Ross touts plan for Arkansas' future

Two days after winning the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Mike Ross was already on the campaign trail in Hot Springs.

Ross, former 4th Congressional District congressman from Prescott, now lives in Little Rock and works as a consultant. In an interview Thursday at the newspaper's offices, Ross said that the general election campaign began "at about 7:35 p.m. on Tuesday night." With only about five months to go in the campaign, Ross said he thinks it was important to "come out of the gate strong."

Ross said he considers himself the underdog in the race, since his opponent, Republican Asa Hutchinson, has run for statewide office previously, while he has not, and has the advantage on name recognition. Hutchinson, of Rogers, is an attorney and former 3rd Congressional District congressman.

"We may be outspent, but we're not going to be outworked," Ross said.

"We plan to take our positive vision for the future of this state to all 75 counties, directly to the people," he said.

That "positive vision" and "plan for Arkansas' future" is focused on improving education, having lower, fairer taxes, and creating more and better-paying jobs. Much of Thursday's discussion revolved around pre-school education.

Ross spoke to the Arkansas Chapter of the American Public Works Association Conference at the Austin Convention Hotel & Spa around noon on Thursday, and that afternoon toured the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts. Both of Ross' children are graduates of ASMSA.

Ross said in the interview that Arkansas needs to start sooner, and finish stronger, in education. He said fewer than half of the 4-year-olds in the state are enrolled in a pre-K program, while Oklahoma has 75 percent of its 4-year-olds enrolled in a pre-K program.

"We're not talking about anything mandatory here," Ross said, just "making the opportunity available."

Children who attend a pre-K program are less likely to repeat a grade, more likely to complete high school and college, more likely to be employed as a adult when others are not, and less likely to end up on government assistance or in prison, he said.

"I've been doing economic development and job creation all my life, and you can have the best roads, the best infrastructure, but at the of the day, you've got to have an educated, trained workforce," Ross said.

Ross also said that he has a plan to cut the state income tax to make it fairer.

"We have six income tax rates in Arkansas, and yet 60 percent of the workers are in the top two. One out of every three is in the top rate," Ross said.

"A single mom working two jobs to make ends meet, earning $34,000 a year -- that's our top rate -- is paying the same state income tax rate as someone making $340,000 a year, or someone making $3.4 million a year. There's nothing fair about it," he said.

Ross said he has a plan to "fix it," but it would be done in a "fiscally responsible way."

The Republican Governors Association on Friday challenged Ross to "publicly defend his record as a far-left, big spending, big government ally of Washington liberals like Nancy Pelosi."

"In the weeks since the Republican Governors Association began airing advertisements in the Arkansas governor's race, Ross seems to have spent more time hemming and hawing about the ads than touting his own record," the RGA said in a news release.

"If Ross' background differs from what the ads have exposed as much as he claims, it's time for him to follow through on his accusations and say specifically which statements inaccurately portray the record he has amassed," RGA Communications Director Gail Gitcho said in the release. "We are confident that, while the reality of his ultra-liberal record may not jive with the façade of independence he's using to dupe voters, he'll find the ads to be completely truthful and accurate."

"Asa Hutchinson and the Republican Governors Association ... spent over $1 million back in February and March misrepresenting the truth and distorting the facts and lying about me and my record," Ross said in response.

"One of the ads was that I was Pelosi's go-to guy. The only time Pelosi had an opponent, I gave the nominating speech for her opponent with her sitting on the front row. Do you really think a guy from Prescott, Ark., that has an A-plus rating with the National Rifle Association, and that voted against Obamacare, and being one of three Democrats to vote to repeal Obamacare, was really Pelosi's go-to guy?" he said.

"I'm proud to be the Democratic nominee for governor, but let me be clear: I'm not running to be governor for the Democratic or Republican parties. I'm running to be governor for all the people of Arkansas," Ross said.

Local on 05/23/2014

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