkansas as a home, and how I can help that come to pass.

The 2nd is less taxes. This is closely akin to the first priority. Hopefully we can give companies outside of Arkansas a tax break to come in-state? There may be any number of ways to give existing businesses a break such as rewarding industries by keeping faithful personal for a specified time period.

The last platform is less government. I think we can begin to accomplish this by adding no new state government jobs (hiring freeze) unless it is deemed absolutely necessary. We need to try to control efficiency on what we already have in place.

• Dianna Faucher response:
Faucher did not respond.