Election Profiles: Arkansas House District 84

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.

Jon Eubanks (R) and David Rush (D) seek the open Arkansas House District 84 that covers most of Logan County and portions of Franklin County.

The seat is open because Rep. John Paul Wells, D-Paris, is term limited. Wells is running against Bruce Holland for the Arkansas Senate District 6 seat.

Rush, from Paris, is an attorney and veteran of the U.S. Navy.

Eubanks, who lives near Paris, is a farmer and accountant.

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.

• Jon Eubanks response:
Eubanks did not respond.

• David Rush response:
The top three needs/issues for District 84 are the same as those for Arkansas. Those are:  jobs, education, and economic growth. These issues are all interrelated.

We must continue to work to improve the educational level of our work force.  If we continue to make gains in the educational level of our citizens, jobs will be forthcoming and economic expansion will occur.

We must not only work towards improving the number of college and vocational education graduates, we must also increase the number of our young people completing high school. If we fail to adequately concentrate on education, the creation of jobs will be stalled and our economy will not expand. Additionally, education is the key to lowering our crime rate and reducing the number of our young people being involved with dangerous and illegal drugs.

I believe the traditional family unit is the key to encouraging our youth to be successful in their educational pursuits. Our state must have policies conducive to maintaining our traditional family units.

Specifically, I will support ending the sales tax on groceries. I would also propose an August sales tax holiday for our teachers, parents, and students — it would greatly benefit our business community as well.

I support targeted tax incentives to stimulate alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas and biofuels. This would create jobs and promote economic expansion.

An important part of economic expansion and job creation is maintaining our family units. This includes protecting our senior citizens who have provided the foundation for our families. I would propose comprehensive senior citizen protection legislation.

I would sponsor legislation to put in place better tracking procedures of prescription drug sales to halt the terrible problem our law enforcement and State is having with prescription drug abuse. As part of our educational needs is the requirement that we educate our youth about the consequences of drug abuse. Limited educational achievement and lack of education regarding drug abuse leads to the destruction of our family units which in turn destroys economic expansion and limits job creation.

I am for targeted tax incentives to stimulate job creation in all areas of our economy. I am for tourism promotion initiatives such as agri tourism to promote our grape production areas in District 84. Agriculture is a major part of the economy of our area and agri tourism is a novel marketing tool to promote tourism.