Altes, Glidewell, Rep. Pitsch Mat Pitsch make their case for Fort Smith Senate seat

An emotional Arkansas Rep. Mat Pitsch, R-Fort Smith, debated Republican primary opponents Denny Altes and Frank Glidewell Monday night (April 9) shortly after hearing his sister Laurie had died.

Pitsch said his “13-month younger sister” was an “active woman,” but did not disclose the circumstances of her death. He decided to go through with the debate after a family discussion and “because it was what she would have wanted.” Family members present at the UAFS Windgate Art & Design building nodded their agreement.

Pitsch made the announcement during his opening remarks. He then thanked attendees for giving him time to do so, and said it would be the only mention of it. For the rest of the evening, he focused on issues. Pitsch called out his two former state representative opponents, checking Glidewell for use of the state’s since-modified per diem system and calling out Altes for sharing erroneous data on education.

GLIDEWELL 
Glidewell never mentioned Pitsch by name in his vision statement, but did state that, if elected, he would “introduce legislation addressing conflicts of interest regarding elected officials duly employed and compensated by programs and grants that they have influence over in their official business.” Pitsch has served as a consultant to grant-eligible Western Arkansas Planning and Development District (WAPDD) since 2009.

Glidewell also said he would “work to strengthen public corruption laws to prevent misuse of taxpayer money,” adding that “my personal experience in business, making a payroll, taking care of my employees, generating new business, and budgeting for when times are lean” made him qualified for the position. “These are things that normal people have to do to live, and I think the state government could also learn to live within its means.”

Pitsch dinged Glidewell on per diem use later in the meeting. In 2009, Glidewell accepted $63,000 in per diem money in addition to his legislative salary while serving as state representative. Pitsch said the “main reason I’m in politics is because of the ethical situations that were continuing to take place in politics.”

“Mr. Glidewell, in his race (against Sen. Jake Files), there was a discussion about the per diem amounts, and it was huge. And I could not understand how that could be thought of to be good to be able to charge the taxpayers that kind of per diem. Now that I’ve been in it three years, I still can’t get to that answer,” Pitsch said, adding he wanted to get into politics “to try and have some integrity as we looked at things there.”

He continued: “Since I’ve gotten into it, we’ve got Senators pleading guilty, we’ve got Representatives pleading guilty. We’ve dramatically changed what takes place in Little Rock. I haven’t had anybody buy me so much as a cup of coffee in three years. The idea of free suppers every night with lobbyists. The idea of somebody paying for our golf on weekends. That doesn’t exist anymore, and I’m happy to say that doesn’t exist anymore. Because we needed to clean up the ethics that were going on in Little Rock. Badly.”

In response, Glidewell attacked the 2014 ethics reform bill Pitsch noted in his comments, while offering an “ObamaCare”-related explanation of his spending.

“That 15-cent cup of coffee he’s talking about was all we got out of the ethics bill, which was issue number three. We took term limits out of the state of Arkansas, and we tripled their salaries. Now that’s what they did, and I haven’t had a (legislator) one that would sign the petition for term limits again. Not one. And I have asked most of them to do that. But anyway, we’ll get back to my spending. Somebody had just brought up that you got to spend a lot of time in Little Rock. I also had a deal to opt out of ObamaCare in 2009. I had to spend a lot of time just to keep it in the committee. Anyway, they (ran) me around the state of Arkansas.”

ALTES
Altes touted his two-year record as state drug czar on Monday night. Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed him to the post in 2015. He stepped down last year ahead of his decision to run for the District 8 Senate seat vacated by Files.

Altes also reminded voters of his previous experience in Little Rock. From 1999-2003 and again from 2011-2015, he served as a member of the House. From 2003-2011, he was a state senator.

Responding to an education question asking how to fix Arkansas’ No. 42 rating in education, Altes said, “Under my tenure, we went from 48 to number 5, according to Education Week. So I don’t know where they (came) up with that number. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Glidewell said he was “with Denny in not thinking we were that low, but I didn’t know we were number five.”

Pitsch responded: “The reality of it is, you can find as many school rating trade journals as you want. I’ve never heard one where we’re anywhere near fifth. But typically, you will see us in the 40 to 45 range. Sometimes we’ll get higher. I’ve seen one that had us 34th, I believe.”

The journal Altes used (Education Week) gives Arkansas a C- rating and ranks the state No. 43, explaining: “Arkansas earns a C-minus in the Chance-for-Success category and ranks 46th. The average state earns a C-plus. In School Finance, Arkansas receives a C-minus and ranks 27th. For the K-12 Achievement Index, last updated in the 2016 report, it finishes 41st with a grade of D. The average state earns grades of C and C-minus in School Finance and K-12 Achievement, respectively.”

FILES
Near the end of Monday’s forum, a question touched on former Sen. Files. Files vacated the position in January after pleading guilty to federal charges, including bank fraud. The question asked: would any of the three men accept Files’ endorsement should he choose to give it?

Altes said he would accept the endorsement. “He’s been a long-time friend. He’s a year older than my son. Jim and Jane, his mom and dad, graduated high school with me. He’s a dear friend. I don’t know what goes through people’s minds, and I don’t know what happens, but I still think he’s a good man, and I appreciate him and his friendship.”

Glidewell, who lost a runoff to Files in 2010, said he “wouldn’t want him as my campaign chairman, I’ll say that.”

“I’ve known Jake most of his life. I’ve known his parents. His parents are something else. But people do some things — I don’t know — they should know better,” Glidewell said.

He continued: “I think some of us knew this was happening a long time before the police decided to get in on this. It’s hard to say. Some people say I had sour grapes over that. But I told this before that last campaign. But that’s all right. We get kind of what we deserve, I guess. But I don’t know. I think I’d just have to pass. I’d tell him I love him. Jesus loves him. But I’m going to have to pass on his campaign for me.”

Pitsch said his basic tenet since getting into politics has been “I don’t ask anybody to endorse me, and I don’t endorse anybody; because the reality of it is that I would have endorsed Jake Files from here to the end of the moon before this all broke. Humankind will fall. They will fail. We all have our sinful things.”

Altes, Glidewell, and Pitsch will face each other in the May 22 Republican primary. The winner will face Libertarian candidate William Hyman in the general election.