by - September 15, 2011 7:00 pm
Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford met informally with state legislators at noon today to discuss the progress on setting up health insurance exchanges. Currently, Arkansas has applied for and received "Level 1" funding to plan for the implementation of a state health care exchange, which is one component of the ObamaCare/Federal Health Care Reform.
by - September 15, 2011 7:00 pm
Roby Brock nicely rounds up a story first picked up in Arkansas by David Kinkade over on The Arkansas Project. Apparently, the folks at the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services have been paying erroneus unemployment benefits to the tune of $161 million.
In comments provided to Talk Business, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, Kimberly Friedman, tries to blame the problems on the "high volume of unemployment insurance claims" they are having to process during the recession and on the requirement to pay unemployment claims within seven days.
There are of course lots of follow up questions there, but a $161 million problem like this really deserves some explanation from the man in charge – DWS Director Artee Williams. You will recall that Williams retired this summer, but only for 30 days. He is back on the payroll now — officially a double dipper drawing both a salary and a pension.
Beebe defended rehiring him at the time with his spokesman telling the Arkansas Times that he was "someone we cannot lose…he’s taken a larger role than anyone in that position has. He’s done an exemplary job."
Here’s a question: how did such an "exemplary, must-have" employee let this big of an error take place on his watch?
I am sure this is a question our statewide daily newspaper will ask eventually. It did not make it into today’s edition as it appears they are working instead on the story about a state legislator – Rep. Denny Altes – who called about a problem his business was having with unemployment and happened to mention his status as a legislator.
"Interesting talk with DWS Director Williams," tweeted Sen. Jonathan Dismang this morning who has made unemployment reform one of his signature issues. "He positively commented that the DOL study showed they were doing it right 90% of the time. An interesting perspective on doing it wrong one out of every ten times and costing employers $161 million."
by - September 12, 2011 7:00 pm
There was a lively meeting today of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development as they took up a slate of proposals to increase environmental regulations on the oil and gas industry in Arkansas.
by - September 12, 2011 7:00 pm
Republican Bart Hester announced today that he will seek the State Senate seat in the newly created Arkansas District 1, composed primarily of Bentonville. Hester is the second Republican to announce for the race meaning he will face Rep. Tim Summers in the primary.
by - September 11, 2011 7:00 pm
In case you missed it, we reported earlier that Attorney General Dustin McDaniel issued a much-anticipated opinion today on whether someone with Shane Broadway’s credentials could be the director of the Department of Higher Education – legally speaking. McDaniel would not comment specifically on Broadway, but he said someone who he basically describes as exactly like Broadway is ineligible under the current law.
But that’s just where the fun started. After this news broke, zingbot fever struck in Arkansas!
Spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, Matt DeCample, started it all off with a zinger to the Republicans. Two Republicans, Reps. Allen Kerr and Jane English, had pushed the issue by requesting the AG opinion regarding Broadway’s eligibility. Cue DeCample…
“There are many people, including those behind this opinion request, who have made it clear that they would like a pricey national search at taxpayer expense, and that’s what we’re left with,” DeCample told Arkansas News.
I could be waaaaay off here, but I don’t think "a pricey national search" – as fun as those are – was really the goal of the Republicans who requested the opinion. It seemed more about pointing out the Governor choosing a long-time friend for the post regardless of the statutory requirement.
Anyway, the Republican Party of Arkansas could not resist joining in the fun of zingbot Monday, so they sent out this statement.
“We thank Attorney General Dustin McDaniel for providing clarification on a law that many felt was already clear in defining what was required of the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Director of Higher Education,” said RPA Communications Director Katherine Vasilos. “The Governor’s failed attempt to circumvent the law with a ‘friends of Beebe’ exception is inexcusable and should serve as a reminder that good old boy politics has no room in state government.”
Good ol’ zingbot Monday. Let’s hope the tradition continues.
Also, Max Brantley – Arkansas’ orginal zingbot – felt the need for Zing by basically hitting his standard talking points – Huckabee, Bryant Mayor Jill "Please Call Me Republican" Dabbs, and Mark Martin.
by - September 10, 2011 7:00 pm
Around fifty firefighters, policemen, and other first responders marched in a ceremony Sunday afternoon at the Arkansas State Capitol commemorating the 10th anniversary of September 11. They were joined by several hundred cheering supporters, including Gov. Mike Beebe, Lieutenant Governor Mark Darr, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, Congressman Tim Griffin and former Congressman Asa Hutchinson.
"Ten years ago today, Americans were rocked from their daily routines as news from the terrorist attacks against our great nation began to unfold," said Darr. "More than three thousand people lost their lives that day in those attacks; three were native Arkansans. Sarah Lowe of Batesville was a flight attendant working aboard American Airlines Flight 11 when it crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Melissa White of Bald Knob was at her desk on the highest floors of that tower in the first building struck in the cowardly attack. Operations Specialist Second Class Nehamon Lions IV of Pine Bluff was a sailor serving his country at The Pentagon. And Californian Tom Burnett – his widow Deena Burnett Bailey lives in Arkansas – was one of the brave passengers who decided to crash United Airlines Flight 93 in a field in Pennsylvania rather than allow it to be used as an instrument of destruction."
"This country – these people that make up America – have always responded to the crisis with the kind of unity, force, and resolve that absolutely stuns the rest of the world," said Beebe. "They don’t realize; they don’t know that you can’t subjugate or bow our people. And just like a fighter who takes one to the chin once in a while, you might reel a little bit, but you come back stronger. And unlike that fighter who quits or falls, America never does."
"My hope today – and I hope your hope today – is that going forward America can rekindle that spirit of unity that we saw after 9/11, that we can decide as a people there is no obstacle we cannot overcome, that as Americans we have always faced each challenge and each generation has risen to the occassion to do what’s best not only for ourselves, but for our prosperity. And so my hope today is that while we honor those we have lost, mourn with the families that have suffered so badly, pay honor and tribute to those who protect and serve us, that we are rekindle in our own hearts that idea that in the final analysis we are all one people, we are all one country, we are all Americans. And God bless the United States of America," Beebe said.
by - September 8, 2011 7:00 pm
Arkansas Highway Commission Chief Legal Counsel Robert Wilson had a difficult day today at the capitol, beginning with a grueling questioning session from the Joint Audit Committee and ending with the Highway Commission putting him on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation. All this was the result of a finding from a legislative audit of inappropriate paid absences from work. From the audit report...
The Chief Legal Counsel of the Agency, Robert L. Wilson, allowed staff of the Agency’s Legal Division to have inappropriate paid absences from work. Employees were improperly allowed to take 4 hours (one-half day) of paid time off every three weeks on a rotating basis. Schedules assigning the one half day for the period July 1, 2007 through December 31, 2009, and analysis of corresponding leave records and other support, indicated that employees of the Division may have been paid for 2,520 hours for which they did not perform job duties. Based on the employees’ average hourly rates for the period, the estimated cost of this time totals $73,891.
After over an hour of pointed questions in which state legislators vented their frustrations, it was also apparent during the audit meeting that a rift existed between Wilson and other top Highway Commission officials, including Chairman Madison Murphy who said that Wilson had not been cooperative with an internal investigation into the matter. Rep. Justin Harris, R-Prairie Grove, said that Wilson was "an embassment to the Commision and also to the state of Arkansas" and wondered if it was time for him to move on. This lead Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, to respond that the proceeding was the equivalant of a "legal lynching."
Immediately following the hearing, Wilson left without taking questions from reporters and left the capitol grounds with his attorney. Shortly thereafter, he was called back to the capitol to meet with the Highway Commission who had to wait several minutes for his arrival. Upon returning, the Commission met with Wilson in executive session. After opening the session back to the public, Commissioner John Ed Regenold moved and the Commission unanimously voted to put Wilson on administrative leave with pay pending the investigation.
"This is an issue that has been ongoing for quite a while. So I would view this as a culmination of events as opposed to precipitated by anything that took place this morning," said Madison regarding the Commission’s actions.
More video here and here and also here.
by - September 8, 2011 7:00 pm
The latest rumor floating around the capitol dome this morning is that a movement is underway to encourage Rep. Clark Hall, D-Marvell, to run for Congress in the First Congressional District against incumbent Republican Congressan Rick Crawford.
by - September 8, 2011 7:00 pm
If you have not heard, Sen. Bruce "Fireball" Holland, R-Greenwood, was found guilty in a Perry County District Court yesterday of misdemeanor counts of fleeing, careless driving and improper passing.
"I was not fleeing Officer Byrd. I was not passing on a double yellow. I think we saw very early today that this was not going to go our way. I was obviously disappointed in the way this turned out and we will appeal to the next level," said Holland in a video posted to Arkansas Online. "I would have appealed anything that she charged me with fleeing because I am not guilty of fleeing. It’s possible that I may have clipped a yellow line out there and they can consider that improper passing and I would go along with that and I was speeding. But there is no doubt in my mind… I am certain that I did not know anybody was trying to pursue me, trying to pull me over."
Although the appeal is pending, the guilty verdict will have an impact on Holland’s re-election campaign. Although not likely to rise to the level of an "infamous crime," which would make him ineligible to serve, it likely will be a campaign issue. In addition, the sentence was for 400 hours of community service in Perry County, which needs to be completed in the next 12 months. That is the equivalent of 10 weeks of full-time work or every Saturday for the next year that Holland will have to do during the peak of campaign season.
On top of this, it looks like Holland will face a crowded Republican primary and a general election opponent, Rep. Tracy Pennartz, D-Fort Smith. Former Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren, has already announced for the seat and for all practical purposes has been campaigning for the senate since he was term limited in House in 2010. Former GOP Rep. John Verkamp, a lawyer from Charleston, is also expected to announce.
But the name I have heard some Republicans get excited about is Rep. Gary Deffenbaugh, R-Van Buren, who is serving his first term in the House. Deffenbaugh is a popular retired coach and has been a reliable conservative vote in the House. One source tells me a poll run in the district shows him with a sizable lead in the primary. If he gets in, he has a strong chance of winning. But the question is: does he go for the senate or play it safe and run for re-election in the House where he will have little or no opposition?
This race will be one to watch.
by - September 6, 2011 7:00 pm
Politicos are buzzing about an invitation that went out this week for a legislative tailgate event before the Arkansas game against New Mexico in Little Rock this Saturday. The invitation reads "You’re cordially invited to join State Rep. Darrin Williams and Co-Hosts help kick off the first U of A football game in Little Rock with style." It lists 57 co-hosts – 50 Democrats and 7 Republicans.
After the high profile fundraiser for Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Designate Larry Teague which included most Senate Republicans, some wondered if something similar was occurring on the House side. Rep. Williams has said he plans to run for House Speaker next year.
Minority Leader John Burris who was one of the seven names on the tailgate invitation attempts to clear up the confusion.
"Darrin asked me last week to co-host," said Burris. Williams told him that "he wanted some Republicans, so everyone knew they were welcome. This is the legislative tailgate we do every year for Little Rock games. This year, he is doing the planning and hosting (probably no coincidence). However, co-hosting isn’t indication of anything other than courtesy to a colleague and support of the Razorback tailgating."
Burris said this is absolutely no indication of his support for Williams campaign to be Speaker of the House.
Talk Business’ Roby Brock has also spoken to some of the lobbyists on the invitation. He has been told that the event and invitation has nothing to do with the Speaker’s race as several indicated that they didn’t want to get involved in the "internal politics" of the House.
by - September 5, 2011 7:00 pm
As reported last week, two committees have been formed to campaign for the passage of the highway (GARVEE) bond renewal in the special election on November 8. The largest committee – Move Arkansas Forward – filed their first financial report with the Arkansas Ethics Commission last Friday, September 2.
Although the report shows activity dating back to December 2010, the initial report was not filed until five days after Gov. Beebe officially called the special election. Craig Douglass – spokesman for Move Arkansas Forward – stated last week that their position is that reporting is not required until the election is officially called since technically there was no election to influence until then.
The report shows that the committee has raised $342,912.50 through August 31, 2011. By far, the largest support comes from the Murphy Foundation and Murphy Oil, which have contributed a combined $161,912.50. Madison Murphy, President of the Murphy Foundation and director of Murphy Oil, is listed as the co-chairman of the committee. Murphy is a Huckabee appointee to the Highway Commission and was a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance.
Randy Zook, President of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, is listed as the treasurer for the committee. Mark Lamberth, owner of Atlas Asphalt, is also a co-chairman.
The bulk of the committee expenses – $162,099.06 – have gone to Craig Douglass Communications. Douglass served as the communications director of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance as well. The only other expense of the committee was $23,046.14 paid to a Little Rock law firm to draft highway financing legislation during the past legislative session.
The full report can be found on the Arkansas Ethics Commission website here.
by - September 5, 2011 7:00 pm
Washington County Republicans announced this weekend that Republican Presidential hopeful Herman Cain will be the keynote speaker at their Lincoln Day Dinner next month. The event will be October 27 at 6:00 pm at the Holiday Inn in Springdale.
Cain is the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza. He came in fifth in the Iowa Straw Poll last month. The latest Republican Primary poll from Rasmussen shows Cain in sixth place with support from four percent of those polled.
This is Cain’s second visit to the Natural State this year. In February, Cain spoke at the "Defending the Dream" event sponsored by Americans for Prosperity. With Arkansas’ primary occurring late in the Presidential primary season in May, Arkansas has a difficult time attracting candidates. The only other candidate to visit Arkansas that I know of this year was Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty who dropped out of the race shortly after his third place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll.
I am also hearing that the speaker for the Republican Party of Arkansas’ annual Governor’s Dinner will be announced soon. If the name I heard is correct, it will certainly raise some interest.
by - August 31, 2011 7:00 pm
You may recall during the previous legislative session Rep. Andy Mayberry (R-East End) filed a bill that would have banned abortion after the point at which the unborn child can experience pain – usually considered 20 weeks. The bill was voted down by the House Public Health Committee after Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s office spoke against it saying it would cause Arkansas to end up in court.
We should soon get a look as to the validity of McDaniel’s concerns as a similar bill passed in Idaho is being challenged in court. Although abortions after 20 weeks are no longer being preformed in clinics in Idaho, the lawsuit comes from a Idaho women who took abortion inducing drugs from an Internet provider. According to a report from Reuters, she was charged under a 1972 Idaho law prohibiting self-induced abortions. The charges were dropped, however, and she is challenging the constitutionality of both the 1972 law and the pain awareness ban.
Both pro-life and pro-choice groups are watching this case closely as this is the first challenge to a state law effectively banning abortions after 20 weeks. If it is upheld, it will further expand a state’s ability to restrict abortions. The Supreme Court upheld certain state restrictions in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992 and a federal ban on partial birth abortions in Gonzales v. Carhart in 2007. Pro-life groups hope for a similar outcome in the current court challenge.
Also, of note, Alabama signed a similar law into effect yesterday becoming the fifth state to do so.
by - August 28, 2011 7:00 pm
It is not often that Gov. Mike Beebe is joined by both the chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas and the Republican Party of Arkansas for an announcement at his office, but such was the case today.
by - August 28, 2011 7:00 pm
Gov. Mike Beebe is expected make an announcement today at 11:00 am that he will call a special election to renew a $575 million highway bond program first passed by voters in 1998 called the GARVEE bonds.
by - August 27, 2011 7:00 pm
Michael Wickline takes a look today at the developing State Senate races in his article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. There are not a whole lot of new names that you haven’t already seen on our Talk Business list. The most notable was Miller County Sheriff Ron Stovall who may run against Sen. Steve Harrelson in the Democratic primary in the Texarkana area.
But I also noted Rep. Linda Tyler’s dance on her abortion position in response to the charge from her potential 2012 Senate opponent, Sen. Jason Rapert, that she used her position as chair of the House Public Health Committee to kill pro-life legislation. So many pro-life bills were killed in the committee – which was made up of 15 Democrats and 5 Republicans – that it become known as the "death panel." From the article…
Rapert said Tyler was chairman of a House committee in which several antiabortion bills failed to clear earlier this year.
“From where I stand, she definitely needs to know that she is not just killing bills. The pro-life bills are dealing with the lives of children in our nation,” he said.
In response, Tyler said, “All you have to do is to look at my record to see I’m not a puppet for Barack Obama or Mike Beebe.”
She said that as a committee chairman she didn’t vote on the bills in the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee. She noted that in 2009 she voted for legislation to ban partial-birth abortions.
This response is quite a change from the quote she gave the Arkansas Times at the end of last year’s session.
Tyler, D-Conway, chaired a Public Health Committee that heard 11 bills on abortion, from a measure aimed at prohibiting the procedure after 20 weeks to a proposal to impose stricter standards on the state’s only clinic that provides surgical abortions. Only one, a bill that would require a clinic that performed over 10 procedures in a year to be regulated by the state Health Department, was approved.
Although Tyler says she feels strongly about the issue, she credits the committee for asking tough questions and not shying away from a controversial debate.
“I wish it was such that women would not make those decisions,” Tyler says. “But I believe that a woman has the right to make that decision and it’s between a woman, her doctor, her family and her God and it should not be something that government should be involved in.”
Tyler’s position is clearly pro-choice, however, now that it is an election year it appears she is shying away from positions she knows are not consistent with her district. It is true that many times as chair she chose to pass voting on bills when it was obvious that the pro-life measure would fail anyway. But whenever it came down to her vote to pass the bill, pro-life groups could not count on her.
Also, it is common for pro-choice politicians to point toward their vote for banning partial birth abortion to try to pacify pro-life voters, but this is a smoke screen. Only the most extreme of the pro-choice crowd are in favor of partial birth abortions. The measure to ban partial birth abortions passed with 84 votes in a Democratic-dominated legislature in 2009, but even then her support was marginal – she did not co-sponsor the bill and I don’t recall her speak in favor of bill during the debate which I followed closely.
I suppose Tyler’s pro-choice dance is to be expected during a campaign, but don’t be fooled – she is the pro-choice candidate and Sen. Rapert is the pro-life candidate in this race.
by - August 25, 2011 7:00 pm
A Facebook announcement tells me that Charlene Fite of Alma is running for State Representative in District 80. This is a new district composed of the northern part of Crawford County (part of Van Buren, Cedarville) that runs through the national forest into Washington County (Cane Hill, Lincoln, and Prairie Grove).
by - August 24, 2011 7:00 pm
My reader with a talent for political cartoons looks at the celebrity attention on the West Memphis Three and wonders if there are another three that have been forgotten.
If you can’t get enough of the WM3-mania, Scott Ellington, the prosecutor who cut the agreement with the WM3 last week, will appear tonight in Little Rock with all three attorneys for the WM3 and two of the big media advocates for their release – Mara Leveritt and Capi Peck. This certainly sounds like a pretty heavily weighted pro-"Free the WM3" panel to me, but what do I know.
The event – sponsored by the Clinton School of Public Service and the Arkansas Times – starts at 6:00 this evening at the Statehouse Convention Center.
I can’t make it on account of I don’t want to.
by - August 24, 2011 7:00 pm
Lottery officials faced tough questions yesterday afternoon when they went before The Arkansas Lottery Commission Legislative Oversight Committee. Many of the questions came from Sen. Jonathan Dismang (R-Beebe) who demonstrated why it is a smart idea to have an accountant or two in the state legislature.
Much of the discussion centered on the nearly $100,000 IRS penalty that the lottery has been assessed. The penalty resulted from a delay in submitting the required withholding on lottery prize payouts. Apparently, lottery officials had not been doing this daily and were not using the Electronic Federal Payment Posting System as they were required to do. Philip Miley, the lottery CFO who recently resigned, explained that he believed the penalty was an error and that he could get the issue resolved, therefore he did not tell lottery director Ernie Passailaigue about the problem until recently.
"I have a hard time believing there wasn’t that type of control in place that would have notified (Passailaigue) of a penalty and interest that large," said Dismang. "I am not saying he did not know, but I have a hard time believing there was not some type of communication within the departments of the organization."
Add this as just another strike in the many problems the lottery has had to face since its start-up a little over two years ago. Most readers will recall that when the lottery began there was much focus on the large salaries given to Passailaigue and the two officials he brought over from South Carolina with him. Part of the justification for this was that the money was worth it for the expertise the Arkansas lottery would receive by hiring them.
But one interesting note that I observed at that time was that the top financial officiers and accountants were hired after the bad press began regarding the high salaries. Philip Miley, a accountant with a lapsed CPA license, was hired in July 2009 as the controller for $79,092, which is a pretty low salary for the chief financial officier of a major multi-million dollar state agency. At the time, eleven other lottery officials had higher salaries than him. Miley even pointed to the salary level as part of his reason for leaving, saying it was not worth it for the amount he was making.
My point here is that you can tell a bit about the lottery’s priorities by where they choose to spend their money. Most the salary expense has been directed to those responsible for lottery operations and sales rather than on their accounting and financial management. Perhaps this is a result.
Video from the Arkansas Times. Additional information for this post came from reports from the Arkansas News Bureau and Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
by - August 24, 2011 7:00 pm
The Arkansas Federation of Young Republicans (AFYR) met last weekend in Rogers and elected new officiers. Elizabeth Aymond, who had served as President for the last two years, passed the torch to Jack Avery of Fayetteville.
