Cook: Kudos To Asa Hutchinson And Nate Bell

Arkansas weather and politics often change quickly. On Sunday, it was a sunny 68 degrees in Little Rock and today it’s raining and winter cold. Along those same lines, I’ve written articles critical of Republicans, and some Democrats, but today I’m writing a story saying nice things about Republicans. Things do change quickly in Arkansas.

Heck, even the Democratic Party of Arkansas today put out statement thanking the Republican Governor, which I’ll get to in a moment.

First, on the kudos list is Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, who filed a bill to eliminate the official honoring of Robert E. Lee on the same day as Martin Luther King Day.

It’s a national embarrassment for Arkansas to honor on the exact same day one man who fought for equality for all people and another man who led an armed rebellion against the U.S. in order to protect to the right keep people as slaves. Some Southerners might take exception to my description of Lee, but consider this, what would have happened, especially to slavery, if Lee had won?

Kudos to Bell for filing a bill that is long overdue. And it should be noted, and praised, that Rep. Fred Love, D-Little Rock, filed an identical bill to eliminate the Lee holiday. But it’s politically tougher for a white Republican from Mena to call for the ending of a state holiday of a popular Confederate general.

TB&P blogger Jason Tolbert also deserves a pat on the back for his post that raised awareness of the issue and stirred these legislators to action.

The second Republican to give kudos to is Gov. Asa Hutchinson for his proposal on what to do with the Private Option.

Talk Business & Politics has a good rundown on what Hutchinson proposed today which you can read here.

What it all boils down to is Hutchinson called for keeping the Private Option as it is until the end of 2016 and for the creation of a task force to suggest changes or alternatives to the current program. This issue has many moving parts, but at its core it’s about affordable health care for roughly 213,000 Arkansans who need it.

By calling for the Private Option to continue for the next two years, it means hospitals’ budgets are not completely thrown out of whack and Arkansans’ health care access is not snatched away.

DPA Chairman Vince Insalaco released a press statement today saying in part: “The Democratic Party of Arkansas would like to thank Gov. Hutchinson for asking the Legislature to reauthorize the Private Option for the next year.”

Like I said, Arkansas weather and politics change quickly.

Hutchinson’s proposal must, of course, be approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature, which is made up of more than a few Republicans who want to kill the Private Option.

The political maneuvering behind the scenes will be intense this session over this issue. Republicans opposed to the Private Option are now faced with the prospect of either defying the leader of their party on one of his first major policy proposals or voting for a program that is not popular with some in the Republican base.

Regardless of what eventually happens with the Private Option, at least Hutchinson showed some leadership and presented a plan of what he wanted to accomplish.

Weather and politics change quickly in this state so who knows if the new Governor will be praised or derided next week by Democrats or Republicans. But at least for today, he deserved kudos.