Tobacco Wars Rage Despite Voter Mandate (Jeff Hankins Publisher’s Note)

Take more than $60 million a year, 135 legislators and a tight state budget.

What do you get? Chaos and a battle of wills, with a 64 percent voter mandate in the background despite the best attempts of Gov. Mike Huckabee to keep that mandate in the forefront.

The CHART plan for spending Arkansas’ share of the national tobacco settlement is taking a beating as related appropriation bills are dissected and scrutinized. The central issue is whether the spirit of the plan that was approved by voters is being compromised by changes in the details of the appropriation measures.

During the special session held last year to address the tobacco settlement, CHART supporters — Huckabee, the state Senate and coalition members — were unwilling to compromise. They felt like the compromising was done while putting the plan together. Even small changes would have subjected the entire package to a grabfest in which funds would be so widely dispersed that they would be far less effective.

With no other available dollars for new spending and the threat of actual agency cutbacks to fund teacher pay raises, some legislators now are compelled to turn to the tobacco funds as the means for sending pork home. Others see an opportunity to get under Huckabee’s skin, knowing that he will take a lot of credit for the measure.

Fundamental elements like the School of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and the research institute need to be left intact. Once those major changes are taken off the table, then it’s fair to debate details like the number of new employees — but within the scope of the fundamental concepts of the plan.

All the efforts to divert funds to other programs, cut spending for buildings and juggle locations for programs directly contradict the plan that voters approved. It’s not unreasonable for CHART supporters to hold their ground against those who would dismiss a clear mandate.

t

* * *

Having read my comments about the strong economy in Northwest Arkansas, Richard Udouj sends word from Fort Smith that the economy is humming in western Arkansas as well.

“I believe that Fort Smith will rival any other city in the state,” writes Udouj, who is a manufacturing specialist with Winrock International and active with the Arkansas Wood Manufacturers Association.

He cites a major riverfront project, a big Fort Smith Convention Center construction project, a new library complete with branches and the $80 million expansion of St. Edward Mercy Medical Center. In addition, a private school raised $1.7 million to build a multipurpose activity center.

t

* * *

A visit to the Arkansas Tech University campus in Russellville took me to the new Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center, which was funded in large part by the Donald Reynolds Foundation.

It’s the kind of facility you wish every college campus — and to a lesser extent high school — could have to meet the demands and opportunities of technology in education.

Fully equipped and wired interactive classroom space and dozens of computers fill the 91,000-square foot, $13 million structure. You can sit at any table in the library and plug in a laptop with a high-speed Internet connection. A music and video lab has computer work stations with digital keyboards and multimedia editing consoles.

I wondered about keeping a facility like that up to date, and naturally the Reynolds Foundation ensured it would happen by requiring Arkansas Tech to raise funds for an endowment specifically for that purpose.

The impact of the foundation on Arkansas continues to be extraordinary.