By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
In December, Ward Republican Randy Minton traveled to Iowa to campaign against former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and now Huckabee has returned the favor, endorsing Minton’s opponent for state representative in the May 20 Republican preferential primary.
Huckabee last week endorsed Cabot attorney Davy Carter, 36, for the District 48 seat currently held by state Rep. Susan Schulte, also a Republican. Like other area House members, Schulte is finishing up her sixth year, and because of term limits, is ineligible to run again.
She first sought the seat when, at the end of two terms, Minton didn’t run for reelection, choosing instead to run for the state Senate. He lost that race to Carlisle Democrat Bobby Glover, now the current state senator.
Minton has said he would run to get his old seat back for one last term, then run for the state Senate in two years when term limits turn Glover out.
The winner of the Republican primary had been expected to face a challenge in November from John T. Harty, an independent, but Harty’s petition to get on the ballot wasn’t certified when he didn’t have enough valid signatures, according to Natasha Naragon of the secretary of state’s office.
She said Harty needed 270 valid signatures, but of the 348 he submitted, only 251 were valid.
With Harty out of the picture and no Democrat running, the winner of the May 20 primary race between Minton and Carter will be sworn into office in January.
“I am thrilled and honored to have the endorsement of Governor Huckabee like any Arkansas Republican would be,” Carter said.
“I will be supporting Davy Carter in any way I can,” Huckabee said. “Davy is an outstanding attorney who is passionate about actually governing by keeping taxes low, holding government more accountable, and standing firm for families and for the sanctity of life.”
This is the first run for office for Carter. Before going into private practice a year ago, he was general counsel and vice president for Community Bank.
Carter says his candidacy is not against Minton, but just because he has things he wants to do in the legislature. “Randy’s a good man,” he said.
Carter said as a state representative, he would work to raise the standard deduction for taxpayers and support repealing the rest of the grocery tax. He would advocate for vocational education in the schools.
Carter is married with three children, the oldest seven.
Minton’s choice for the Republican presidential nominee was Fred Thompson, who never really got out of the starting gates, but when Ron Paul’s campaign called to lure Minton to Iowa to share tales of Huckabee woe, Minton said he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
Minton, a small-government Republican wanting to lower taxes, has called Huckabee a RINO—Republican in Name Only.
“He’s a pro-life, pro-gun liberal,” Minton has said.
Minton likes to say he’s from the “Republican wing of the Republican Party” and is philosophically tied to Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum.
Minton, 57, a life-long resident of the district, says nothing is more antifamily than higher taxes. He is “unashamedly pro-life” and will work “to protect unborn babies,” he said.
He also opposes same-sex marriage, adoption of children by same-sex partners and defends gun ownership.
“I’m really flattered that the governor would think that our race was important enough for him to get involved in it,” Minton said. “I think the governor and I have differences of opinion on fiscal policy and I guess that he thinks Davy is more in line with his fiscal policy.”
He said he had a history while in office of voting against fee and tax increases that the governor supported.
“It’s pretty neat that a second-place presidential candidate endorses your opponent,” he said.
Minton has a real-estate ap-praisal business and raises some beef cattle. He is married to Lonoke County Quorum Court member Janette Minton.
Carter said he and Minton have essentially the same beliefs.
“I am socially and fiscally conservative,” he said, “not looking for tax increases and looking to cut taxes.”
Of the proposed one-penny, one-year county sales tax to build a new Lonoke County Detention Center, Carter said the issue was exactly where it needed to be—on the ballot where residents can decide.
Minton said the county could have built a jail without new taxes, but he supports the sales tax because it would sunset in a year.
