News and Views on Politics, Policy and More
As expected, term-limited Democratic Rep. Dawn Creekmore jumped into the race for Arkansas Senate in District 22 today. The Arkansas Project’s own Dan Greenberg has already announced he’s running on the GOP side for the race to replace outgoing Sen. Shane Broadway. Others are rumored to be waiting in the wings.
Wandering blogger Jason Tolbert is everywhere you wanna be, if where you wanna be is holding a video camera on the Saline County Courthouse lawn while Creekmore announces.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday overturned the decision of the 2nd Court of Appeals in the Ricci v. DeStefano case. The case was decided by one vote, with Justice Anthony Kennedy siding with Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas in the majority. That decision overturned an earlier one in which Judge Sonya Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee for the court, sided with the majority.
The case is unique in that a nominee’s decision has been overturned right before her confirmation hearings begin. Some speculate that the case presents a new obstacle for Sotomayor in her quest for confirmation.
My thoughts are it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. Sotomayor’s proclivities are known. It isn’t as if this decision enlightened us to anything we didn’t know before.
But the time is propitious as it presents us a classic example of how divided the court is. In a nation that increasingly relies on Washington to make decisions for us, more often than not our futures are contingent upon the whims of strangers. The opinion of one man, Justice Kennedy, directly affected the careers of dozens of firefighters in New Haven, Conn., and millions of other unknown persons around the nation.
Kevin Holmes of Van Buren announces he will run for Arkansas House of Representatives in District 66. Holmes, a Republican, is an attorney and member of the Crawford County Quorum Court. The seat is currently held by Republican Rep. Rick Green, who is term limited.
Full news release from Holmes at jump.
On the other hand, it gives us a chance to use this shot again.
Thanks to an Arkansas Project reader for sending along the link to the latest turn in the long-running tale of Tina Sherman of Bella Vista, Ark., whose nude photos found their way onto the Web, supposedly, when her husband left his cell phone at a McDonalds. The Shermans claim that McDonalds is liable and sued for $3 million.
Now McDonalds says “Not it!” and is suing some other character, because he’s the one behind this devilish scheme, the Morning News of NWA’s Ron Wood reports.
Whatever, who cares. I did another quick search on the Tina Sherman nude photos this morning and just got a bunch of static, so this story gets unsexier with every iteration.
Conway Republican David Meeks, who just a few weeks ago announced he was exploring a run against Rep. Vic Snyder for the Arkansas Second Congressional District seat, says he’s had enough of this exploratory business and is getting in for good. Here, go spend some time poking around on his website.
Yes, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota was in Little Rock last night as the keynote speaker at the Republican of Party of Arkansas’ big annual fundraising dinner. If you didn’t hear much about it, fear not, as very little news broke out.
AP reporter Andrew Demillo asked Pawlenty about South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and his spicy affair, to which Pawlenty offered a fairly pat response. Blogger Jason Tolbert got video, naturally.
(Tolbert notes that he and I attended the media availability session prior to the dinner, but he gives me too much credit. It was really more like Jason was attending the media availability and I happened to stroll by on my way to the cash bar and noticed it kicking off, so I lingered around for a bit.)
But Pawlenty gave a nice little pep rally speech to the crowd, which probably numbered around 400 people. Having attended last year’s event, I’m pretty sure that this year’s crowd was quite a bit larger, which was a reassuring sign.
A lot of potential candidates in the crowd, including most of the U.S. Senate hopefuls (I think—I really can’t keep track of them anymore) and lots of state legislative hopefuls. First District congressional candidate Rick Crawford got to be the hero of the evening when he swung down to Memphis on his way to Little Rock to collect Pawlenty at the airport, after the governor’s flight was delayed.
So attendance was fairly solid, though I always have trouble understanding why the Arkansas GOP insists on charging so much money for these things. $125 a ticket? That’s steep. Why not slash the ticket prices, putting the costs in the reach of more people, and maybe packing the room for a show of strength and getting more people involved in the cause? Surely I’m not the first person to ask this.
Beats me. But then I’m probably the wrong guy to ask, since I didn’t pay for my ticket anyway and was only there because I managed to scam a freebie off Greenberg.
Sweet romance fills the air as Arkansas Project pals Blake Rutherford (of the Blake’s Think Tank blog) and Jessica Dean (KATV’s Little Miss Choose Your News 2009) are engaged to be wed. Congrats to the happy couple, pictured here in the studio on 103.7 The Buzz on a recent radio outing.
Party Line: Some 33,000 people have participated in Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s telephone town halls on the Arkansas lottery, for some reason that is simply beyond comprehension. (Political Buzz)
Big Guns: General Wesley Clark is making a big online money push for Sen. Blanche Lincoln as second quarter fundraising period draws to a close. (WesPAC)
Cap and Tweet: One man with a Twitter account may or may not be able to singlehandedly stop terrible cap and trade legislation, but blogger K. Ryan James is sure as hell gonna try. (K. Ryan James Twitter Feed)
Tolbert, Stalker of Candidates: Blogger Jason Tolbert is on the prowl again, today capturing video interview with possible GOP Senate hopeful Curtis “Curt” Coleman. (The Tolbert Report)
That’s Ignorant!: Blogger Blake Rutherford is pissed that Michael Jackson’s death didn’t make the front page of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Man, I don’t know why he “Wanna Be Startin’ Something,” but I think the ADG should just tell him to “Beat It,” because this accusation is totally “Off the Wall.” I mean, I know it seems “Bad,” but these kind of editorial decisions aren’t always “Black or White.” And, uhhhh….OK, I think I’m just gonna let this one go now. (Blake’s Think Tank)
Apparently, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calf.) takes her earmarks very seriously, given this story about yesterday’s shouting and shoving match on the House floor over “monuments to me.”
Previous discussion of “Edifice Complex” issues in Arkansas here and here.
If you like eating food and listening to Republican political people talk, boy, are you gonna like this day.
At 11:30 a.m., you can head down to the Little Rock Club at the Regions Bank Building in downtown Little Rock, where the Central Arkansas Republican Club will be hosting possible U.S. Senate candidate Curtis “Curt” Coleman. If you can’t make it, never fear: blogger Jason Tolbert promises to be there with his dorky little video camera.
And as if that weren’t enough—and dear God, shouldn’t it be?—Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty hits Little Rock this evening to serve as keynote speaker at the Republican Party of Arkansas’ annual Governors’ Dinner. That kicks off at 7 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Little Rock.
