DIANA GONZALES WORTHEN

  • DIANA GONZALES WORTHEN

No point beating around the bush.

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Diana Gonzales Worthen, a university administrator and Democratic candidate for state Senate who lives in Springdale, faces a tough challenge in a district that has been solidly Republican for years. She opposes Republican Rep. Jon Woods. Her Hispanic roots are a small plus in a district with a large Latino population, but the number of Latino voters is probably disproportionately small compared with the population.

Nonethless, she plays to her strength today on a hot button issue on which Jon Woods has been a typical extremist Republican — immigration. Woods has demagogued the issue for at least five years, calling for investigations, opposing the DREAM Act and otherwise playing straight to the Republican base.

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Gonzales Worthen applauds the U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming that border patrol is a federal, not state prerogative. This is smart, moderate and constitutional, as a Supreme Court majority including Republican justices has ruled. She uses it directly to differentiate herself. Said Gonzales Worthen’s spokeswoman Barbara Price-Davis:

“It’s embarrassing when a state legislator comes out on the wrong side of the Constitution. Diana supports the civil liberties of all families guaranteed by our Constitution. Our State Senator should be a person who cares about families, not uses them as political ammunition.”

So true. And, to date, so unproductive politically in Northwest Arkansas.

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