Arkansas Democrats

Don’t Forget That The Arkansas Unemployment Insurance Nightmare Is Still A Thing!

October 6, 2011 David Kinkade

The nightmare that is the state unemployment insurance program has slipped from the front pages, so let’s check in to remind ourselves what’s going on there, and what happens next.

As you’ll recall, last month we learned that the federal government had identified an estimated $161 million in improper unemployment payments issued by Arkansas government from 2008-2011.

The state Dept. of Workforce Services, which administers the unemployment program, has argued that it wasn’t that high—they claim to have found “actual, verified overpayments of $23.8 million“ for the three year period in question. I suspect the DWS estimate is laughably low, given the gulf between the two totals, and I suspect a more thorough review will reveal some number in the middle. Regardless, we’ll still be talking about tens of millions of dollars in poorly administered taxpayer funds.

It’s worth revisiting these developments for two reasons:

1) Because the bleeding continues! The state borrowed more than $360 million from the federal government to meet demand for unemployment benefits. Just last week, on September 26, DWS made an interest payment of more than $10.1 million to the feds on that debt. That $10.1 million vig followed a payment on the debt earlier in the month of $29.1 million. The balance owed currently stands at around $330.8 million, according to the DWS spokeslady.

2) Because we may soon get more clarity on just how large the improper payments were! Two state lawmakers, Sen. Jonathan Dismang and Rep. Davy Carter, requested that the Division of Legislative Audit review the administration of the unemployment insurance trust fund (PDF) to provide a clearer picture of how DWS is administering the funds. That request has been approved, I’m informed, and Legislative Audit is preparing to undertake the review in the coming weeks.

We’ll be keeping an eye on this to see how it shapes up. You should, too.

Filed Under: Arkansas Democrats, Arkansas Legislature, Arkansas Republicans, Gov. Mike Beebe, State Government is Too Damn Big Tagged With: unemployment, unemployment benefits, workforce services

Health Care Exchanges: Wait, Exactly Who’s the Dope in Beebe’s Rope-A-Dope Strategy?

October 5, 2011 David Kinkade

Democratic blogger Michael Cook at the Look Who’s Cookin’ blog weighs in today on the disputed matter of the Arkansas health insurance exchange. Last week, Gov. Mike Beebe elected to forgo pursuing a $3.8 million grant for establishing the state level exchange after receiving pushback from a handful of Republican lawmakers.

(Pushback = a two-and-a-half-page letter signed by six legislators arguing that they don’t think it’s such a great idea. Man, these Republicans play hardball!)

Cook is, predictably, certain that this is yet another of Beebe’s tactical masterstrokes, but that’s mostly because Beebe is the master and Cook’s job is to stroke him. “It’s a rope-a-dope strategy, see! Why, yessir, ole Mikey’s got them no-account Republicans on the ropes now, boy howdy!”

Except probably not.

Political Maneuvering is the Preferred Pragmatism*

October 1, 2011 David Kinkade

“Boo! Booooooo! Boo, you Arkansas Republicans!” That is the message distinguished Arkansas News Bureau columnist John Brummett has for the six (6) Arkansas GOP lawmakers who stood firm this week against efforts of Gov. Mike Beebe’s administration to set up an Obamacare health insurance exchange in the state.

In a column published Saturday under the uncommonly compelling, informative and evocative headline “Obstruction is the preferred conservatism” (“Great headline writing! Nailed it! Time to call it a week.”—Arkansas News Bureau headline writer), Brummett takes those six (6) Republicans to task for “playing politics” on the issue of health care reform. The six (6) lawmakers took the extraordinary step of sending a letter to the governor politely explaining that they don’t think it’s a good idea to apply for federal grant money to plan the exchange.(Full letter here, PDF)

Of course, Brummett notes in his column that Beebe is also playing politics on the issue, since, as he reports

I’m told that Beebe believes the politics of all this could play to the benefit of Democrats and to the detriment of Republicans.

He thinks “local control” could resonate, especially when sought by the relevant and affected private sector, including, tentatively, the powerful lobby known as the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.

But that’s different, you see. In BrummettWorld, Beebe’s political play does not offend, because the governor is a acting on calculation to achieve an advantage, rather than principle. The horrifying thing about these Republicans is they might actually believe what they espouse. “Why, I was so appalled I almost dropped my mustache comb!” Brummett declares.

Keep An Eye on This Health Insurance Exchange Meeting With Arkansas Lawmakers

September 26, 2011 David Kinkade

Monday! This morning all the world awaited the news as to whether former University of Central Arkansas president Lu Hardin would be stoned in the town square or merely executed by firing squad for his crimes against humanity (he ended up with probation).

Now that that’s over, keep your eye on this (more consequential) matter: At a legislative hearing today (opens as PDF), state insurance commissioner Jay Bradford will make the case for requesting more federal money to set up a state level health insurance exchange.

As you know, a central tenet of the Obamacare law passed in 2010 is that all states are required to set up online health insurance exchanges. Two weeks ago, Bradford asked lawmakers to give his team the OK to move forward with an application for a planning grant from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Some legislators are grumbling at the lack of specifics (Bradford presented no budget for how the money would be spent, rankling House Minority Leader John Burris) and the short time frame (the grant application is due by Sept. 30).

Dan Greenberg at the Advance Arkansas Institute has just released a new paper analyzing the status of state health insurance exchanges that should be a must read for policymakers grappling with the issue. He poses some pertinent questions and urges legislators to step carefully before taking on any additional commitments related to setting up the exchange in Arkansas. Do go and check it out! (Opens as PDF)

Specifics on the 1:30 p.m. legislative hearing are here.

Filed Under: Arkansas Democrats, Arkansas Legislature, Arkansas Republicans, Gov. Mike Beebe, Health Care Reform

Who Will Crack Case of the $161 Million in Missing State Unemployment Funds?

September 16, 2011 David Kinkade

A lot of interest from our post yesterday about the federal government’s report that Arkansas had made more than $161 million in improper unemployment insurance payments over the last three years.

So much so, in fact, that the question of just what happened to all that cash was a matter of interest to state lawmakers, who grilled Artee Williams, the director of the state Department of Workforce Services, at a legislative hearing this morning as to what the hell was going on.

Williams didn’t have much in the way of clear answers, but said his department is reviewing their records now to determine the amount of the overpayments, reports the AP’s Andrew Demillo.

You’ll recall, too, that Williams is a recent addition to the proud cadre of highly paid “double-dippers” in Gov. Mike Beebe’s administration, as blogger Jason Tolbert reminds us today. Williams “retired” quietly in July only to be rehired a month later, so now he’s collecting both a state pension AND a six-figure salary for this stellar performance. One can presume that Gov. Beebe’s now kinda wishing he’d changed the locks while Williams was out on retirement.

If it’s any consolation, the state unemployment rate rose last month to 8.3 percent, marking four straight months of increases. Wait a minute, that’s no consolation at all….

I was feeling kind of bad for Artee, having to account for all those tens of millions of dollars in lost funds, so I’ve pledged to help him crack the case: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Arkansas Democrats, Arkansas Legislature, Arkansas Republicans, State Government is Too Damn Big Tagged With: artee williams, double dipping, Gov. Mike Beebe, jonathan dismang, unemployment, unemployment benefits

Dept. of Moot Points: Here Is That Attorney General’s Opinion on the Arkansas Higher Ed Post

September 12, 2011 David Kinkade

Shane Broadway: BMOC? Eh, not quite.

Your state attorney general, Dustin McDaniel, was tidying up around the office and came across that long-awaited AG’s opinion on the qualifications of former Sen. Shane Broadway to serve as director of the Dept. of Higher Education. (More background here.)

Here is McDaniel’s opinion (opens as PDF), furnished in response to a request from state Reps. Allen Kerr and Jane English, which sidesteps offering a definitive answer to the question but does arrive at this conclusion:

…any person who fails to possess the statutory qualifications described above would be ineligible to serve as Director regardless of other factors, including the preference of the Board members or university presidents. If the leaders of the State’s higher education institutions feel that the statutory qualifications are no longer appropriate, then they are free to seek legislative changes. Short of that, no exceptions to the current framework reveal themselves.

It was the epic dispute that transfixed an entire state in the summer of 2011, a classic college movie confrontation between the Jocks (strutting Arkansas Democrats like Gov. Mike Beebe and Broadway) and the Nerds (pasty, slope-shouldered Republicans with thick glasses who insisted upon a close reading of the statutory language, as nerds are wont to do).

But alas, the big showdown never arrived—Broadway withdrew himself from consideration last week. All’s well that ends etc.

Filed Under: Arkansas Democrats, Arkansas Legislature, Arkansas Republicans, Atty. General Dustin McDaniel, Gov. Mike Beebe Tagged With: allen kerr, Arkansas higher education, Dustin McDaniel, higher education, jane english, Mike Beebe, shane broadway

Michael Cook Has Arkansas Republicans On the Ropes! Or Maybe Not!

September 7, 2011 David Kinkade

Democratic blogger Michael Cook at Talk Business/Talk Politics has pertinent questions for Arkansas Republican legislators who have endorsed Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be the next GOP candidate for president. These questions are pertinent, dammit, he insists!

Cook apparently read Perry’s book, for some reason. (No, I have not read it, because I am sure it is an absolute piece of sh*t. Rule: Books by living political figures are always total pieces of sh*t, and they get even sh*ttier when written as a prelude to a run for higher office.)

Having digested the volume, Cook judges Perry’s views on Social Security and other issues to be “out of the mainstream,” and pointedly asks if Arkansas GOP legislators would agree with the Texas governor on these hot-button issues. Take that, Arkansans for Rick Perry! Because it is a well-known fact that state legislators will play a vital role in deciding the future of Social Security, you see.

Of course, if that’s REALLY a game Cook wants to play, then that street runs two ways, doesn’t it? That is, if you insist that Arkansas Republicans be held to account for all positions advanced by their national standard-bearers….then it naturally follows that Arkansas Democrats must also be held to account for the positions of their national leaders, as well, yes?

Say, leaders like President Barack Obama, who continues to be abidingly and abysmally unpopular in Arkansas, and will no doubt remain so through 2012. (And who, it should be noted, hasn’t just written books about his proposals—but has had the opportunity to enact them on the national level, to largely disastrous result.) Is that a discussion that Arkansas Democrats are aching to take up? Not from what we’ve seen.

The astonishing part is that Cook seems to believe this clever tactic would box these Arkansas Republicans in, put them on the defensive. I think the phrase you’re looking for is “hoist with his own petard.”

Filed Under: Arkansas Democrats, Arkansas Politics, Arkansas Republicans

Broadway Malady: GOP Lawmakers Still Waiting on AG Higher Ed Opinion

September 7, 2011 David Kinkade

Hey, remember way back in July when a pair of state legislators asked Attorney General Dustin McDaniel for a legal opinion on whether former state Sen. Shane Broadway was statutorily qualified to serve as director of the Arkansas Dept. of Higher Education? Come on, think back….

Remember that? So do Republicans Reps. Allen Kerr and Jane English, the aforementioned lawmakers who requested the opinion. Here we are some six weeks later and they wanna know, “Hey, where’s that opinion?” They’ve issued a news release pressuring McDaniel to come forth with the goods, pronto, or….Or what I don’t exactly know, but it’ll be something, I’ll bet.

It all hearkens back to Gov. Mike Beebe’s attempt to slide Broadway into the director’s slot after he’d served in the position on an interim basis for six months. And while it’s virtually impossible to find anyone to say anything but the nicest things about Broadway, it’s generally agreed that he lacks the experience in higher education required for the position by state law. (A state law that Broadway co-sponsored in 1997 [opens as PDF], in a nice twist.)

In July, we compared Broadway’s qualifications to those of higher ed honchos in the six states surrounding Arkansas. He came up rather short.

Today’s full news release, with statements from English and Kerr, is below the jump.

Let’s Watch This Video About the Size of State Government

September 6, 2011 David Kinkade

Let’s start off the post-holiday week right with this fine video from our friends at Americans for Prosperity that offers a glimpse at the size of Arkansas state government:

But fear not! According to ace real journalist Mike Wickline’s sterling reportage in this morning’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (subscription required), we know the number of full-time state employees has fallen by an estimated 64 in the last fiscal year — the first such decrease in nearly two and a half decades. Granted, the size of the state workforce is about 56,350 people, so the decrease amounts to, uh, something like .113 percent. Hooray!

It’s something, right? If by “something,” you mean “almost nothing.”

Filed Under: Arkansas Democrats, Arkansas Legislature, Arkansas Republicans, Gov. Mike Beebe, State Government is Too Damn Big Tagged With: americans for prosperity, Gov. Mike Beebe, state government

‘A Corrupt Practice’: Interview with Allen Kerr on State Retirement Double-Dipping

August 3, 2011 David Kinkade

Arkansas Rep. Allen Kerr, scourge of the double-dippers

As a follow-up to our primer on double-dipping yesterday, here’s more from state Rep. Allen Kerr, who’s done more than any elected official to shine a light on how some state employees are able to “retire” briefly and then return to their jobs a few weeks later to collect both a salary and a pension.

Kerr bluntly calls double-dipping a “corrupt practice” in which highly compensated upper level state employees like Artee Williams, head of the state Department of Workforce Services, who recently joined the ranks of double-dippers, are “gaming the system” in an abuse of public trust.