story by Ryan Saylor
rsaylor@thecitywire.com
It was a day that shook Arkansas politics to its core.
Aug. 13, 2008.
That day, a gunman walked into the Democratic Party of Arkansas headquarters in downtown Little Rock and shot Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney three times. Gwatney died a short time later at a Little Rock hospital.
Nearly five years later, his murder is still fresh on the minds of many involved in Democratic politics, from staffers in the very building in which Gwatney was killed to volunteers and politicians across the state who have heard about his work not only as chairman, but as a state senator having served with now-Gov. Mike Beebe in the legislature.
But a recent commercial from the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns has caused much discussion and some consternation among party members. The commercial features former DPA Chief Financial Officer Angela Bradford-Barnes speaking about the death of Gwatney, though she never mentions him by name. In the commercial, she says that guns were not the reason Gwatney was dead.
“When my dear innocent friend was shot to death, I didn’t blame guns. I blamed a system that makes it so terribly easy for criminals or the dangerous mentally ill to buy guns.”
Bradford-Barnes goes on to support the Manchin-Toomey Bill, which would have expanded background checks for weapons purchases, and implores U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., to reconsider his vote against the legislation.
Speaking to The City Wire on June 7, Pryor made clear his disgust with the commercial, which has been running on television stations across the state for weeks.
"…that was a sad day - I was actually in the hospital room when he died. It was a sad day, sad day for Arkansas,” Pryor said. “But that bill, the Manchin-Toomey Bill, would have done nothing to prevent it, what happened to Bill Gwatney. Just nothing. There's nothing in there. It's almost insulting to me. It is insulting to me that they would choose his death to make a political issue out of it on an issue where they have no solution at all.”
Now Bradford-Barnes is speaking for the first time about the commercial and about Pryor's statement.
The commercial, she said, came about from discussions with a former Democratic colleague who had suggested she reach out to Mayors Against Illegal Guns about a possible employment opportunity.
"Then I talked to someone about it and they said, 'I know you have a story.' I told them about that day. It was a difficult situation, and I let them know my perspective of what happened that day. And they asked how I felt about the background check law."
From there, the group approached her about making the commercial (at no compensation), which she said was important for her as a mother after watching coverage of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut and the theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.
"That's how it went, but I never thought it would blow up the way it did," Bradford-Barnes said. "I never thought, I never looked at it as political."
The law, she said, was intended to be a way to provide some sort of protection, though she admits it would not be perfect.
"I don't think the law will protect every situation, but I feel like if you can help someone – save one person, one child – I think it's a good deal."
Bradford-Barnes, who said she is the type to normally stay behind the scenes, said Pryor's statements about the commercial were among the most hurtful she has ever experienced.
"It really hurt my feelings. It's insulting and disgusting. It's real hard. Bill Gwatney was not just my friend, he was our friend and colleague."
She said the angst she feels is not because Pryor does not support the bill.
"It was insulting for me and it hurt my feelings for him to look at me telling my story and take it in that manner," she said. "Angela Barnes would never politicize any type of situation. Never, never would I consider doing something like that. I told why I personally believe the situation, why I would support that bill. What I did was to tell the story so people would know why I was passionate about this initiative."
Even though Pryor has been vocal in his opposition to Bradford-Barnes' commercial, she said she has received a lot of encouragement from friends inside and outside the party.
She said even with the perceived rift her commercial may have exposed within the Democratic Party going into the crucial 2014 election cycle, where Pryor is a top political target, she does not regret doing the commercial.
"It was not my goal to cause any sort of rift within the party. Within our party, there's different opinions, different philosophies."
While the commercial came about while hunting for a job, the stay-at-home mother said she is not affiliated with Mayors Against Illegal Guns beyond the commercial and would not do more ads for the organization.
As for what the future holds, whether it is in politics or outside of the Little Rock political scene, Bradford-Barnes said she has no idea what is on the horizon.
"I'm trying to figure that out. I handled compliance, finance and HR (for the DPA) and I'm trying to see if there's something else out there. When you have children, you have to figure out what's best for your family."