Joseph Wood (left) with Sen. John McCain; Doyle Webb (right)
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette updates on the status of the race for Arkansas Republican Party chair, which is now down to two: former state Sen. Doyle Webb and Fayetteville businessman Joseph Wood.
One point of dispute: Salary. Webb thinks the GOP chair should be paid, but Wood disagrees:
If elected, Webb said he plans to work for the party three or four days a week and continue a limited law practice.“The state party may only be able to pay me a nominal amount a month and I am willing to receive that,” Webb said. “It would help the party to move to a new level of professionalism” and enable him to go throughout the state for party-building activities.Wood, who also is vice chairman of the Washington County Republicans, said he doesn’t want to be paid because that would cost the party money that should go toward the good of the party.
Arkansas Project readers vigorously debated the question of pay for the chairman a few weeks back. More from The Tolbert Report.
Meanwhile, along the same lines, Arkansas News Bureau columnist David Sanders examines the question of “What’s Next?” and offers several prescriptions, including
Look for open seats and be mindful of a changing political environment. Arkansas secretary of state will be an open seat; Republicans should find and fund a candidate. Likewise, if one or more of Arkansas’ Democratic members of Congress decide to retire or if the prevailing political winds shift, they should be ready with high-quality candidates.That said, nothing for Republicans will come easy.
New GOP chair will be elected at state committee meeting in Little Rock on December 13.
Incidentally, this is a topic of discussion on tonight’s edition of “Talk Business with Roby Brock,” in which my fellow blogger Blake Rutherford and I discuss the leadership races for both parties, among other issues related to Arkansas politics. More on Talk Business here.
Update: Blogging prof Jay Greene (the subject of a separate post below) weighs in on Mike Huckabee’s support for Doyle Webb in the GOP chairman race. Greene notes pointedly:
Did you see anything in there about Webb promoting the ideas of limited government or lower taxation? Did you see anything about being effective at raising campaign contributions or recruiting quality Republican candidates? No, the Huck isn’t about ideas or competence, he’s about “faithful, loyal friends.” And we hear this from his spokesperson, who is his own daughter. If it got any more inbred, we’d have to endure all sorts of bad Arkansas jokes. With Huckabee there’s no avoiding the bad jokes.
Update, again: The Iconoclast blog in Fayetteville doesn’t exactly lean Republican, but blogger “Jonah Tebbetts” can’t resist a little neighborly homer-ism in making the pitch for Wood as the better pick. Click over for a little perspective from Wood’s backyard.
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