Gov. Beebe says Keet ‘trashing’ Arkansas

Amidst the backdrop of struggling tax revenues and a controversy involving vehicles used by state employees, Gov. Mike Beebe and GOP gubernatorial challenger Jim Keet spoke to the Arkansas State Employees Association (ASEA) on Saturday.

Beebe used the forum to accuse his Republican opponent of "trashing Arkansas," while Keet defended his criticism of the Governor’s performance.

Roby Brock with TalkBusiness.net, a content partner with The City Wire, was the only media to cover the event. Following is a portion of the story he filed from the event.

The ASEA has about 17,000 dues-paying members and represents approximately 50,000 state employees, which includes higher education workers.

• Beebe Touts Accomplishments, Addresses Keet Criticism
The two Governor candidates spoke at different times and were never together. Beebe went first, telling the room of state workers that he was "tired of someone throwing rocks and mud" at the state’s reputation.

"Don’t you let anybody run you down," Beebe said. He never called Keet by name, but referred to him as "my opponent" several times.

"I don’t run from acknowledging that we’re in the worst recession of my life. I don’t run from the fact that we’ve got our share of problems. … But I’m not trashing Arkansas because we’re doing so much better than the rest of the country and it’s a direct insult to the people in this room and the teachers and the people who have worked their tails off in the last 3 years to survive what we have survived to suggest something to the contrary. You deserve credit for working through some of the toughest times," Beebe said.

Beebe’s comments were in reference to Keet’s criticism of statistics Beebe has touted regarding job growth, education improvement, and balancing the state budget.

The incumbent Democrat rattled off a litany of statistics showing the depth of budget cuts in states across the nation. Beebe said state and local governments in the U.S. have cut a combined 169,000 jobs so far in 2010, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. He added that 22 states have laid-off state workers and 26 states have furloughed state employees.

He highlighted his success in cutting 4 cents off the state’s grocery tax and his stewardship of the state budget. Noting that 95% of the state budget goes towards education, human services and prisons, the Governor said it left little room for budget flexibility.

He touched on the state vehicle controversy, which is under review by Department of Finance and Administration (DF&A) officials. The state owns more than 8,600 state vehicles and their potential personal use by state employees has been questioned.



Afterwards, the Governor told Talk Business he’s directed DF&A to "hurry, but do it right." Beebe said a lot of the review would be easy, such as accounting for the use of dump trucks, state police cars, and highway department vehicles.

"The harder part is going to be the cars that are assigned to people that can drive home and park, like law enforcement or children and family service workers who have to go out at night. Those are the ones that need intense scrutiny," said Beebe.

• Keet Shares State Vision, Answers Beebe Charges
About an hour after Beebe’s speech and unaware of his comments, Republican gubernatorial challenger Jim Keet addressed the ASEA audience. Keet told ASEA members his reasons for re-entering politics and said he wanted to address the state’s tax structure and improve literacy.

"Why do we continue to be 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, 49th, 50th in so many metrics?" Keet asked. He said he would bring his business acumen to the office and promised to "change the culture of state government" through ethics reform.

He also reiterated his proposal to conduct a top-to-bottom review of state government, an effort that he said would "ferret out waste." He underscored his pledge to cut 20% of the Governor’s office budget and to take a 20% pay cut on Day One if elected.



"If we don’t set a good example at the top, how can we expect you to do a good job in your position?" Keet asked. "I intend to roll up my sleeves and work side-by-side with you."



Declaring this election to be about "ideas of the future," Keet said, "If you want to be part of an efficient and smaller government, then I need your vote. If you like the way the last 4 years have gone, support Gov. Beebe."



Keet also talked about the state vehicle controversy and told the audience of state employees that it was a huge problem he intended to address aggressively. Knowing that some employees in the room could potentially be abusing a state car privilege, Keet said it wouldn’t slow down his intentions to reign in the controversy.

After his speech, Keet spoke with Talk Business and said he has heard from many state employees frustrated by their working conditions and co-workers’ abuses.

"We’ve had people call into the office and give specific examples of people pulling up in their [state] trucks, filling up big tanks of diesel fuel to take back to their farm, and use in their tractor on their farm."

When told about Beebe’s tough talk in response to Keet’s alleged mudslinging, the GOP challenger defended his rhetoric.

"If he can show me an instance where I have thrown mud, even at him, I’d like to see it," Keet said.

Link here for Brock’s full story on the two speeches.