From Steve Clark – Important Request Regarding Redistricting Issues
Chamber Investors,
It has come to my attention that members of the General Assembly are discussing a congressional redistricting plan that would either move the city of Fayetteville and/or Washington County, in its entirety, into the Fourth Congressional District. Fayetteville is presently in the Third Congressional
District. It has been in this district for more than thirty years.
The Fourth Congressional District, as it is presently defined by law, starts in the southeast corner of Arkansas at Lake Village and moves across the southern one third of our state to Texarkana. It then moves up to the Sebastian County,(Ft. Smith) line and then back across Arkansas to Pine Bluff and then to the Mississippi River.
It is obvious that we, Fayetteville, do not have much in common with either the constituents and/or the political, educational, social, industrial, agricultural, historic, financial or economic institutions of that area. Further, it is obvious we have less in common with cities of Lake Village, Warren, Monticello, El Dorado, Fordyce, Camden, Magnolia, Nashville, Hope, Prescott, Pine Bluff, McGehee and Dumas, all located in the Fourth Congressional District, than we have in common with the cities of Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville, Siloam Springs and Ft. Smith. It is equally obvious that the economic strengths, targets and goals of the two districts are not consistent. Moreover, it is clear that our populations differ greatly.
Put bluntly, there is no community of interest that exists between the existing Fourth District and Fayetteville. In fact, if this plan were to be adopted, the travel time to drive from the northern most end of the district to the southern end, Fayetteville to Lake Village, would take the better part of a day. There are no common carriers that provide transportation by land, water or air from one end of this proposed district to the other. This proposed area is not served by common media outlets.
This proposal is bad policy. This proposal is not logical. This proposal is not in the best interest of Fayetteville and/or Washington County. I believe this proposal is detrimental to the economic growth of Fayetteville and the economic growth of our region. This proposal is partisan and overly political.
I have included the email addresses and telephone numbers of our legislative delegation representing all or part of Washington County. I ask that you call and email each of them to express your opposition to any proposal that moves Fayetteville and/or Washington County out of the Third Congressional District. I ask that you do this in the next twenty-four hours.
I have also included the contact information for the legislative delegation representing all or part of Benton, Crawford, Carroll and Madison Counties should you decide to contact them as well.
This idea has received significant attention and there is evidence it is being supported by some Democrats. I learned about the possibility of this action being proposed from one of our legislative delegation who was wondering whether our Chamber Investors supported this change.
We have worked tirelessly over the past several years to build Northwest Arkansas as a region. We just completed a plan for our future regional growth. Putting Fayetteville in a different congressional district would, in my opinion, undermine all of our regional efforts. The time to act is now. Please call our legislators in the next twenty four hours and tell them not to support moving Fayetteville and/or Washington County from the Third Congressional District.
Washington County
Sue Madison
[email protected]
573 Rock Cliff Rd, Fayetteville, AR
479.442.2997
Bill Pritchard
[email protected]
19998 Mohawk Drive, Elkins, AR 72727-8720
442.8611
Charlie Collins
[email protected]
3225 Piper Glen,Fayetteville, AR 72703-4394
283.9303
Greg Leding
[email protected]
50 S. School Avenue, Apt. 1, Fayetteville, AR 72701-5906
966.9201
Uvalde Lindsey
[email protected]
2257 Gentle Oaks Lane, Fayetteville, AR 72703-6142
582.2100
Justin Harris
[email protected]
145 N. Pleasant St, West Fork, AR 72774-0880
839.8542
Jon Woods
woods@[email protected]
3150 Birch Place, Springdale, AR 72766
200.3100
Benton County
Cecile Bledsoe
[email protected]
709 Sky Mountain Drive, Rogers, AR 72756
636-2115
Kim Hendren
[email protected]
1501 Hwy. 72SE, Gravette, AR 72736-9438
Duncan Baird
[email protected]
P.O. Box 185, Lowell, AR 72745-0185
439-1717
Jonathan Barnett
[email protected]
1980 Hwy. 412W., Siloam Springs, AR 72761-3805
524.6254
Les “Skip” Carnine
[email protected]
P.O. Box 615, Rogers, AR 72757-0615
636-2619
Debra Hobbs
[email protected]
3901 Arnold Avenue, Rogers, AR 72758-1640
636-3982
Mary Lou Slinkard
[email protected]
10422 Virden Lane, Gravette, AR 72736-9681
616-2010
Troy Summers
[email protected]
1805 Kimberly Place, Bentonville, AR 72712-4017
464-1060
Donna Hutchinson
[email protected]
24 Rillington Drive, Bella Vista, AR 72714-3204
283.2165
Ruth Whitaker
[email protected]
P.O. Box 349, Cedarville, AR 72932-0349
Randy Laverity
[email protected]
P.O. Box 303, Jasper, AR 72641
870-446-5593
David Branscum
[email protected]
582 Rollercoaster Road, Marshall, AR 72650-0370
870.448.2408
Gary Deffenbaugh
[email protected]
1424 North 9tyh St. Van Buren, AR 72956-2649
719.8197
For a complete listing of Arkansas Legislators please CLICK HERE!
Thank you,
Steve Clark
CEO & President
Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce
