Boozman: Grading the President, I-49, and a ‘funny-looking’ map

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Rogers, is a fan of the Regional Intermodal Transportation Authority but is not a fan of the plan to pull Fayetteville and portions of eastern Washington County out of the 3rd Congressional District and into the 4th District.

The newly elected U.S. Senator, who previously was the 3rd District Congressman, visited briefly with The City Wire last week to answer questions ranging from local infrastructure to national politics.

CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING
On Mar. 23, the House State Agencies Committee of the Arkansas General Assembly approved a map that would pull Fayetteville into the 4th Congressional District.

3rd District Congressman Steve Womack, R-Rogers, called the plan “silly” and “absurd.” Other unkind monikers include the “Fayetteville Finger” and the “Pig Trail Gerrymander.”

Proponents of the new Congressional boundary lines said it could give the growing Northwest Arkansas area two members of Congress. The issue resulted in a flurry of accusations and e-mail exchanges in which Republicans and Democrats accused each other of political shenanigans.

“I’m very much in favor of keeping Fayetteville in the 3rd (District),” Boozman said, adding that he is staying out of what has turned into a sensitive situation. “But it is a funny-looking map. I think that sums it up.”

He said the Northwest Arkansas region is connected on too many fronts — the University of Arkansas system, Veterans’ Affairs, infrastructure, etc. — to be divided by an “unfortunate” political boundary.

GRADING PRESIDENT OBAMA
What kind of grade would Boozman give President Barack Obama on his first two years in office?

“Very low marks” on the economy, Boozman replied quickly.

He said early on he was willing to give Obama “pretty good marks, because he was “trying, really trying to be a catalyst.”

In foreign affairs, Boozman also gives the President low marks.

“In the Middle East, he’s been all over the place” with his approach to the contagious unrest, Boozman said.

Overall, Boozman gives Obama a “D.”

“And I think the American public would give him a D, also. … I think you saw that in November,” Boozman said.

Boozman did qualify his grade by saying there have been “no easy decisions in his (Obama’s) first years.”

COMMENTS FROM ARKANSANS
Boozman, a Northside High School graduate, has seen his constituency grow from the Republican dominated 3rd District to all of Arkansas — which, prior to November 2010, leaned much more to Democratic sentiment.

How has he been able to absorb the different opinions?

Boozman said it has not been difficult because he is hearing pretty much the same thing from Democrats and Republicans: Jobs, jobs, jobs, and “do something about the deficit.”

In this fiscal year, Boozman said the federal government will spend $3.7 trillion and generate revenue of only $2.2 trillion. He said persons of all parties realize that a $1.5 trillion annual deficit is unsustainable.

The other common comment is from small business owners.

“They want us to get stability in Washington. The average businesses here, in Arkansas, are uncertain about what Washington will do next,” Boozman said.

INTERSTATE 49, RITA
However, there are things in which government should continue to spend, Boozman noted. Projects like the construction of Interstate 49 through western Arkansas and the Regional Intermodal Transportation Authority were examples cited by Boozman as those able to create jobs long after the government funding ends or abates.

RITA was formed in August 2009 with the broad goal to maximize the use of all forms of transportation — rail, barge, air, interstate — so as to reduce shipping costs and increase service options for regional business and industries. The authority, which covers Crawford and Sebastian counties, continues to pursue an $8 million infrastructure plan that includes a $5 million federal request.

Specifically, the combined $8 million includes $3.5 million to improve roads at Van Buren port facilities and to extend railroad from Arkhola to a Van Buren river port operation downstream. The remaining $4.5 million will be used on the railroad work at Chaffee Crossing. The money also will include infrastructure support for a 50-acre economic development site at Chaffee Crossing and a 30-acre site near the Van Buren port.

Boozman said RITA “has a role of national significance” because it could help better facilitate the use of inland waterways. He said the completion of expansion of the Panama Canal — scheduled for sometime around 2014 — could boost freight in and out of the port of New Orleans. Communities along U.S. inland waterways best situated to respond to the increased freight will benefit, according to Boozman.

As to I-49, Boozman said he is pleased with the millions of dollars of work underway through Chaffee Crossing. The work connects Arkansas 22 in Barling and travels to near Howard Hill Road. Future phases will connect the I-49 work to U.S. 71 South between Fort Smith and Greenwood.

“You want to get it so far that you can’t stop. That’s my goal,” Boozman said about completing I-49 through Arkansas. The entire project has an ever-growing price tag that now hovers around $4 billion.

Boozman is hopeful for more I-49 money when the federal highway bill comes up for reauthorization later this year.

“I think we will see funding for projects of national interest. I-49 is one of those, and we’ve got a great story to tell,” Boozman said of the economic impact of a completed I-49 that connects Kansas City to New Orleans.