By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Keet charged Wednesday that questions about his taxes were part of a diversion orchestrated by Democratic incumbent Mike Beebe to avoid addressing real issues in the campaign.

Keet also challenged Beebe to a series of televised debates around the state ahead of the Nov. 2 general election.

The Little Rock businessman’s dealings have come under scrutiny in recent weeks after disclosures about missteps on his taxes. He incorrectly received the state homestead credit on property in Arkansas for years while living in Florida, he failed to disclose ownership or pay state taxes on his private airplane and has been late paying business taxes in Little Rock.

Keet said Wednesday he had cleared up all outstanding tax issues.

“I’m not a perfect individual. I try to be straightforward, open and honest,” he said during a news conference at his campaign headquarters. “I want to be clear that all my taxes, both personal and business, are current, including any that might be due on my airplane or any business interest.”

He charged Beebe was behind the tax questions as a diversionary tactic, and said the governor’s re-election campaign has spent at least $34,000 on a private investigator to look into Keet’s financial records.

Beebe “and his (campaign) staff have been very adept at diverting attention away from the important issues that we are facing in this state,” Keet said.

“I am not going to be diverted by it any longer,” he said. “Now’s the time to move forward and focus on the challenges that are on Arkansans’ minds.”

Keet proposed debates televised live in prime time on network affiliates in each of the state’s four congressional districts.

Beebe declined to comment on Keet’s debate challenge this afternoon while attending the dedication of a new Caterpillar plant in North Little Rock, and he referred other questions to his campaign.

Beebe campaign spokeswoman Anne Hughes said later that an agreement has been reached with AETN to broadcast a single gubernatorial debate to be televised statewide.

Hughes also denied the campaign had hired a private investigator to probe Keet’s background. “The Beebe campaign does not employ any private investigators,” she said.

Richard Atkinson, Keet’s spokesman, said later Wednesday that Keet wants four debates, each an hour long, to debate the variety of issues in the governor’s race.

“One hour is not long enough,” Atkinson said.

Asked about the private investigator allegation, he replied, “We’re standing by our statement.”

UPDATE: Beebe said Thursday his campaign employed a political research firm, not a private investigator, that researched Keet’s background.

“They don’t only research your opponent, they research me. And they do policy, I mean they research policy issues. Virtually every campaign that I know of that’s a major campaign uses that,” Beebe said.

Before Wednesday’s news conference, Keet brought his wife, Margaret, up to the podium to recognize their 39th wedding anniversary.

The candidate then walked to a nearby room to retrieve a cake he had stashed away. As he turned to walk back to the podium, he fumbled the cake and it fell to the floor.

A sheepish Keet picked the cake up off the floor, carried it to his wife and wished her a happy anniversary.

“This is embarrassing,” he said, adding that of the thousands of customers he has served over the years while working at restaurants he has owned, never once has he dropped a cake.