News and Views on Politics, Policy and More
The Arkansas House's State Agencies & Governmental Affairs committee has been meeting frequently lately -- very frequently. The casual observer might see this as a good thing: “Oh look, they’re doing their jobs! They’re overseeing government agencies and rooting out waste, fraud, and corruption!” But perhaps just the opposite is true: a better perspective is that the State Agencies committee is convening way too often. Consider its 2012 calendar. According to the legislative … [Read more...]
It appears that Grant County sheriff Ray Vance has a criminal record. Under the Arkansas Constitution (Article 5, Section 9), which prevents anyone convicted of an “infamous crime” from holding office, he should be removed. But unfortunately, Grant County’s prosecuting attorney Eddy Easley has thus far failed to act. According to The Sheridan Headlight: On April 30, sheriff candidate Tim Green presented documents in person to the prosecutor’s office showing proof that Vance had a … [Read more...]
There has been a lot of talk in the Arkansas blogosphere about the proposed ethics reforms being proposed by ‘Regnat Populus.’ I myself have recently weighed in as well, finding it fairly easy to support the first two provisions of the act and difficult to support the last. What has been quite interesting is to see so many liberals/Democrats who have previously opposed real, constitutionally-sound ethics reforms in the past now jumping on the ethical government bandwagon. Allow me to … [Read more...]
A group of Arkansans who call themselves “Regnat Populus” are circulating petitions to put three ethics rule changes on the November ballot. You can read the full text in legalese here, or you can read my analysis of the three reforms on candidates and public officials below. 1. Lengthening the ‘cooling-off’ period from 1 year to 2 years. This cooling-off period is the time a former state legislator must wait before becoming a lobbyist. The intent behind this change is that, … [Read more...]
