Brawner: Why Little Rock Isn’t Yet Like Washington

Arkansas News Bureau columnist and Talk Business contributor Steve Brawner uses his independent twice-weekly column to compare Arkansas politics to Washington, D.C. politics.

Brawner explains that there are a number of reasons why politics in Arkansas remains much more civil than in the nation’s capital.

Importantly, state legislators live much more normal lives than members of Congress, and the governor is nothing like the president. They’re not rock stars. They generally don’t appear in the national media unless they say something monumentally stupid or controversial. If 10 constituents take the time to call them about an issue, most figure they ought to pay attention.

Thanks to term limits, state legislators serve only six years in the House and eight in the Senate. Unlike members of Congress, who live and breathe this stuff, state legislators spend only four or five months every two years in session, not counting a lot of between-session committee meetings.

In other words, they basically serve for a while and go home. There is less time to be corrupted and less time to become partisan hacks. If they want to get anything done in their time at the Capitol, they can’t make enemies.

Read his full take at this link.