Gary Campbell to challenge Rep. Stephanie Malone in the Republican Primary for Fort Smith (District 64)
It looks like District 64 (Fort Smith area) will see a Republican Primary challenge to incumbent Republican Rep. Stephanie Malone from Fort Smith Vice Mayor Gary Campbell. Malone was elected in 2008 to her first term and is expect to seek reelection next year.
“I’ve been encouraged by many friends to do this for several years. This is the right time. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that I can make a difference representing residents of western Arkansas,” said Campbell. “My experience and service in civic, youth and municipal organizations has placed me at ground zero for local and regional issues. Working at the State Legislative level, 
I’ll be able to affect legislation that directly assists Fort Smith in its community development and its economic development. That will equate to improvements and jobs for this area.”
“Gary has cultivated working relationships in Fort Smith, Northwest Arkansas, Little Rock and throughout the country,” said fellow City Director Don Hutchings. “He’s exactly what Fort Smith needs in a state legislator; energetic, respected, accessible, focused, intelligent and knowledgeable. Everything he’ll do will start and end with Fort Smith’s best interests.”
I spoke with Rep. Malone by telephone this afternoon and she confirmed that she will seek re-election but was unaware that Campbell planned to challenge her in the primary. She told me she saw him earlier this week and he did not mentioned it to her.
“I am proud of my conservative record in the state legislature,” said Malone. ”I voted against the Democrats’ $86 million tax increase during the last session. I also voted to reduce the sales tax on energy for manufacturing in Arkansas. Sebastian County has been losing manufacturing jobs for years and this tax cut will help us maintain the jobs we have while attracting new employers to our region. Additionally, I am proud to have voted to lower the tax on groceries. I believe it is wrong that we tax food. I will continue to work to completely eliminate this tax.”
Malone also said that she looks forward to campaigning next year and letting the voters know what she has done as their state representative.
UPDATE – I spoke with Campbell this afternoon. I wanted to ask him why he is choosing to take on an incumbent representative in the primary.
Campbell assured me that his decision is not about opposing Rep. Malone. “The way I see it is the state representative job is about bidding on a two year contract,” said Campbell. “The contract is up for renewal and I think I could do a good job.” He said the timing has to do with his term on the Fort Smith city board running out and he believes he can bring some things to the job of state representative to help the people in his district.
I also asked Campbell about his decision to run as a Republican. He admitted that he has supported candidates from both parties in the past and could not recall which primary he voted in last year’s Presidential election. But he said that he believes his “conservative values match closer with the Republicans than the Democrats.”
UPDATE II – Campbell posts in the comments section below that he misunderstood my question and that he actually clearly remembers that he did vote in last year’s Republican Presidential Primary. He thought I was asking who he voted for but he said he knows he voted in the Republican Primary both in the Presidential Primary in February and the regular primary in May.
UPDATE III - Campbell called me back to say once again he was mistaken. He checked the records and he did in fact vote in the Democratic Presidential Primary. He said he decided to do so after listening to Rush Limbaugh who encouraged Republican to cross over and vote in the Democratic primary as part of Operation Chaos.
Tags: 2010 Candidates
December 17th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Fort Smith folks are saying that Malone’s conservative values hurt her ability to bring home the pork. She voted no on the cigarette tax and the Democrats cut off the flow to her district. She could not bring it home like Rick Green with his RINO connections could.
The country club Republicans in Fort Smith did not much care for Malone’s inability to play nice with Robbie in exchange for her payoffs so they recruited Campbell to run against her.
If Fort Smith wants another RINO like Rick Green, elect Campbell. If they want a conservative, stick with Stephanie.
December 17th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Campbell couldn’t recall which primary he voted in last year? This does inspire confidence.
Politicians with memory problems are typically the ones who campaign as conservatives and vote like liberals.
December 17th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Stephanie Malone is a fine state representative. She is a conservative and she represents her district well. I am quite confident that she will be reelected.
December 17th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
If I were in Fort Smith I don’t think I’d want a state representative who is so absent minded that he can’t even remember who he voted for in a Presidential election. Either he is not telling the truth or he has serious issues with remembering fairly important events.
December 17th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Clarification and Corrections:
To Mr. Tolbert, I take full responsibility for misunderstanding your question as (a)who all did I voted for in the last year’s primary versus (b)which primary I voted in. I VOTED IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY. Charge me with an error on that one. Thanks for calling.
December 18th, 2009 at 10:50 am
According to the Sebastian County Clerks office, Gary Campbell just told an untruth. He voted in the Dem Presidential Primary.
Call and ask for yourself. 479-782-5065. Only one Gary Campbell born in 1941 that lives in District 64. And he voted for either Hillary or Barack or some other Democrat hack.
December 18th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Gary,
Are you sure you’re talking about the Presidential primary?
December 18th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Mr. Campbell, you do realize that your decision to vote in the DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY is public record?
December 18th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
So Gary voted for either Clinton, Obama, or worse for President at least in the primary. Now he wants Republicans to vote for him. I think not Mr. Campbell.
December 18th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Tough things, those voter registration rolls (and a well-placed FOI).
Don’t know which primary, but it could end up the most important vote Gary ever made, particularly as he seeks to challenge the incumbent in a Republican primary.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
He had to “check the records” to see in which primary he voted? Seriously?
December 18th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Campbell makes another “mistake”?
I’ve done a little research. The comment that Mr. Campbell made about voting in the Democratic primary because of Rush’s “Operation Chaos” was interesting to me. As everyone is aware Arkansas’ primary was one of the primaries on Super Tuesday. The earliest mention that I’ve found of Rush supporting Hillary was on Feb. 7th. At that time he suggested throwing a fundraiser for her. This was not so much that he wanted to create “chaos” but because her to win the primary since he felt that she is more of a polarizing figure. It wasn’t until around Feb. 26th that I found mention of him asking people to vote in the Democratic primary to cause chaos. At this point he was wanting to prop Clinton up so she’d stay in the race as long as possible.
From my research digging through Rush’s transcripts it looks like Rush had never mentioned voting for Clinton before the Arkansas primary. In fact, the earliest primaries I’ve found where Rush had suggested people vote for Clinton are the Texas and Ohio primaries. These primaries were in March. Mr. Campbell must have had another reason for voting in the ‘08 Democratic Primary, because it wasn’t because Rush suggested he do so.
I could be wrong and may have missed it in my research. But if not I would think that Republican voters would like a truthful answer as to why Mr. Campbell voted for a Democrat. I wonder which candidate received his vote.
December 19th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Brett, I had not noticed that he claimed to be taking part in Operation Chaos, but you are absolutely correct about the timing. Arkansas was absolutely not involved in that.
December 19th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Nick,
Apparently that was the reason he gave Jason as to why he voted in the Democratic primary.