While most of our attention lately has been focused on the debates between the presidential and vice presidential candidates, a political debate took place at Harding University last week, as well. Democrat Kyle Osborne challenged Republican Mark Biviano, who is currently serving as a first term state representative, to a debate in light of the upcoming election of House District 46’s state representative.
Things began getting heated during the responses to the first question, which was directed toward Osborne and asked, “what specifically, if elected, will you do to promote education in Arkansas?” The question followed brief statistics on the United States’ low reading comprehension scores on the SAT.
“In order to promote education, you have to have teachers on board, you must have the funds to have well-trained educators, in order to accomplish the … numbers you’re talking about,” Osborne said.
He went on to state that Biviano voted twice against a bill to increase the budget for education by $57 million, questioning why anyone would vote against an increase of funds for public education.
It has been said throughout the campaign process that Osborne would be a “rubber stamp” for the governor, meaning he would do as Governor Mike Beebe told him to and would essentially be elected as a state representative for that reason. It has been speculated that because Osborne and Beebe are friends, he was put up by Beebe to run against Biviano, though Osborne denies this.
“Governor Beebe is a friend of mine – he has been for thirty years,” Osborne said. “He would never tell me how to vote.”
Biviano’s high point of the night came when the question was posed, “what is your plan to bring national or global companies to District 46?”
“I’m actually glad you asked that question,” Biviano said. “I’m going to steal a little bit from the presidential debate the other night. Actually, the day before the debate, I was being interviewed by Molly Fleming at the Daily Citizen, and I laid out a five-point economic plan, and lo and behold, somehow she got ahold of Mitt Romney and he laid it out on that night at the debate.”
Following the introduction, Biviano hit on the five major points he has decided will improve Searcy’s economic situation. He believes Searcy must improve its overall tax climate, improve the job skills in Arkansas, reduce regulation, promote its existing assets and use the resources in the state aggressively. He elaborated on each of the points, making it clear that this plan has been in the works for some time and that he has put a lot of thought into it.
Both Osborne’s and Biviano’s closing statements reinforced what they have to offer to District 46, with Biviano clarifying that he has taken the time to educate himself on the issues at hand and that he and the Republican Caucus of Arkansas have a strategic plan to address the issues the people have. Osborne hit on the fact that he will listen to and serve the people, and he will make himself available to the residents and institute town hall meetings to discuss the issues that are important to the people of Searcy.
The election for District 46 House representative will be held on Nov. 6.
