Candidates talk taxes, other issues
Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2008
BELLA VISTA - Republican County Judge candidates were guest speakers in a joint appearance at a meeting of the Republican Men of Benton County on Friday. They introduced themselves and talked taxes and services and took some questions.
Present were candidates Bill Adams, a former Benton County justice of the peace; Dave Bisbee, a state senator; Chris Glass, a lawyer and Benton County JP; Kevin Harrison, a Rogers developer; and Greg Hines, a Rogers alderman.
The county judge, the county's top political executive, was likened by one candidate to a "mayor the county."
Current County Judge Gary Black is not seeking re-election. Bill Adams Adams stressed his conservatism and noted that, as a JP, he voted against a proposal sales tax increase at each of three opportunities and then formed a group that opposed the proposal as an initiated act.
He will, if elected, reduce cost of government by reducing its size, he said.
"I will try to reduce cost of government by shrinking it," Adams said.
The county has the funding to black top some 5 miles of road per year, but he has a plan to pave some 50 miles of roads in two years, Adams said. The plan would chip and seal some roads as part of a local version of a road plan that succeeded in Colorado and elsewhere. Dave Bisbee Bisbee used part of his time to criticize a seven-page handbill he said misrepresents his positions on taxes and other issues.
The handbill, headed "Dave Bisbee is a Tax and Spend Liberal," had been left on attendees car windshields earlier this week, during another joint appearance by the GOP county judge candidates in Rogers, Bisbee said.
The document is misleading and inaccurate, and takes many of his statements out of context, he said. For instance, he did not support higher property taxes, as the handout says, but worked successfully to get them frozen, Bisbee said. Later legislation returned the property to market value at the death of a property owner, Bisbee Leadership ability, proven in his nearly 16 years in the state Legislature, is the asset he will bring to the county if he's elected, Bisbee said.
"I can't say I have all the answers. I do have the knowledge to find the answers," he said. Chris Glass His careers and his combination of communication skills and conservatism prepare him for the county judge's role, Glass said.
He said there's now a lack of adequate stewardship of county resources, and pledged if elected to change that.
County government must be accountable for actions it takes, and especially for the money it spends. At the same time, the county must make do with what it has and he won't seek a tax increase, Glass said.
Glass grew up in Washington, D. C., the son of two government lawyers, and became an attorney himself, in private practice and in two different positions at Wal-Mart.
He is also a retired infantry officer who managed between 250 and more than 1, 000 people in the service.
Now, he's a farmer and a JP, Glass said. Kevin Harrison His job prepared him to make the county account for its spending, Harrison said.
He talked about his work in creation of the nine-story Bentonville Plaza, a job in which he worked closely with business.
"We did Bentonville Plaza with a $ 20 million-plus budget on that nine-story building in Bentonville. We had 185 men on that site and we had to coordinate with the largest company," he said.
He would approve of chip and seal for some roads, but would not support new taxes for roads or other reasons, Harrison said.
"We've got to make due with what we've got," he said. Greg Hines Hines also joined the "no taxes"bandwagon, cited an injunction by President Theodore Roosevelt that urged people to do what they could with what they have.
He believed his experience on the Rogers City Council and with as an investigator with Benton County Sheriff's Office has let him see operations of government from many useful perspectives, ones he will put to work for the county if elected, Harrison said.
If elected he will stress getting things done with cooperation among counties in the region, between the county and the sate, and between the county and municipalities in the county, Hines said.
He will work very hard, but won't ask anyone in government to work harder than he does himself, Hines said. "You have to be a motivational leader," he said.
In Benton County and throughout the state, Democrats and Republicans will select their candidates in primary elections on May 20.
Democrat Bill Williams is also a candidate for Benton County Judge.
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