Major funding for election 2022.

Arkansas PBS's Debates is provid by AARP Arkansas, with additiona provided by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce from the campus of the Universit of Central Arkansas and the stud of Arkansas.

PBS.

U.S. Election 2022.

Arkansas.

PBS Lieutenant Governor Debate is in 54321.

Upon you, your statement.

And hello, everyone, and welcome once again to debate week here on Arkansas PBS at this hour, the candidates for lieutenant go and they are in alphabetical ord the libertarian candidate, Mr. Frank Gilbert, the Democratic nominee, Miss Kel and the Republican candidate, Mr Leslie Rutledge.

The questions for the debate will be coming tonight.

Are coming during the broadcast from Brandon Evans of 4029 News, Fort Smith and Fayettevill Christina munoz of Arkansas, PBS and Natural State.

UPDATE I'm Steve Barnes.

The rules for the debates have been agreed upon by all candidates, and they are each will be receive one minute to respond to questio The candidates will have 30 seconds for rebutta If they choose at the conclusion of questioning nominee will have one minute for a closing statement.

Now, the order of candidate appearance was determined prior to the debate in a drawing that was overseen by the candidates themselves or their representatives.

Our first question will be comin Brandon Evans to Mr. Gilbert.

Brandon Candidate Gilbert On the subject of qualifications what about your past experience, current platforms an that make you feel you are the best fit for this po I appreciate that question and an opportunity to t about some of the best times of The qualified qualifications include elective office.

I've been a mayor or constable and a coroner.

The eight years that I served as the mayor of Ta were some of the best of my life Enjoyable times, but not without some controversy.

You don't serve in public office without irritating some folks, and we did some of that.

But overall, I think served each of those offices wel And in addition, for this particular office, I think I'm qualified because in my real life, the last 20 years of my work experience were as an in-school at the box of high school and then dealing with rowdy, you men and women.

I think I'm supremely qualified to oversee the Senate.

Thank you, sir.

Ms.. Crouch, you have one more?

Thank you.

And thanks for having us excited to be here to get to share a little bit about why we want this position.

So most of my adult life has bee serving as a foster parent, and I've recently become a licensed social worker.

So I've had the opportunity to learn how average Arkansans are struggling, what families need to be able to Lieutenant governor, of course, serves over presides over the Senate and would vote to break a tie and become the governor if they were to resign or die.

And so there's some space in the for some other work, right?

And so I kind of see this as a position of advocacy and an ability to be a megaphone across the state for that are important to Arkansas families and childre So I'm advocating for proactive that allows people to do well here in the state.

Ms. RUTLEDGE One moment.

Well, thank you.

And thank you to Arkansas PBS for hosting these debates.

Being qualified for Lieutenant g means that I'm ready in the even that it called to be governor.

Over the last eight years, I've had the honor of serving as the state's attorney general, defending our constitutional rights, protecting children against online predators and oth making sure that consumers are p I've lowered the budget.

The attorney general's office.

We have served more Arkansans with smaller staff and smaller b and we're going to use that same microphone.

And the lieutenant governor's office to be the economic ambass to grow more jobs here in the natural state.

I'm a seventh generation Arkansa I'm married to a rock farmer.

But most importantly, I'm a mom.

And when I became a mother to Juliana in 2018, I knew when I saw that face exactly how much God loves us.

It's made me a better person, a better Christian.

It's made me a better attorney g And with you all support, it'll make me a better lieutenan for the great state of Arkansas.

Ms.. Rutledge Thank you.

Time now for rebuttal or for fol And Mr. Gilbert, you have 30 sec And not having had an opportunit to do an introduction, I fail to like PBS and you all for being here.

I apologize.

What a great organization PBS is And I appreciate folks who have come out work today and let this happen.

I look forward to serving as lieutenant or in any capacity that I can be of assistance.

Ms..

Crowd You have 30 seconds.

Absolutely.

I always like to add to the experience conversation.

I realize that my experience is from some of the others on the s with me this morning.

But a lot of what makes a good l is the ability to listen and the ability to learn, the willingness to do and to have creative solutions kind of out of the box solution so that we can start making prog We don't always have to do thing the way they've always been done So I'm excited to bring some new to Arkansas and to Ms.. Rutledge 30 seconds.

And I look forward as lieutenant to being the economic ambassador for the state of Arka to make sure that we are growing jobs in Paragould, Pocah Texarkana, all across the state, as well as to work with our next governor, my long time friend Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to make certain that we eliminat the individual income tax.

We are going to be working toget with the legislature, the executive branch, to make sure that we have an Ark where we can raise families and safe neighborhoods and have economic prosperity for Thank you.

And our next question from Mrs. Munoz, and that goes first.

Tuom Thank you, Miss Kraut.

We've already mentioned that the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate.

So how would you go about reaching across the aisle when it comes to calming down the divisiveness with regard to partizan politics Absolutely.

That's a great quest And I love this question because I actually used to be very conse I haven't always been on this side of the aisle.

And so I very much understand how everyone in the situation is thinking and I feel like I've got a good to communicate to both sides of One of the styles of campaigning that I've used has just been very conversationa Bringing people in, not being di not being judgmental, and letting everybody say their so that we can start making some progress together.

I'm very comfortable working in spaces with people on both sides.

I have Republican friends who are campaigning for me, so I am very comfortable in that and think that we can make a lot of progress together.

One of the things I don't think people really wrap their heads a when we're looking at politics i some of our most divisive issues We could make a lot of progress Policy wise, that helps everyone without necessarily agreeing on the original issue completely There's still room for growth.

There's Rutledge.

Over the last eight years, I've had the opportunity to work with our legislature on a very difficult issues.

And so I hope to bring, as lieutenant governor, the body of the Senate, that same sort of civility to where we are able to work through issues, conduct the business for the people of Arkansas on the Senate floor, and to make sure that all sides But to ensure, again, that civil Americans and Arkansans are tire of the divisiveness that they see in politics.

We need to be able to get things And sometimes that means that we have to find the 80% of that we agree on and leave that 20% aside.

Let's find ways to grow more jobs in our communi across the state, to roll back regulations off the of small businesses, to help our law enforcement offi receive more training so we can have safe neighborhood for our kids to ensure every chi has the opportunity to have an education that they need and deserve, and one that their parents encou We want to make sure we have parental choice in education.

We want to have more kids going into the workforce out of high school.

These are the sort of things that we can talk about and bring in the state Senate for the stat of Arkansas.

Mr. GILBERT What a great question.

And it is obvious that politics in Arkansas is mor than in any time in my life.

I used to talk about team red and team blue, but I'm afraid we've become trib and Tribe Blue.

We are involved in tribal politi to the point that we often are unable to disagree civilly.

We tend to objectify and demoniz those that we disagree with.

And that has created a culture in Arkansas politics that has driven away the voters Arkansas has the least participa in electoral politics in the nat One quarter or thereabouts of th even bothered to vote in the pri less than half.

Usually in the general elections And a lot of those who vote in t are voting out of habit.

I hope as a libertarian I'll be able to that conversation realistically.

Thank you.

Ms.

CRAFT Yes, I.

As Frank mentioned, he's dealt with some rowdy, rowdy characters before.

I'm a mom of seven sons.

And so I actually wrote sort of a silly song during the campaign, cause I like to campaign kind of uniqu And one of the lines went, I've got seven sons.

I can handle a rowdy senate, even if it's mostly Republicans And I realize I'm running as one of the in the minority pa here in Arkansas that doesn't intimidate me.

And like I mentioned before, I think there's a lot of space to be able to work together and and I'm ready to do that kin Ms.. RUTLEDGE Well, as the Attorney General for the last eight years, I don't know that we're going to to get the Senate to sing Kumbaya together.

But I do believe that there's an opportunity to sit do and have civil discourse to ensure that as the as the lieutenant governor presiding over the Sena that it'll be my job to call balls and strikes, to make sure that those who are advocating their positions are heard and allowed to do so in a respectful manner.

I've worked very closely with these senators and I look f to working with them over the next four years as their lieutenant governor.

30 seconds from Mr. Gilbert.

The truth of the matter is that the job of lieutenant go has very little to do even with the Senate these days.

The Senate does not ward a membe of the executive body looking over his shoulder, and I think they have an argumen made there.

The truth of the matter is, if we did it right and if we cou we probably ought to eliminate this office.

In the meantime, let someone who has a different perspective come in and oversee the Senate to the degree that it and otherwise stay out of the po Thank you, sir.

Question for General Rutledge.

You've talked a couple of times, General, abou for civility in public life.

You and a number of other attorn general are the target of attempted say or recommended sanctions by a nonprofit organization which accuses you and I, which asserts that you and other in the context of the 2020 presidential election, spread what they termed false as and frivolous allegations about the election.

In light of that, and in light o that none of the subsequent inve have uncovered any serious malfeasance in any way in terms of the 2020 election, should you be sanction Also, follow up question is Joe the legitimate president of the United States?

Well, thank you, Steve, for that And the the complaint against me and the other ages is nothing mo than a political attack, as we s It was a blanket.

They didn't they used the same l as absolutely frivolous.

We worked very closely with the attorneys at the AG's o before joining those efforts in December of 2020, because it was really a matter of making sure those state legis had the the power that they needed in order to conduct the elections.

With regard to the election, I said very clearly and in Febru and even up until President Joe Biden was sworn into office, that he was elected president and that we saw him in on January 20th, 2021.

There are many press statements.

I encourage members of the media to to look into that, if they wi But what we need to look at, rat when it comes to Joe Biden, is not when he was electe but rather what he's done since he's been president and since he's been president.

I've taken over 100 legal action against this president for his illegal actions as president, United States.

Mr. Gilbert.

I think this is a prime example of the culture that I was talking about earlier It's not good enough to disagree with the attorney general.

You have to go after her persona You have to attack her and you have to use the courts t with.

The courts should be impartial a not tools of destruction.

And tools of destruction is what too many on both the left and th Democrats and Republicans are looking for in politics thes I was approached by two news med about my membership in an organi called Oath Keepers.

The Added Defamation League had sought out news media to let them know that I and othe had joined that organization.

It is a good organization.

I stand by what I did when I joi I have no problem with the organization what they Some individuals on January six.

It's between them and the Attorney General of the United States that they a Ms.

CROWD Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you for the interesting qu I love talking about civility in I think that's something that is I think if anyone can get the Senate to sing Kumbaya, it would be me.

But that is for the voters to de I find it really interesting that my opponent is really again frivolous political attacks, because as I've been watching, that is mostly what I have seen.

I have seen her wake up and sue I mean, I've heard you say that I'd love to wake up and see Joe Biden today over and over again.

And it is a use of our taxpayer And I wish people were paying attention to because it's not helping our sta I'm Kelly Trout.

I'm running for lieutenant gover here in Arkansas.

You know, there's a lot of talk about Joe who does already have a job pres as he won the election.

So thank you.

Thank you.

General Rutledge, back to you for 30 seconds.

Well, as you can see, neither of my opponents are prepared for civility in pol But let's go back to Joe Biden.

I do wake up every morning and have to ask myself, as your attorney general, how am I going to sue Joe Biden today?

And we've done just that, whether it was over the cancelat of the Keystone pipeline now saddling Americans with $400 billion worth of student loan cancelation that adults took out on their own.

All of these things we have done to protect our common sense.

And I'm going to keep doing that as your attorney general and fight for you as your lieute governor, Mr. Gilbert.

Thank you.

First, civility.

I think Leslie may have misunder what I was saying.

I was actually defending her against that attack, which I con ruthless and unnecessary.

Secondly, I don't know how we can approach a problem that is this ingrained without hurting some feelings.

Kumbaya are is not going to get We're going to have to be honest with each other.

Ms..

Crowd Clearly, I would not make the Senate clean, sing Kumbaya.

I think civility in politics, we're talking about, you know, not mudslinging, not dragging people, being kind, being respectful in the way that we communicate.

I would never say anything about attorney General Rutledge that I wouldn't say right here w right next to me.

And we do need to hold our leaders accountable.

And so when we're spending taxpa on these frivolous lawsuits, it' not good for Arkansans.

What would be good for Arkansans Student loan forgiveness that's going to allow us to spend money here in our state that will continue to boost our economy and help the average Arkansan.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from Mr. Evans, and he goes first on this candidate crowd.

I want to talk about these four ballot issues that will be up for voters to de whether it's recreational marijuana, procedural changes when it comes to emergency sessi or changes to religious freedom.

What do you feel are the most im of those four when it comes to the future of Arkansas?

And what would your advice be to that issue?

The most important ballot issue on the ballot this year is issue two.

I am very concerned about requiring a 60% threshold for ballot measures to pass.

It is already incredibly difficu for citizens to get a ballot measure on the b They're going to have to file a They're going to have to get a ton of signatures.

This year it was upwards of 100,000 signat and we all saw how many signatur get thrown out every year.

There's a whole process with the It's very difficult to get something on there.

And so for us to try to make it even more cumbersome to pass leg through a citizen initiative, I find very concerning.

And I honestly see it as kind of an insult to the voters of Arkansas that the legislature doesn't think that we can come u with good enough ideas that should be passed at the same 50% threshold that the legislature is able to This actually puts us in a scena where minority rules that word.

The 40% could get to decide whether or not something passes.

And I think that's just wrong.

So I'm a strong No.

One issue, t I think it's really important.

Ms.. Rutledge One minute I think it's important for Arkan to read all four of these ballot initiatives and to to discuss them with their neighbors and to decide whether or not they want to legalize recreational marijuana.

Whether or not they believe that our legislature should be a to call themselves in the sessio Currently, only the governor can call a special session.

Right now, we have a part time legislature.

And so we need to have those con among citizens of whether or not they want our legislature to be able to do that.

When it comes to the ballot initiatives and whether or not if we had that 50% threshold or let's look at how many times the Constitution has been amended.

It's been amended nearly or over 100 times.

100 times we have amended the Arkansas Con It should be actually quite diff to amend the Constitution and the state of Arkansas.

We don't want this to be somethi that's done willy nilly with out-of-state money coming in to influence and to buy elections and to change our constitution.

And when it comes to defending religious liberty, we're going to keep doing that in Arkansas.

I have done as your attorney gen and we will always defend our religious liberty rights.

One minute now to Mr. Gilbert's.

Thank you.

And I agree with Kelly and Lesli both on this, but I believe number four is the one that I would choose as most important, and I do so because of the impact that it ha on people's daily lives.

My friend Melissa Fox is with Ar True Grass is campaigning actively against number four because of the structural nature that it's set up.

Eight folks are going to get fil rich off of it, and I hate that.

But what I hate more is seeing young people arrested for possession, going before courts and probation that perhaps some jail time as a driver for Uber and Lyft, one of the most frequent drops I have is not just the airport and the Amazon fulfillment cente but the probation department.

And folks, it breaks my heart to see that many young people's disrupted that way.

Time for a follow up now.

Ms..

Craft, your first 30 seconds.

Yes, and I agree with Ms.. Rutle I want everybody to read these ballot issues for themselv and really figure out what makes the most sense.

I also want to acknowledge something that she said, something that happens a lot when I listen to Ms.. Rutledge talk about things is that there's a bunch of langu that is kind of intended to make you feel fearful, and it's a little manipulative in nature, if I'm honest.

So when we use phrases like out money and special interest group that the average voter doesn't n understand, it kind of it feels like it's intended to freak people out.

I want us to be clear and concise with what we're tryi Say what you mean.

Also, we have religious freedom.

We live in the USA.

Ms.. Rutledge, 30 seconds.

Well, thank you.

And again, it's important for ou to read all four of these ballot to ensure that what you vote on, that you thoroughly understa Too often we have talked to Arka who've said, I didn't really und issue two or issue four or whatever it might be.

And so, folks, make sure that you spend time over the next 25 days to read those ballot and issues to understand them.

So that way you can vote how you feel is best for the state of Arkansas.

And back to Mr. Gilbert.

You have another 30 seconds, sir and an opportunity to address what the attorney general said a amending the Constitution.

How we seem to have done so will I believe, is the word she used.

It's unfortunate that she didn't talk about how the state legislature goes about amending the Constitution.

They get to do so three times at every session in any way they The strictures of ballot titles and language and all the others go through do not apply to the legislature.

And that's unfortunate.

Thank you, sir.

Our next question comes from is and it goes first to Ms.. Rutled So in preparation for this debat we allowed viewers via social media to submit some questions.

So we want to be sure we get those to you as well.

This one comes from Polk County Rutledge.

What role should state governmen play in transitioning us to clea and renewable energy?

Well, thank you.

And already for the last eight years as the attorney general, I've worked very closely.

And we have what's called the the Cura ed de where we deal with utilities and look at making sure that our utility rates are down, but also deals with our environmental policies and making certain that when we have issues that come down from the federal government, such as the water to the US role that we push back.

We want to make sure that we are remains energy independent.

What we have seen under Presiden Joe Biden is he's making us energy dependent.

And and I believe that it's our as state leaders to make certain that we are making decisions not just to have clean, renewabl but to have a diverse energy in order to withstand things such as what we saw in the power outages in Texas that they didn't anticipate in the last couple of years with those ice and snow storms.

We want to make certain that in where we have droughts, that our farmers and ranchers had the that they need for their crops and for their livestock.

All of this is important to the state of Arkansas, but also to the security of the United States.

Thank you, Mr. Gilbert.

One minute.

In a sane world, I don't think the state of Arkan or any other level of government to be involved in encouraging people to do what they need to do in their personal lives.

That's not the world we live in And as a result, recently signed up for the solar program in my house.

That gets us a super right on a lot of money over a long period of time to make us a little more energy independent.

I look at that and I see it in the eyes of my f Mark Moore, who shares the economic values that I do and the understanding of governm as a tool of destruction, most o not of construction, he said.

In programs like this, go ahead and take the It'll just break the system more and we can do better when we bui back.

Ms.. Croft, you have one minute.

We have a lot of opportunity across the state of Arkansas to make more use of things like wind and solar, particularly for our farmers.

We could be we have a large swaths of land w we could be putting solar panels and creating more energy, allowi to have more margin in their bud They could be reinvesting back into their crops.

These create jobs.

This is going to help boost our It's a more sustainable solution And we've seen over the past several years the weather is getting more extr We need to be preparing in that and being proactive rather than Any time we are trying to preven rather than reacting to an issue we are being more efficient with our money and our time and keeping our Kansans safer.

And I think clean energy is a really neat way that we could And we need to be catching up with the rest to be able to better serve our K Come back to them as.

Rutledge Ma'am, you have 30 seco As a seventh generation Arkansan, who is now a I have a century farm, I'm married to a row crop farmer, I can assure you that Arkansas farmers and ranchers are the greatest conservationist because our livelihoods depend o And so to hear from Liberal woke about how my husband can be farm and what he can do better.

Let me tell you, no one cares more about the land that they farm than our Arkansas And so I encourage those who sit in their condominiums and apartments to come on out and enjoy Arkansas and enjoy what we have and to see what we're doing to protect our land, our livestock and our livelihoods.

And we go to Mr. Gilbert, all of these programs that we talk about, whether it's the loan forgiveness, whether it's government involvem in our choices as to energy usag there are winners and losers.

The winners tend to be those who are most closely associated with the government that is running the program, and the losers are always the ta I'm tired of being a loser in th I hope we'll eventually stop this sort of thing.

Yeah.

Ms.. Crowe, I was hoping someone would call The Liberal woke left today.

That always just makes me smile.

It's clear my opponent doesn't really know a whole lot about me I really want Arkansas to be able to do better.

I would never go in and tell a f how to run their their farm.

However, we can always be more e with our time and our money and our energy sources.

I, like Frank, have solar panels on my house.

It is drastically reduced.

A bunch of my bills and allows me more money to feed and boost the economy here in Ar and do the best that I can as an It's just a responsible thing to be using clean energy, that's Thank you.

To all in general.

You have 30 seconds.

General, run it.

Knowing that I have a car.

I'm sorry.

I've lost my place.

A question for Mr. Gilbert, sir.

You made mentioned yourself of your membership early on in the Oath Keepers.

The leader of the Oath Keepers and several of his associates is They are now on trial in Washing Four on charges of sedition.

When you joined the oath and the FBI and the Justice Depa a number of private individual have labeled the Oath Keepers, among other organizations, as a domestic terrorist organization.

Describe the oath keeper.

Did you know?

What was your first impression of the Oath Keepers?

Are you still a member?

And are you concerned about the role that such organiz paramilitary organizations play in American public life now I wouldn't use the term paramili in describing the Oath Keepers that I joined.

As a constable, I was approached by another law enforcement offic who explained the program to me, saying that it was a promise to the people that we served that we would never follow unconstitutional orders.

During the Vietnam War, I saw Lieutenant Ca do terrible things to a Vietnamese village, and his defense was that he was following orders.

Nazis after World War Two tried to defend their actions, s they were following orders.

Police officers in this country more recently have killed people while following orders.

I think it's important that law enforcement and militar assure the public we will not follow those orders.

Ms.. Kraut One minute I. I was unaware you were part of that group, Fra I was really disappointed, obvio with most of the nation with what happened on January 6t and then on January 7th, when we didn't see people stand up and denounce what had happened on January six I'm trying to raise seven sons to grow up and learn that it's pretty clear that we d things like attack the Capitol.

I hear a whole lot of, you know, supporting law enforcement and whatnot in this conversation But what we need to see is that every every election den every person who was was siding with President Trump in this sce All of that conversation led up what happened on January six.

So we need to take responsibilit for that action and we need to have a good plan moving forward with safe and fair elections, which I beli that we have.

Ms. RUTLEDGE One minute.

Well, it's absolutely unnecessar to on January six, and it's important that America move past it.

I was nowhere near Washington, DC on that day.

And so I think it's important that we as state leaders stand up against violence on any time.

What we have failed to see is wh marches across the United States including right in central Arkansas, in Little Rock, where we were had individuals storming the Capitol here and defacing public buildings and private entities even hurting one another that we've got to stop that viol and go back to civil discourse.

We can never have civil disobedi and accomplish what we need to in the United States of America.

It's important that we are able down, have those conversations e That's one thing that as a tenant governor, I'm going to be prepared to have those conversations to make certain that we continue to conduct ours as state leaders.

Do we promote people coming to the state of Arkansas and know that they are going to with the utmost respect?

Mr. GILBERT, 30 seconds.

In your original question, you ask if I was still a member, I am not because it would like a lot of organizations that are terrible at outreach and staying in touch.

They never billed me the second so I did not renew my membership I probably would have and I probably would now.

If your organization is still fo on the concept of not following those unconstitutional orders that are sometimes given, the organization may have change I hated if it did Miss Crow.

I, like Mr. Rutledge, would like to see us m from January six, but not withou being held accountable for what happened that day and everything that led up to th I think it's important for histo that we establish what was right and wrong so that we can move forward in the right way and not let his repeat itself in that fashion ag Ms.. Rutledge 30 seconds.

Well, let's focus on civil discourse and supporting our law enforceme We want to make sure that law en are supported with our resources to make certain that we tamp dow defund the police movement.

We've seen crime increase in cities across the country where they have pushed to defund the police and not support law enforcement as lieutenant governor, just as I've done as attorney ge We're going to continue to support law enforcement and law and order in the state of Arkansas.

Next question, Mr. Evans.

And it goes first to Miss Rutled Attorney General Rutledge, on the subject of ethics, if elected a lieutenant governor, you would get to appoi a member of the Ethics Commissio What are the qualities you look for in that appointment and is there an area where you believe in Arkansas?

We could use a little bit of ethical improvements.

Well, thank you.

And with regard to the Ethics Commission, I've also, as the attorney gener made appointments to the Ethics Commission.

And I think it's important for for me, I looked for someone that was going to be fai and reasonable, that had the right experience, that came about it with a very judicious temperamen It's important when you're looking at violations of the law essentially, and serving on the commission, that you have someone who looks at the facts and takes those facts into consi That doesn't bring their own political ideology or any bias to the table, but rather comes to the table with an open mind and being able to discern facts from fiction.

It's important that we have ethi serving in state government and whether that's an appointee of the lieutenant governor or at general or serving in the state or state Senate or in any office That's why we started the Public Integrity Division at the Attorney General's Office where we investigate and prosecu actors, state officials who violate the law every step of the way.

Over the last eight years, we have held public officials to standard, and I will continue to do so as lieutenant governor.

One minute now for Mr. Gilbert.

I guarantee you, as a lieutenant governor, you would get a very different kind of ethics member if you if it was up to me.

There are political appointments and this is not an area where a political appointment should be made.

We need people who are not part of the party system, that are not involved in politic at any level.

And I know good people who dislike politics to a degree that borders on illness.

They might not be a good choice, but we have to have someone who doesn't have any strings or to any of the conventional party politics that we're used to.

There is another area of ethics, and that is one that I would love to explore as I as lieutenant governor or any other way.

And that is legal ethics.

There are things that are legal in the state of Arkansas, but that are not ethical.

Thank you, sir.

To Ms.. Crouch.

Now one mother.

Yes, ethics obviously incredibly in our state government.

We need people who are willing to be transparent, who are willing to be honest at time, making sure that they're using t for what is intended for and not trying to promote another office or campaign or anything like tha But I'd like to take the rest of to focus on something else Ms.. Rutledge said about defund the p She's actually the only person t I've heard mentioning that over and over again in this camp I actually spent the last year working for a local police depar in a social work capacity and was able to ride out with officers and respond to mental health crises and help de-escalate those situations and divert them into mental heal care as opposed to the criminal system.

Law enforcement was wildly supportive of this, and it's a really neat program that I would like to see spread across the state.

I think that's something that we could invest in that will make our community saf It will allow people to get the help that they need and allows law enforcement to do the job that they've been trained to do and do it well and allows mental professionals to be able to help in the capaci that they can.

There's a lot of ways that we can creatively partner to make Arkansas better for ever Ms.

CRAFT Thank you.

We go back now to Ms.. Rutledge for 30 seconds.

Well, thank you.

When it comes to appointments to the Ethics Commission, as I mentioned, I've already mad a couple of those appointments.

The first appointment I made was an African-American female a and the second appointment I made was a Hispanic businessma I think it's that these appointments we make, whether it's as attorney general lieutenant governor or governor, reflect the state of Arkansas and reflect different views and values and making certain that those individuals come to the table again with honesty, integrity and to ensure that justice is do Rebuttal, Ms.. Mr. GILBERT.

I mentioned ethical and legal and like to fo That was just a little bit more in my early career in politics.

I was approached with a deal that a friend of mine wanted me to get involved in and I ran from it because it offended me that they that I would be susceptible to that sort of thing.

It was legal, but it was not eth And I think it's time that we look at politicians in t and talk about that.

Ms..

CROWD We're still on this one.

You're right.

We've got 30 seconds.

We don't have much else to add t except that, yes, of course, our leaders need to be ethical.

Of course, our leaders need to be transparent and hones with the Arkansas people.

And really, the bar is on the floor, right?

Like that is the bare minimum is that we be ethical?

Yes.

We've seen issues in the Se We've seen people trying to pull on Arkansas voters and and then not only not accept accountability for that, but then try to say, well, maybe I did that, but she did th And this is just not the maturit that we need in leadership in Arkansas, so we can certainly do better.

Ah, okay.

We want to let our audience know everybody know that the candidates can participate in a press confe immediately following our debate So to watch and you can you can scan the QR code on your screen with your mobile and you'll see that QR code periodically through the balance of our debate.

Another question out comes from Munoz, and it goes first to Mr. Gilbert.

Okay.

So this is switching to educatio and this is another viewer quest This one is coming from Benton C How do you plan to advocate for all Arkansas students having equitable educat while the equity gap remains so large in Arkansas?

Mr. GELBER What a shame that we're still asking this question at this poi in our history.

We've been in the courts.

We've resolve this question a half a dozen times in my lifet to everyone's satisfaction.

If there is such a thing, I don't see it being done by gov I don't see the state legislatur the governor, making decisions that will ultimately solve that It will either be done within fa or at the local level or not at I think the best state governmen is step out, clear the way, let entrepreneurs, mothers and f let local school boards let advocates of all stripes into that arena and let that energy change the whole system.

Thank you, sir.

Ms..

CROWD One minute.

Absolutely.

We need to have equitable education across the entire stat as long as we are largely depending on property tax to fund our public schools, we are going to see inequities across the state.

And we need kids in northwest Arkansas and the Delta and South Arkansas and Central Arkansas to all have access to quality ed While we're on education, we need to be talking about how we've got to pay our teacher and what they're worth.

I support the Democratic Party's plan to a teacher pay by $4,000 and raise the minimum the minimum starting salary.

We have got to be making sure that public funds stay with public schools.

All children should be able to have access to the same oppor here.

And listen, the money is there.

We've all seen the surplus in these conversations.

And at the end of the day, our budget is a moral document.

It shows what we care about.

And if we are not fully, properly funding our schools to make sure every child has a g education and opportunity here in Arkansas then our budget is not right.

And we need to we need to correc Thank you to General Rutledge.

Ma'am, you have one minute.

The first order of business in order to ensure all children have a chance at equality, education is to give their paren the choice in the education.

A child shouldn't be held back by their parent's zip code or the parent's income.

My sweet little mama elementary special education for And every night I would watch he individual education plans for all of her students.

And as she filled out those IEPs she was making sure every studen had the opportunity to succeed.

And that's what we should be focused on as a state is every child learns differentl Every child should have an individualized education plan.

My niece and nephew grew up under the same roof.

My niece flourished in public schools where her moth while my nephew, who's on the autism spectrum, was not flourishing and became homeschooled where he is now flourishing.

So even under the same roof, children learn differently.

So the first order of business is to make certain that parents have true choice and education and that we aren't constrained by their zip code or their income.

Mr. Gilbert, you have 30 seconds if you choose.

Again, the notion that a one size fits all program that the state of Arkansas knows what's best for every child and every circumstance is an abs We need to release students, their parents, to explore opport and avenues that are currently not available to them because so much of their money is already going to pay for educ That is failing.

That was failing when the first lawsuit was filed and it will fail until we do it differently.

Ms..

Crowd I was also raised by a public sc teacher.

I'm a product of public schools, and I currently have six childre in the Rogers Public School Syst I'm a big supporter of public sc At the end of the day, again, if we properly funding our public schools, there is a whole lot less need for all of this school choi and moving around.

I have several friends who are utilizing charter school and they are doing that because they're not able to get what they need for their child, specifically at their public sch And really, they should be able to get that.

I am always going to advocate for keeping public funds with public schools to.

Ms.. Rutledge 30 seconds.

In addition to promoting school choice, we also need to promote a workfo education plan and all of our hi across the state to ensure that young men and wom when they leave high school, they can go directly into the wo For too long, we've told young p you're either going to college or you're going to jail.

Well, that's a terrible plan to put th Let's make sure that we are letting students leave high school with the tools necessary to get that job, whether it's a machinist, a mechanic, an electrician, a plumber, a nurse, whatever skill set it may be, let's encourage them to have that in high school so they can become productive me of our society, take care of themselves and thei Question Now and it goes first t Crowd.

Once upon a time, many decades ago, the lieutenant came to the Capitol when the leftist legislature was in session, presided over the Senate, and then went home.

Now the lieutenant governor has more or less evolved into a full time job with a staf Will you, as lieutenant governor make it a full time job?

Will you require a staff to include security?

Oh, to include security.

You know, I hadn't thought about yet, Steve.

I do pretty well roaming around the state by myse right now.

I'm not out to make the lieutena governor a full time position.

I understand that the lieutenant you know, job description would not require a full time job.

I, like I mentioned before, I'm excited about this position to be able to advocate for polic across the state that would bene the average Arkansan proactive policy before they nee like the foster care system or the criminal justice system.

I am really looking forward to just being able to be a voice for Arkansans.

I'm not looking to make this pos any more complicated than it already is.

Mr. RUTLEDGE.

One minute.

Well, as those who know me in Arkansas know that I don't do anything ha And so I'm going to put that sam into being lieutenant governor that I've done as attorney gener I wake up about 430, 5:00 every single morning and we hit the ground running.

We're going to take that to the lieutenant governor's off to make sure that we have the st and personnel necessary to answer from Arkansans to give them the help that they already at the attorney general' We increase the number of people We used to get 2 to 300 calls pe Now we get 2 to 3000 phone calls while utilizing the same number We're going to be more efficient than they looked at governor's office has ever been, and that is going to require us to work hard, to get up early and to stay up late.

And that's what I've done as the attorney g That's what I will keep doing as a lieutenant governor to ensu that we're serving all 3 million Arkansans.

Mr. Gilbert.

I think his lieutenant governor I would probably get up in the m check the newspaper, local radio and television and maybe check my news feeds and see if the governor had been or died overnight.

If not, I'd probably roll over and go back to sleep.

We don't need a $46,000 a year featherbed job and I would use my time as lieutenant governor to fill that bully pulpit that Teddy Roosevelt spoke of.

And for me, that pulpit would be the Arkansas Township Amendment.

It allows it.

It gives us the opportunity to bring governance to the peopl to allow our motto, the people rule to actually be t seriously for a change.

And I would work on issues like and save the state some money.

No staff Musgrave 30 seconds if you wish.

I just want to say I'm glad Fran I like you and I think you're fu I would work very obviously at the position of Lieutenant Go I can work hard with it being a part time job.

I am also raising a family.

I will have a job outside of thi But what we can do is spend a lo advocating for the people of Ark One of the issues that is neares and dearest to my heart is the foster care syst I spent many years serving as a foster parent.

I think there's a huge lack of a about what we can do to improve the foster care system at any given time.

We've got upwards of 5000 kids in foster care and not nearly enough families.

So we could do a lot for awarene for that.

Ms.. Rutledge And as lieutenant governor, I want to be the economic ambass for Arkansas to ensure that we'r attracting new businesses to come, bring in four and 500 jobs to the community, but also to help our businesses who have been in those communiti for 25 or 30 years, working with the Economic Develo Commission to provide grants for those busi to add five or ten more jobs, because those are the businesses that are making sure that we hav sports programs and propping up the organization in those local communities, helping those small businesses across Arkansas.

Mr. Gilbert, the next 30 seconds are yours, sir.

Again, the bully pulpit is all I usefulness of the lieutenant gov job, for there are already agenc that are covering the areas that the attorney general has ta about.

It is time for us to not spend any more money that is is wasted And if you elect me your lieutenant governor, I won't waste any of your money or your time.

Thank you.

Goes to all three candidates for your responses to questions.

Time now for closing statements.

Ms.. Rutledge, you have one minu Thank you.

And thank you again to Arkansas for this debate form.

But thank you to Arkansans for tuning in and watching.

I've spent the last eight years as your attorney general fightin every single day, defending our constitutional rig and liberties against an overreaching federal government.

Whether it was during President Obama's term and making sure that we push bac against the EPA out of control, fighting for our Second Amendmen protecting the right to life in which we have done and made Arka the most pro-life state in the United States of America.

As your lieutenant governor, I'm going to use that experience in the event that I'm called upon to be your governor.

I will be ready to be your gover because I have the experience necessary to step in.

We'll work very closely to ensur that we protect all Arkansans while promoting economic success education, success, and providing safe communities for all Arkansans to live and th It's been an honor to be your attorney general, and I would be honored to have y to be the next lieutenant govern for the great state of Arkansas.

Ms.. Rutledge Thank you, Mr. Gilbert.

One minute.

Thank you again to PBS and to ou interviewers.

It was a pleasure to be here, as You do it so well and you do it every two years.

Your fair and your honest.

We can't ask for more than that.

Don't you?

I don't see the civility that has been talke here on the stage today actually play out in our politic I don't know the solution to it, but I know where we have to star And that's in the hearts and the minds of the voters of A A legislator told me this week that the divisiveness in politic is not the politicians fault.

They're just reflecting how the feel.

Unfortunately, that's not true.

The voters are manipulated by po The recent debacle with again with redistricting proves that they're looking for voters, not fakers going out in this cro Thank you so much for having us.

It's really it's really been an and it's and it's been fun to get to shar I again, I'm a mom.

I'm a former foster parent.

I'm a licensed social worker.

I want to advocate for Arkansas to be able to do well here.

I am ready to serve.

I'm a hard I'm willing to listen and learn and be creative and help come up with solutions.

I have no problem with working w from both sides of the aisle and feel that we could make a lot of progress together.

I know that there's a lot of rhetoric that happens in the political wo that is kind of fearful and kind of manipulative.

And I want you to know that I ge why people use fear as a motivat It is a powerful motivator, but help is a more powerful moti I've been traveling all over thi and I'm talking to Arkansans all over the place who have a lo I've got hope for Arkansas.

You have a choice for lieutenant You don't have to do what Arkansas assumes you're going to do this November You get to decide.

I'm Kelly Crouch, and I hope you have your vote.

And once again, our thanks to our three candidates.

We are captive to the clock, which tells us that the time for our debate has elap Now, again, you can watch all of our debates all the PBS debates on demand at the Arkansas PBS YouTube channel, on the PBS video app and on our website.

The candidates once again have the option to participate in a press conference that directly following this deb which will air on YouTube as part of our livestream.

Again, scan the QR code on your to start watching on YouTube.

Now, once again, thanks to all of you for watchin See you next time.

Major funding for Election 2022 Arkansas PBS debates is provided Arkansas along with additional f provided by the Arkansas State C of Commerce.