• Where are you from originally and where do you live now?
"I live here in Siloam Springs with my family, but originally I grew up in southern Arkansas, (in) Smackover, (Ark.), and then moved to Northwest Arkansas for college at the U of A."
• So how long have you lived in Siloam Springs?
"I've been in Siloam Springs almost four years, but I've been in northwest Arkansas for roughly 20."
• Are you married with kids or grandkids?
"I'm married to John Unger, who is the basketball coach at Decatur High School. I have two kids, Rose who is six and Lena Jone, or L.J. and she's almost four."
• What is your educational background?
"I knew I wanted to go to the University of Arkansas, my dad went there and I started off working for a professor he knew at the poultry farm doing some research on poultry (at the University of Arkansas). I decided to get my undergraduate degree in agricultural communications. I did a small internship in (Washington) D.C. for a former Arkansas Senator, just really appreciated the agricultural perspectives and decided to go to law school at the UofA."
• So you earned a J.D. from the UofA?
"Yes, I prosecuted right out of law school. My plan wasn't to practice law, I wanted to kind of do what I'm doing now for Simmons, but I was lucky enough to get a job as a prosecutor right out of law school for Washington County."
• What is your employment background?
"I started out as a prosecutor, so (I) spent those five or six years prosecuting, and I did all sorts of cases, from misdemeanors to felonies at the highest level. Then I left to work for this really cool nonprofit that was part of the University of Arkansas and part of Arizona State (University) called The Sustainability Consortium. They were working with some of the largest companies in the world like Walmart -- primarily Walmart -- and many other retailers, to measure sustainability. I did that for awhile, and then there was this fun job opening at Simmons and I fell in love with Simmons. It gave me the opportunity to utilize so much of my agriculture background, my poultry experience and knowledge of that industry and kind of my law degree to be a part of a community that I really love."
• What is your job at Simmons?
"I'm a government trade affairs manager there, so I look at the regulatory pieces of our pet food division, compliance issues and trade conversations internationally and domestically."
• For District 87 and Arkansas as a whole, what are your three most important issues that you would like to see improved?
"The big three reasons why I wanted to run and the things I'm passionate about -- really there are four, I can't really sum it up in three. I'm super passionate about supporting our public schools, I think that's the best investment we can make of our taxpayer dollars. I also think we need affordable access to healthcare for all Arkansans. Also, criminal justice reform, I would love to see our tax dollars used more efficiently so that the system is more effective and benefits all of us. Also, infrastructure support is something that's important to me because I've seen so much development in our community and want to make sure it's represented in Little Rock, that we aren't just lumped into northwest Arkansas.
• You mentioned education, healthcare, infrastructure and criminal justice reform, can you elaborate on what you'd like to see improved in each of those areas?
"With regard to our public schools, I think that the first thing we've got to do is invest in our teachers. We've got to invest in their culture, so that we're recruiting more teachers and giving them a workplace they want to come to everyday. They're just leaving the profession, some even leave to go to higher paying gigs just a few miles down the road. So really building a culture that recruits teachers, that makes them want to come to this profession, paying them better, giving them more benefits, making the benefits they have -- like their insurance -- much more affordable so they can live comfortably. Also, I'm a super supporter of pre-K for all kids. I would also love improving programs that we offer for non-college prep-students. College isn't for everyone and college costs are going through the roof. Even here in Arkansas, we're seeing the colleges get bigger and better, but that all comes at a cost. Regarding healthcare, I think that we've gotten lost somewhere in this healthcare path and it'd be great to come back, simplify it and put a patient back in it; a human being, someone's dad or mom. It's all about billing codes and funding and rules, but at the end of the day, there's a patient involved. As for criminal justice reform, I think there's a lot we can do to improve how we spend taxpayer dollars. We can't afford to lock everybody up for the rest of their life, people are going to get out of jail, so we need to rehabilitate them so that they don't reoffend or recommit crimes. Don't get me wrong, people that commit serious crimes need to be punished, I just think we need to think about some of our rehabilitation practices and how we can move people back into society so they can have their best foot forward. People get into the system -- I saw it as a prosecutor -- and they just can't seem to get out, it's a revolving door. I think looking at our juvenile programs would help too. National juvenile incarceration rates are going down and Arkansas' is going up, so I would love to see us invest in mental healthcare. I think investing in mental healthcare and strengthening our education system would allow us to see some benefits to our juvenile criminal justice system right there."
• As for some recent social issues in Arkansas:
The Satanic Temple brought a Baphomet statue to the state capitol in protest of the Ten Commandments monument that is there. If one is allowed, should both be?
"I do believe in the separation of church and state. For me, the answer to this question is simple. When we spend time talking about things like this, and, I am a Christian, I go to Grace Episcopal here in Siloam Springs. But, when these are the headlines, and we are talking about these things as policy, what we are missing out on is that we are consistently ranked 47 in education, and that is where my priority is, that is where my focus is going to be if elected. I think that we really need to look at the mission of what we are trying to do in making Arkansas better."
Act 562, passed in March 2017, allows for individuals who obtain an "enhanced" concealed carry license to carry firearms in places including college campuses and public institutions. Is this a good idea?
"So, my dad was an avid hunter and gun collector, I've grown up with guns my whole life, they were always in my home. As a result, I've been taught about gun safety and the proper ways to carry a gun and store a gun. I also grew up with an admiration of the Second Amendment, and I owe that to my dad. That said, I think we have to be smart about where we have guns, how they should be used and the training that people have. I don't want guns in my kid's schools, I want them to be thinking about coloring and learning and reading and writing and how to get along, I don't want them to feel like they are going into a penitentiary everyday. I don't want to go to a Razorback game and people have guns in their clear bag next to me, I think it's asking for trouble; but I also want to respect people's Second Amendment right. I think together and collectively, if we could have common sense conversations about this, I think that we could come to some more fair resolutions."
In May, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing the enforcement of voter ID laws. Should people be required to present ID in order to vote?
"I have kind of a long answer. I am the first party opponent in this district in, I don't know, 30, 35 years; we don't know exactly how long because of when the (district) lines were redrawn. There are, I think, 45 seats unopposed in Arkansas right now, and voter turnout is always low, less than 20 percent. We are different now in 2018 than we were in 1905, 1910, 1930, pick a year, pick 2000, we are different. (So) I think that these voter ID laws are a hindrance to getting people out to vote, they make it harder for people to vote, I'm not sure what we are trying to accomplish. We keep having the same conversation about voter ID (laws), and I'd like us to go back and look at what the end goal is. What do we want? We want a democracy. What is a democracy? A democracy is when people vote, all people, United States citizens, Arkansas citizens. So how do we achieve that, that is the question we want to answer. I think looking at our system of voting and figuring out how we can be more innovative (should be the focus). I mean, is it too far fetched to think we could change the way we vote even to match some of the new technologies we have? You know, more security, I think there's just so many things to do and we keep getting on this ID piece rather than trying to answer the bigger question, which is how do we get the most Arkansans to turn up to vote? So I think that's where the conversation should be and I don't think by continuing to bring these voters ID laws is getting us to the answer. When we vote, we're getting a government that represents the people, so I would rather see us focus on those types of issues."
• What was your primary motive for running in this election?
"My motive was my desire for my kids, my neighbor's kids and the people on the other side of town to have a quality education, and I just feel like the votes of my opponent don't line up to what the public schools need to have. We deserve better, my passion for that and my passion after losing my dad through a horrible healthcare system really fired me up. We've got to go back, these state-level issues are really important and affect us on a day-by-day basis and plus we've got this national political scene that is kind of ugly on both sides. We've got to come back and be kind to one another, live those Ten Commandments you were talking about and just really think about how we can move Arkansas forward together, instead of dividing each other."
General News on 10/17/2018