Mary Lou Spradling Slinkard (born August 1943) is a Republican former member of the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...

. From 2013 to 2015, she represented District 92 in Benton County in far northwestern

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. From 2009 to 2013, she was the representative for District 100. A native and a resident of Gravette, she is the former county clerk of Benton County, a position in which she served for twenty-eight years. She assumed the representative's position in 2009 and was reelected without opposition in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

s of 2010 and 2012. Slinkard had a primary opponent in 2012, Jim Parsons. Her district includes the city of Bella Vista, once represented by Republican Donna Hutchinson, a former representative from District 98. A

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

lawmaker, Slinkard in 2013 voted to override Democratic

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Mike Beebe Mickey Dale Beebe (; born December 28, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the List of governors of Arkansas, 45th governor of Arkansas from 2007 to 2015. He is to date the last Democrat to hold that office. Born in Amagon ...

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...

es bills to restrict

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

access. She voted to prohibit abortion coverage in state employees health insurance plans. Slinkard also voted to override Beebe's veto of the law requiring photo identification as a condition for voting in Arkansas. She voted to place a spending cap on state spending, but the measure failed by two House votes. She voted to allow university staff to engage in

concealed carry Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pre ...

of a handgun for campus safety. Slinkard serves on three House committees: (1) City, County and Local Affairs, (2) Judiciary, and (3) Legislative Joint Audit Committee. She is a member of the

American Legislative Exchange Council The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservatism in the United States, conservative state legislature (United States), state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share Model act, ...

(ALEC). Slinkard was

term-limited A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, whe ...

under state law in 2014. Former

State Senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

Kim Hendren, also of Gravette, was elected at the age of seventy-six, to succeed her in the state House. Henderen also served in the state House for the term from 2001 to 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slinkard, Mary Lou 1943 births Living people Republican Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives Baptists from Arkansas People from Gravette, Arkansas County clerks in Arkansas Women state legislators in Arkansas 21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly 21st-century American women politicians