2 Arkansans to have hand in drafting GOP platform

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — With a presumptive presidential nominee who has split from the party on several key issues, Arkansas' two representatives to the Republican Party's platform committee say they hope to avoid fights over specific policies and instead focus on the GOP's principles.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and businessman John Nabholz are set to be in Cleveland this week as the 112-member committee drafts the GOP's platform ahead of the Republican National Convention next week. Both are delegates for presumptive nominee Donald Trump, the billionaire and reality television star who won Arkansas' primary in March.

Rutledge, a former attorney for the Republican National Committee, said she hopes to focus on Constitution-related issues such as gun rights. She said she also hopes to address issues such preventing "overreach" from federal agencies.

"This election is critical for the future of our country, not simply for four years, but this election is critical for 40 years and perhaps two to three generations," Rutledge said last week.

Both Rutledge and Nabholz say they don't want the platform to deal in specifics, but rather to lay out broad principles.

"My focus and purpose is to make sure that anything we do will stand the test of time and something's that good four years from now and eight years from now," said Nabholz, who is retired from his family's construction company.

Both said they're not worried about fights on the committee, despite Trump splitting with the GOP's past platforms on key areas. Trump has threatened to exit the North American Free Trade Agreement and vowed to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, stances that have drawn criticism from GOP business leaders and groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Nabholz stopped short of saying whether he disagrees with Trump's free-trade stances.

"Donald Trump has an opportunity to improve our existing and future trade agreements with a goal of free trade when dealing with similar countries and 'equitable' trade when dealing with countries that do not share our core protections for workers and the environment," Nabholz said in an email.

Rutledge said she's reaching out to others in the state, including members of Arkansas' congressional delegation, to see what they would like the platform to say about trade.

Trump has also said he believes the GOP's platform on abortion should include exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. Rutledge said she doesn't believe the platform should include those exceptions.

"I am pro-life and I think it's important we are inclusive in our party's platform of all individuals and not have the sort of exceptions that would limit folks from identifying as Republicans," Rutledge said. "Because, quite frankly, for someone who is pro-life there is only one option when it comes to political parties and that's the Republican Party."

Rutledge said the platform will also address immigration, an area where Trump has drawn criticism over his rhetoric. The presumptive nominee regularly vows to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico if elected, and has also proposed restricting Muslims from entering the country. She said she didn't expect it would explicitly detail Trump's policy ideas and would instead focus on the need for a secure border.

"I do not anticipate it will be as explicit as a national ban on any individuals other than we want to know who's coming in to protect our national security," Rutledge said. "Those are sort of the broad-brush issues that people want to know and they care about."

ANDREW DeMILLO, Associated Press

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The Gayly - 7/10/2016 @ 4:20 p.m. CDT.