Area leaders to face new Congressional realities

Now that it is becoming apparent the Fort Smith region will be diced up between the 3rd and 4th Congressional districts, area leaders are moving from angry resistance to less-than-angry acceptance.

Arkansas’ new Congressional district map may be proof that anything is possible with the Arkansas Legislature is in session, but, barring any other oddities, the House will approve the companion Senate plan/map Wednesday (April 13) morning and send it to Gov. Mike Beebe for his expected signature.

When the plan becomes law, Crawford County will be split almost evenly down the middle with the western half in the 3rd District and the eastern half in the 4th. The city of Alma — about 5,000 people — will be split down the middle, with 2 city precincts voting in the 3rd District and 2 precincts voting in the 4th District.

Franklin County is moved entirely out of the 3rd District and into the 4th District.

Lavaca and environs in the northeastern corner of Sebastian County are pulled into the 4th District. Roughly one-third of Sebastian County below Greenwood and below Fort Chaffee and Chaffee Crossing will  be in the 4th District.

Essentially, the Fort Smith metro area will soon have two Congressman — 3rd District Congressman Steve Womack, R-Rogers, and 4th District Congressman Mike Ross, D-Prescott.

On Tuesday, Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders, Fort Smith City Administrator Ray Gosack and Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority Director Ivy Owen traveled to Little Rock with the hope of somehow convincing members of the Senate State Agencies committee to kill SB 972. Sen. Jake Files, R-Fort Smith, and Rep. Leslee Milam-Post, D-Ozark, also testified against the plan before the committee.

The committee sent the plan to the Senate where it was approved in a 24-9 vote. Sens. Files, Bruce Holland, R-Greenwood, and Ruth Whitaker, R-Cedarville, voted against the bill.

“It’s very disappointing,” Gosack said Tuesday afternoon about the Senate vote. “We tried to make the point that the Legislature should not do this in haste.”

Alma Mayor John Ballentine said he began making phone calls Monday evening when it was brought to his attention that the Legislature was quickly pushing the new plan.

“I personally think it’s one of those deals of ‘We’re tired. Let’s go home, so who cares,’” Ballentine told The City Wire. “I can understand that they need to split a county, but why do you have to split a city and a school district. It’s hard enough to let people know who to vote for as it is.”

Ballentine, the mayor for 18 years, said the city will “just adjust” and work within the system that is approved. He did note one minor benefit of having Congressional districts split the city.

“They’ll both have to be up here campaigning at the fair or whatever, so we’ll have an extra booth to sell. But that’s about the only good thing I can think of to come out of this,” Ballentine said.

Gosack said efforts in recent years by the city to connect with Ross now prove to be more than just courtesy calls.

“A good thing, in hindsight, is that during our past visits to D.C. we’ve met with Congressman Ross, so we have that relationship,” Gosack said. “He’s always been receptive to us in the past.”

Crawford County Judge John Hall, a former Arkansas Representative, also was not happy with how quickly the new plan was pushed through the General Assembly.

“I’m completely against it. It’s not the right thing to do, but I don’t know what we can do about it at this point in the game,” Hall said Tuesday morning before the House and Senate votes. “You know, I was a legislator, and I know what they are going through down there. They are being pushed to get out of there, and they are protecting their own turf.”

He said the plan pushed by Reps. Robert Moore, D-Arkansas City, and Clark Hall, D-Marvell, “punishes” a lot of people in the area who have worked hard in the past few years to build alliances in the region. However, Hall said, Fort Smith and Van Buren area economic development alliances — to include the Regional Intermodal Transportation Authority — don’t necessarily have to suffer because of the new Congressional boundaries.

“These things are too important to the region for us to let something like this set us back. It will make it more difficult, but the officials I know, they will continue to push forward with this goal of working under a regional idea,” Hall explained. “We’re bigger than this change. We now understand the importance of regionalism, so we’ll have to accept it and do what we can to work under it.”