Sun Herald - Crawford, McPherson Vying for 1st District Seat

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By Andrew Demillo

The race for east Arkansas' 1st Congressional District pits two candidates against each other who portray themselves as moderates as they run to represent a region that was considered a Democratic stronghold before Republicans won the seat four years ago.

Two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford earned the ire of conservative activists two years ago with his proposal to levy a surtax on millionaires in exchange for a balanced federal budget amendment, a move that prompted one group to try unsuccessfully to recruit a primary challenger. Heber Springs Mayor Jackie McPherson, the Democratic nominee, has been trying to distance himself from his party on issues such as health care and says he voted for Mitt Romney two years ago.

The district includes most of the Mississippi River Delta region and stretches west to include portions of the Ozarks. Libertarian nominee Brian Willhite, a schoolteacher from Cabot, is also running for the seat.

McPherson, 55, has served as mayor for eight years and was on the city council for 12 years. He says he's running "because of my frustration with Washington and the dysfunction in Congress," and has run on a platform of job creation, education and farming.

Crawford, 48, was first elected in 2010 and won re-election in 2012. That year, he filed legislation proposing a 5 percent surtax on individual incomes exceeding $1 million a year in exchange for the budget amendment. The conservative Club for Growth last year set up a website asking visitors to suggest primary opponents for him and other congressmen. Nobody took the group up on its request, and Crawford was unopposed in the May primary.

Crawford said he's still pushing for a balanced budget amendment, but also is calling for a "super program" amendment that would require a two-thirds majority to create any new entitlement program.

"I think it's going to take these kinds of initiatives ... to let people know it's not going to be the same budgetary gimmicks year after year," he said.

The two have tangled over veterans' issues, with McPherson criticizing Crawford for being one of five House members to oppose a $16.3 billion measure in July meant to overhaul the Veterans Affairs Department and improve veterans' health care.

"Our veterans deserve more than just a 'no' vote when we've got veterans dying while they're waiting on service," he said.

But Crawford said the legislation didn't have enough accountability requirements for the VA and was concerned that it would add to the federal deficit.

"This was not a vote against veterans," Crawford said. "This was a vote against the Veterans Administration, who had failed veterans."

McPherson has also criticized Crawford over the farm bill -- a critical piece of legislation in a state where agriculture is a multibillion-dollar business -- saying the incumbent congressman shares the blame in delaying the measure's passage. A group of Republicans in the House pushed unsuccessfully to split the legislation into two so the portion dealing with food stamp funding could be considered separately. GOP leaders eventually combined the measures in an attempt to get a farm bill passed.

McPherson said he would have voted for the farm bill that was signed into law, even though he opposed ending direct payments -- subsidies paid to farmers whether they farm or not.

"This bill should have been passed months before it was, which would have created a lot more certainty for our farmers where they could have planned for their season this year," McPherson said.

Crawford said he fought hard for the bill, and portrayed himself as an advocate for the district's farmers.

"We passed, by all accounts, a very favorable farm bill, given the obstacles we had and the dynamic that existed up there," Crawford said.

Crawford was elected four years ago partly on a vow to fight the federal health care law, and has regularly voted for its repeal with fellow House Republicans. But he says it's unrealistic to expect the president would sign such a measure if it even reached his desk.

McPherson says he would have voted against the health care law, and said he'd be open for voting for its repeal but only if it included a better plan to replace the federal law.

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