Treasurers Race Gets Interesting

The political season of 2014 will be great fun in Arkansas. That is especially true when even the race for state treasurer has already entered the scope of a soap opera.

Duncan Baird, state representative from Lowell and chairman of the Joint Budget Committee, and Dennis Milligan, circuit clerk of Saline County, are the only announced candidates for the job. Both are Republicans. They are involved in a controversy, first reported Nov. 13 by the Arkansas Times, regarding an after-hours trip to the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock, and a discussion that followed.

Just after midnight Oct. 18, during a special legislative session, Baird, three other Republican legislators and two women decided to end an evening with a trip to the nearby Capitol to go up on the roof.

The building, of course, has surveillance cameras, so the group’s traipsing was recorded.

“There was nothing inappropriate that happened, it was simply six people walking around looking at the Capitol,” Baird told Little Rock NBC affiliate KARK-TV.

Milligan disagreed.

“There wouldn’t be an issue if these individuals wouldn’t have created an issue,” he told the station.

Milligan provided KARK a copy of an email from the Capitol Police that says on the night in question, “some of the individuals had possible issues of steadiness.”  Capitol Police officers denied the group access to the roof.

Milligan, who FOI’d the email and surveillance video, called Baird and asked to meet him at an area donut shop.

In secret, Baird recorded the meeting, and it has caused quite a stir.

According to local ABC affiliate KATV-TV, Milligan can be heard saying, “Look, I’m not releasing this information … Here’s the bottom line. You’re finding a new career. You’re not going to run for state treasurer. OK? Unless you want to see this on the 7 o’clock news.”

Baird told KATV the tape’s implications are clear: Milligan is trying to bully him out of the race.

That may not be a bad strategy for Milligan, considering he once told a reporter from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette six years ago that America needs to be attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that President George W. Bush had done to protect the country.

Milligan made that comment while chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, a pearl of wisdom that may find its way into the political season of 2014.