Support for Arkansas Week provided by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Arkansas Times and Little Rock Public Radio.

Welcome to Arkansas Week.

I'm Chris Cain.

The Republican National Convention was held this past week in Milwaukee with the race for president now in the homestretch.

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Senator Tom Cotton had prime time speaking roles supporting former President Trump.

Well, if highlights from that later in the program and discuss a lawsuit filed this week by backers of a proposed abortion amendment who are challenging its rejection from the November ballot.

But first, we welcome into the studio US Representative French Hill, a Republican of Arkansas second Congressional District.

Joining me to discuss several issues, including his party's convention this past week.

Congressman Hill, great to see you.

Great to be with you.

Good to be with you.

Last time I think I interviewed you on camera was your first congressional campaign some, what, 12 years ago or so, nine and a half, nine and a few semesters ago.

We certainly have come a long way since then.

And I know that this past week, being at the convention and certainly taking that all in was probably quite the experience, considering all the events that have unfolded in just the last seven days.

But first, kind of give us your takeaways of the convention.

What were some of the things that you noticed most going into Milwaukee?

Well, Milwaukee's a beautiful city, was a very welcoming city.

It was spotless and every planter was filled with beautiful flowers.

And the venue advisor of forum was really outstanding.

It was intimate.

People really have a good time there, and I thought the production quality was great.

It's good to see Republicans come together after we had a long and vigorous primary, and that healing process after our primary was evident with Nikki Haley coming and addressing the forum and other voices in the Republican Party being heard.

So I thought that was a positive.

It's a real contrast, frankly, to the what we see in the Democratic Party right now, where they had no vigorous primary and now they're left questioning their own candidate.

Will President Biden stay at the top of the ticket?

We'll get to that in just a moment.

I do want to ask you, though, former Governor Asa Hutchinson was also there and he was a vocal critic of former President Trump throughout the primary process whenever he was going through it as well.

But even he was there talking about unity.

And we knew that this past weekend's events of what took place in Pennsylvania would bring people together.

But it seemed like it brought even more people together that formally maybe not have been in support of the former president and the party in the direction it was headed.

But it seemed like that was the case.

I think that's true.

Again, I think you see people have a binary choice.

Do you want to go with the Republican message of public safety, a secure border, immigration reform, fighting back against the Biden inflation, a better economic policy strength abroad with American leadership?

Or do you want to leave it in the hands of President Biden and Vice President Harris?

That is a unifier in politics.

That's what conventions are about.

But I do combine it with we ran a primary.

We had voices in opposition to President Trump's nomination.

And President Trump was overwhelmingly elected by the Republican primary electorate.

And now the convention is a time to come together and remind voters that it's a primary choice.

You can go to a Republican vision or a Democratic vision.

And that's why I think you see more unity coming out of the convention this week.

The attempted assassination on former President Trump was a highlight, of course, over the past week, just something we haven't seen in over 30 years.

You tweeted out after the incident took place your message of prayers.

What was your reaction initially to that assassination attempt and how do you think it's changed the course of this current election cycle?

Well, Chris, it was first shocking.

I was dumbfounded and some comments.

One, the loss of life, unnecessary loss of life.

The Buffalo firefighter protecting his family.

Others were wounded.

And what the reason why I was in such shock about it is I've been in and around presidential politics, setting up presidential events, doing advance for almost four decades.

You never leave the cutaway shot in an open air presidential event.

Open you use shipping containers, you use canvas.

You've seen these during your journalism career.

And that was just a wide open venue.

And that is a mistake of Trump campaign advance people working with the Secret Service.

And we've had no real communication with the Secret Service.

It's been very unsatisfactory.

There's been a lot of double talk from them.

They've now been subpoenaed.

The director has been subpoenaed and should appear before Congress this coming Monday.

And we want answers.

This is a violation of Secret Service and advance one on one on executive protection.

And it was inexcusable.

So there is while there's tragedy, we're grateful that President Trump was not killed.

He was an inch away from being murdered with his head blown off on national television.

We have innocent bystanders killed and we want to know why those circumstances took place, because it speaks to the protection of all of our leaders.

How do you think it changes the course, if at all, of the election cycle?

And do you see it being something that will push him further ahead?

He's leading in most polls in swing states right now within the margin of error.

But do you see this as being a boost?

I don't want to describe something like this as a boost or not.

I think it is.

I think when you survive a near-death experience, there's a personal change.

We'll see that on display, I think, during the balance of the campaign.

It's a moment for reflection.

President Trump is leading in many polls in the swing states and beyond, not because Joe Biden's too old, but because Joe Biden's ideas are not good.

And that's why I go back to that binary choice.

I think Americans are seeing a better direction under Republican policies versus the policies that President Biden has advocated the last three and a half years.

But I think I expect it to be a very close election, no matter what the circumstances.

You speak of choice.

Well, this past week, President Trump announced his choice of J.D.

Vance, a senator from Ohio, as his running mate.

Quite a difference there from what people were probably expecting.

He was in that name or in those names that were being circulated, Of course.

So is our own governor, Governor Sanders.

So his selection.

What did you make of that 39 years old from a very important state of Ohio, of course, in election history.

What was your take away from his selection?

I thought it spoke to exactly where President Trump's come from as a candidate in his first race and the governing of his first term working for that forgotten man.

And J.D.

Vance comes from Appalachia.

He comes from a broken family in rural Ohio.

He wrote a prize winning book about it, Hillbilly Elegy, that really spoke to Trump because Trump has gone after that voter, independent, Republican and Democrat.

I want to be your voice for better jobs, higher wages, more real income growth, bringing jobs back to the U.S.

I think Vance speaks to that from his personal story.

Plus, his Marine service lifting himself up.

The American aspiration story is on evidence and J.D.

Vance.

So I think that's at the heart of it.

Use it.

Is Donald Trump making a decision that of all the bright, young, talented, younger than him, younger than Joe Biden, Republican counselor to do for both of them.

That's right.

Not a heavy lift.

You know, he is making a call that J.D.

Vance, is that impressed with him that he's ready to be president even at that young age?

And we've had other young, successful leaders from our own Bill Clinton to Teddy Roosevelt to even Richard Nixon as vice president, to Dwight Eisenhower.

So and John Kennedy so uses is a good thing.

And I think it's a good balance.

I think America really is eager to start seeing both parties find and identify leaders that are at the prime of their of their working years.

First millennial to be on the ticket.

So he has the millennial generation getting a lot of a lot of push back over the years and now seeing one join a ticket.

Let's switch gears for a moment.

NAITO marking its 75th anniversary this past week and you took part in a native summit held in Washington.

Why was that such a significant milestone for NAITO?

What a remarkable record we've had for the last eight decades following World War Two, that America's leadership as the only superpower left after World War Two.

We were 50% of global GDP.

After World War Two, we helped set up the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and for security in Europe, the transatlantic partnership between Canada, the US and our allies in Europe.

So to commemorate 75 years of success was impressive, I think, and important to send a message that America is still a partner to Europe, no matter whose voice says that Europe should do more or not.

The partnership remains and it's being tested.

It's being severely tested by Putin's aggressive behavior, not just in Ukraine over the years, but in Syria, in Georgia during the George W Bush administration.

And so our commitment to NATO's, in my judgment, is sound.

What do you make of former President Trump's past comments about NAITO and how he wants to see more out of it instead of what he's perceiving as the US's majority role in propping it up?

What do you think about when he was president?

I think around five countries or fewer hit the goals set during the George W Bush and Obama administrations that you should spend 2% on defense.

That was the goal of the NAITO countries.

Now some 23 countries out of just over 30 do that.

And we've had two new members join Norway and Sweden.

The alliance has really never been stronger.

What President Trump is now saying is, okay, you're now hitting that GDP, but you need a better supply chain to your very dependent on manufacturing artillery shells in the United States.

I think you ought to have a deeper industrial production bench in Europe so that it's more symbiotic that we're not so dependent only on manufacturing in the U.S. for national defense priorities.

But it's Trump who armed Ukraine, not Obama.

It's Trump who moved NAITO forces into Poland when Putin was threatening the Baltic states.

And so I think President Trump is committed to the bilateral and multi-level zero commitments made under the NATO treaty.

I really do.

I think that he wants to push them, but every president has done that since Eisenhower.

They all push the Europeans.

You need to do more.

And Trump is no different there.

All right.

Let's go close to home now.

You recently introduced legislation to House subcommittee to expand the Wilderness area of the Washington National Forests.

Tell us and our audience a little bit about the flat side wilderness area, why you're so passionate about it and why you want to see it expanded by more than 2200 acres.

Right?

Well, this is part of legacy of the natural state.

We have such an extraordinary set of outdoor recreation resources here in our Ozark and Washington National forests are at the heart of that first national river, the Buffalo River.

In 1984, President Reagan signed into law the first wilderness areas for Arkansas that was led by work by then-Senator Dale Bumpers and my predecessor here in central Arkansas, Representative Ed Bethune.

And at that time, flat sod was proposed to be larger.

But there was a compromise made between the Forest Service and Congress on those areas for Arkansas back 40 years ago, adding this 2000 acres to flat sod, which the Forest Service supports.

Governor Sanders supports our economic development and tourism folks Support completes that task initiated back in 1984.

I was a staffer in the Senate back in 1984 and working for John Tower of Texas, a Republican senator, no friend of Dale Bumpers, and he co-sponsored the Bumpers Bill.

And we got that passed and President Reagan signed it into law.

So I'm proud to be working on it.

And we're very close.

We had a great hearing.

The Kathryn Andrews from our outdoor recreation team here in the state testified, did a marvelous job, and I hope we can get that passed before the end of the year.

How do you see it being passed?

So do you see it finding its way and what's been rumored to maybe be in the farm bill that's being talked about right now, or is this going to be a standalone?

How would you?

Well, it's interesting.

As certain lands issues are split jurisdictions between the House and Senate.

Our text for flights side wilderness.

My bill is actually in the Senate farm bill bass text already.

And Congressman Westerman of Arkansas is proposing to mark it up in the house.

Natural Resources Committee.

Once we do that, we would have text in both houses, and that ought to help us make a path for success this year.

Everybody is stressed in Congress because there are so few days left in this legislative cycle in a presidential election year.

But we're not going to quit until the last day of the session to get it passed.

I was going to ask you, whenever you're trying to the farm bill, your bill, all these different piece of legislation everyone's trying to get through, and then it's an election year, you're going to be campaigning, right?

How do you make the time and how how are those efforts split in a way that you were able to be efficient with them?

Yeah, such a great question.

So we have about two weeks of house work left in July.

Then we have September, then we're off campaigning in October.

And after the election there will be a vigorous lame duck session of Congress, so-called, because it takes place after the national elections for president in the Senate and the House.

That is determined who wins.

But I think something like flat side has the elements of success.

Either way, we have President Trump or reelected or of President Biden or the Democratic nominee is reelected.

So I'll keep my fingers crossed.

And Congressman Westerman and Senator Bozeman, I'll be hard at it.

It has been bipartisan support since you were a staffer, and you hope that continues.

It appears to be on that track.

So.

Best of luck with that.

And thank you again for making the time to stop by in studio.

Appreciate it.

Great to be with you, Chris.

Congressman, French Hill, we appreciate your time and we'll see you next time.

All right.

We'll be back after this.

Welcome back.

To talk more about this week's Republican National Convention and other top stories in the news this week, I'm joined by political reporters welcoming back to the studio, Jose Leonore with Little Rock Public Radio and Test Bourbon with Arkansas Advocate.

Thank you two so much for joining us.

And there's been a lot going on in the last couple of weeks, just in the last seven days in particular.

Let's talk a little bit about first what just happened this past week, the Republican National Convention taking place in Milwaukee.

And on Tuesday night, two of the state's top politicians speaking at that convention with their endorsements for former President Donald Trump was Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaking, serving while his press secretary.

So she came back to Arkansas, obviously, and then got back to the national stage in primetime speaking on his behalf.

Before we get into that, I'd like to play a clip because she touted some legislative achievements during her speech, of which I want to hear part of that before we talk about it.

For the last four years, Republican governors have been leading that fight and doing what Joe Biden refuses to do.

We've deployed the National Guard to the border.

We've cracked down on crime and drugs.

We cut taxes to give hardworking Americans a break from Biden inflation.

And we empowered parents with universal school choice across the country.

Donald Trump was the very first president in my lifetime to take a hard line against China.

And I'm proud to be the first and only governor in the country to kick communist China off our farmland and out of my state.

President Trump is a leader and he's the leader our country needs.

And if ever there was a doubt earlier this week, we saw just how tough, resilient, courageous and daring this man is.

And we can't get him back in the White House fast enough.

All right.

So hearing that and also knowing that Senator Tom Cotton speaking as well in prime time, he mostly focused on immigration, something that he is very passionate about.

What were your thoughts?

First, Jose, on just two Arkansans, two Arkansas politicians, and being in that prime time spotlight at the Republican National Convention since the last time I happen to believe is 2016 with former Governor Asa Hutchinson and then Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.

Yeah, this is a pretty big deal.

And there was a lot of whispering that Sarah Huckabee Sanders maybe was considered for VP.

So they seem to still have a pretty good relationship.

And she hit on a lot of themes in that speech that Trump was really passionate about.

And the biggest one for me is immigration.

She also told, We didn't see this in the clip, but she told a lot of really lovely stories about him, the story that she's told several times about the MSNBC reporters.

She felt like they were really mean to her in the time that Trump kind of built her up.

And during that situation, a time where her and her son were in the White House together and there was this like hug moment that she had when the president was there.

And so she had to like it was a very nostalgic speech for her.

And I think she really wanted to hone in on the fact that she was a mother, too.

She brought that up a lot.

That's.

What do you think?

Well, there a little bit of buzz that both Sanders and Cotton were possibly being considered for VP, and we didn't know for sure that who the actual VP pick was until a few days ago.

And they both they both talked a lot about the border.

They they really hit on a lot of talking points.

You hear a lot from elected Republicans in both the state and the national level.

And as you heard at the very beginning of that clip, she kind of painted Republican leaders as kind of warriors for for conservative causes.

And you see a lot of for example, she didn't say this, but you see a lot of Republican attorneys general filing lawsuits against decisions that the Biden administration has made over the last four years.

And Attorney General Tim Griffin has frequently been one of them.

So.

So and you heard her kind of allude to the assassination attempt, Right.

As well, trying to paint Republicans as this party that's being attacked and trying to fight back.

One of the things, too, that not just with those two with our elected leaders here, with Senator Cotton and Governor Sanders, but it did seem like there were times where there were messages that were more focused on policy than attacking the other side.

There were some quips in between.

You know, obviously we heard a couple there, but it did feel like maybe after the assassination attempt and the calls for unity nationally at that point did shift a little bit of the narrative to more focused on policy.

That's what Governor Sanders mostly talked about in that clip, right, Jose?

Yeah.

And she was really proud of Arkansas, learned she talked about school choice in that speech.

And she also talked about laws that she's tried to pass about China and Chinese businesses in Arkansas.

And these are things that conservatives have been very excited about lately.

I want to turn now to another topic.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin going to be defending secretary of state in this lawsuit coming up.

He spoke with Arkansas PBS this week talking about the abortion amendment lawsuit that was just filed this past week.

Well, Attorney General Griffin said that he was limited in discussing the pending litigation, but it was his blunt assessment that the requirements were not met when the signatures were turned in last week.

Let's take a listen.

Those requirements relate to ensuring that the individuals who are hired to collect signatures are properly trained, etc., and the requirements in the law are very clear and other groups followed them.

And in this case, the group at issue with regard to the abortion matter did not follow the law.

And we will obviously be dealing with that in detail in court.

But I think the secretary of state did the right thing legally and we are going to be enthusiast ethically defending him.

Once again, this is a group backing a proposed abortion amendment that was rejected by the secretary of state's office, filed this past week as challenging a number of factors cited by the state, saying the requirements weren't met to be on that November ballot.

You just heard the attorney general talking there about he'll be defending the secretary of state.

Josie, let's start with you.

I know you both have followed this story very closely.

This group has been working for a long time to collect signatures.

What's the latest?

And if you can give the folks at home just an idea of what this challenge is all about?

So I think we're all a little confused here.

The Arkansans for limited government and they're the abortion advocacy group, they are pretty adamant they haven't done anything wrong.

And I think we can all agree that there's pretty strict rules about ballot signatures and ballot amendments and what documents you have to turn.

And we all agree that there was two documents they had to turn in.

One was a list of paid canvassers.

Now Arkansans for limited government in the lawsuit says 17 times they turned in a list of paid canvassers, including on the day things were due, which was July 5th, and that there was a somebody who notarized it and you can see on the document was notarized on July that the second document was a list of was evidence that those paid canvassers had signed and seen the handbook.

And there's kind of some debate about when that was turned in was it turned into early.

And that's one of Tim Griffin's big arguments that that was turned into early.

It was notarized on the fifth, which was the day that things were due.

And the law isn't really clear about exactly what the due date is.

So there's a lot of confusion about whether or not they turned in the right documents.

But at the end of the day, like the timer's counting down, like we're almost at the end of time where the secretary state would have to count the signatures.

And they're still collecting signatures, correct?

Yes.

Yeah, they have been.

And they have also appealed to the Supreme Court to try to get them to overrule Secretary Thurston's rejection of the amendment.

So they got more than they needed more signatures.

You need at least 90,000 and some change.

They got over 101,000.

And they say in their legal documents, that's actually a conservative count.

It might even be higher.

But the secretary of state's office hasn't counted the signatures.

And there are stipulations in state law that say, here's a list of reasons why the secretary of state can reject an amendment and not count the signatures.

And the legal complaint says, well, none of those reasons are in.

Secretary Thurston's listed reason for why he's rejecting this one and not counting the signatures at all.

He said that there were about 14,000 signatures that were collected by paid canvassers.

The rest were collected by unpaid volunteers.

And without that, 14,000 ish, they would fall below that 90,000 threshold.

And Secretary Thurston said basically, Well, you didn't hit 90,000, then we're not going to count.

And Arkansans, for them, the government is saying, no, you have to count anyway.

So that's that's one of the big issues of debate, is the secretary required to be counting the signatures right now, even if the total ends up not being what they hope it will be and yeah, that that's kind of the heart and soul of of the confusion that is going on here.

Well, we appreciate you breaking that down.

And thank you for your time.

This past week, KUAR, Josie, Lenora and Arkansas advocates, Tess Bourbon, we appreciate your time.

Look forward to seeing you back in studio for another reporters roundtable.

That's all we have for Arkansas Week.

We'll see you next time.

Support for Arkansas Week provided by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The Arkansas Times and Little Rock Public Radio.