The Arkansas Project

Stuff From Around Arkansas

By David Kinkade - December 3, 2008 12:57 pm

Hey look, it’s a bunch of random stuff:

Rowr

The Lil Spark Plug That Could: Gov. Mike Beebe will name Northwest Arkansas banker and man about town Dick Trammel as the next highway commissioner, the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas’ Doug Thompson reports. Noted: Thompson’s story has two separate people referring to Trammel as a “spark plug.” “Spark plug”? What the hell is that? Is it supposed to be a compliment? Beats me.

Camera Shy: Rep. Donna Hutchinson of Bella Vista will intro a bill to toughen penalties against video voyeurs who secretly tape or photograph people and post the images online, reports the AP’s Andrew Demillo. I suggest we call it “Tina Sherman’s Law.”

Victoria’s Secrecy: If you wanted to watch CBS’s annual Victoria’s Secret lingerie show, you’re out of luck in much of Arkansas, because KTHV won’t broadcast it, the Arkansas Times reports. Memo to Max Brantley: These trashy sexy stories are supposed to be my territory, so back off. Get back to writing about the Little Rock School Board, pal.

P.S. In an earlier version of this post, I tried to include both a photo of Dick “Spark Plug” Trammel and that shot of Victoria’s Secret model Allesandra Ambrosio, but I couldn’t get them to fit together on the page, so I just went with the one photo. I sure hope I made the right choice.

Baker, Beebe Bury Hatchet

By David Kinkade - November 16, 2008 7:44 am

Baker and Beebe: Making nice

From the ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ Category: GOP Sen. Gilbert Baker and Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, long at odds over Baker’s campaigning for Beebe’s Republican opponent in 2006, met last week to clear the air and put all this a’fussin’ and a’feudin’ behind them.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Seth Blomelely reports on the meeting, which I have reason to believe was very gracious:

“He was very gracious,” said Baker, the expected Senate chairman of the Joint Budget Committee for the 2009 legislative session. “I think we’re going to have a good session.”

Beebe said Baker brought up the ads the Republican Party helped fund during the 2006 governor’s race trying to tie Beebe to a convicted felon. Beebe and other Democrats have said the ads were unfair, misleading and false.

Baker of Conway has said he regrets that the party funded those ads but has declined to say whether he owed Beebe an apology.

Neither would give details of what was said during their meeting.

“He was very gracious,” Beebe said. “He came up, asked for the meeting.” Baker said they met Nov. 6 in Beebe’s office for about 15 minutes. He said Beebe’s chief of staff, Morril Harriman, was also in the meeting.

Over the last few months, Beebe campaigned strenuously for Joe White, Baker’s Democratic opponent in Baker’s successful bid to keep his seat.

Beebe: Penny for Your Thoughts

By David Kinkade - November 13, 2008 7:09 pm

Pictured: Dave's attention span when discussing budgetary matters.

Gov. Mike Beebe offered up his budget proposal on Thursday, and it includes, among other things, a further one-cent reduction in the sales tax on groceries. I’ll be revising my Cheetos budget accordingly.

If you want to know more about the budget proposal, you should go read this AP report from boy reporter Andrew Demillo, which includes all the details. I started reading it, but then I got bored after I read that bit about the grocery tax, which was in the lede, because, well, come on, it’s budget stuff and it’s boring. I’m telling you, this attention deficit disorder is no laughing matter. Some days it’s like I can’t focus at all. I swear, it’s like I have the attention span of a

Video: Beebe on the Budget

By David Kinkade - November 12, 2008 8:26 pm

Blogger Jason Tolbert was at the “Clean and Green Annual Symposium” at the Little Rock Hilton today, for some reason, and he grabbed some video of Gov. Mike Beebe talking about the state budget proposal he’ll be releasing Thursday.

If you see a guy carrying one of these, run.

Why Tolbert was attending the “Clean and Green Annual Symposium” is an unfathomable mystery to me, and why he carries a video camera around with him everywhere he goes is equally inexplicable. Either this guy is the most dedicated blogger on earth or Mike Beebe needs to look into a restraining order, because my experience is that dudes who hang around hotel lobbies with handheld video cameras at the ready do not have your best interests at heart.

Anyway, I suppose I could just embed the video here, as if it were my own, like I usually do, but that’s kind of uncool, so instead, I’ll send you over to The Tolbert Report to watch the full production.

Sanders: Rough Weather Ahead for Gov?

By David Kinkade - November 12, 2008 7:05 am

In an open letter to Gov. Mike Beebe, columnist David Sanders cues off Beebe’s thus far easy ride as governor to ask if the road ahead will be more challenging.

One potential obstacle: The Governor’s Commission on Global Warming, which is going to return a set of recommendations that Beebe’s business constituency will almost certainly find objectionable. Sanders writes:

There is a good chance that you’ll not be able to play both sides of many issues in the not-so-distant future. Plunging state revenues, thanks to the economic slowdown, will undoubtedly require you to make decisions that carry political consequences. I know you’ll have one test.

Your so-called commission on global warming, which bears your name, wants to tell Arkansans what kind of car or truck they can drive, while raising taxes and spending billions of dollars trying to curb green house gases. You’ll have to shut that down, which will anger your party’s growing left wing.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette took Beebe to task for his avoidance of staking out positions on controversial issues here.

ADG on the Unbearable Lightness of Beebe

By David Kinkade - November 10, 2008 7:48 pm

"Have you seen me?"

This is a couple of days old, but the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette unleashed a masterful editorial blast at Gov. Mike Beebe on Saturday for what I’ve termed “The Unbearable Lightness of Beebe” — to wit, the governor’s ridiculous inability/unwillingness to stake out clear positions on any given issue, lest he should have to sacrifice a fraction of a point of his high approval ratings.

Writes the editorialist:

By the time Mike Beebe takes a stand, an issue isn’t much of an issue any more. He tends to give direction much the way a weathervane does, indicating which way the wind is blowing rather than trying to direct it. Safe, all right. But ineffectual. Sure, the Guv may retain his popularity that way, i. e., by just playing it safe, but to what end other than re-election? Is he aiming to be the state’s next David/Mark Pryor, whose major accomplishment is being well-liked?

I believe the word you were looking for was “Ouch.” Do read the whole thing.

Beebe Votes ‘No’ on Lottery

By David Kinkade - November 4, 2008 2:08 pm

After some mushmouth temporizing on the question as late as last week, Gov. Mike Beebe tells reporters today that he did indeed vote against the Arkansas lottery proposal, says the Politics in Arkansas blog.

The Unbearable Lightness of Beebe

By David Kinkade - October 31, 2008 2:01 pm

Beebe

Would someone please tell Gov. Mike Beebe that it’s really not that damn hard to come to a decision on these things? Asked about the Arkansas lottery proposal today, Beebe offered one of his typical mushmouth responses. From John Lyon at the Politics in Arkansas blog:

Gov. Mike Beebe says his position on a proposed state-run lottery changes depending on the day of the week.

“This is one of those deals where it depends on what day of the week I wake up,” Beebe said today on his monthly call-in radio program on the Arkansas Radio Network. “One day I decide I’m going to vote for it and the next day I wake up and decide I’m not going to vote for it”…..

“I honestly don’t know how I’m going to vote and won’t know until I get in that booth,” he said.

Beebe On Labor Unions

By David Kinkade - October 24, 2008 1:23 pm

Beebe takes Manhattan

In New York to pitch Arkansas as a great place to do business, Gov. Mike Beebe lands an interview with CNBC, where the interviewer asks him about labor unions, among other things.

Specifically, the reporter notes Barack Obama’s “pro-union” stance versus Arkansas-based Wal-Mart’s general “anti-union” stance, and asks Beebe how he squares “your loyalties to Wal-Mart and your loyalties to your party.” Beebe responds:

I’m a Democrat and I have a lot of friends and a lot of supporters that have been in the union, that were extraordinarily good to me.

However, having said that, in today’s business climate, in today’s world, with what’s going on right now, we don’t need to inhibit our business opportunities to be successful. We need to make sure that they have the jobs and they create the jobs and that they give the jobs for our workers to be able to have.

So right now is not the time, I think,  to do those things that inhibit further business activity.

Hmm. That sounds loosely “anti-union” to me. Is that how it sounds to you? If so, good for Gov. Beebe.

But does this mean that Beebe will lobby Arkansas’ five Congressional Democrats to vote against the union-backed “card check” legislation that will be a priority in the coming Democratic Congress? And which will be poised to become law if Obama ascends to the White House, as appears likely? Just asking.

Arkansas News Bureau columnist David Sanders dealt with Sen. Mark Pryor’s “ideological straddling” on the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” a few months back. Hey, did I mention I’ll be on Sanders’ AETN “Unconventional Wisdom” show tonight at 6:30 p.m.? I can’t remember if I mentioned that.

(Hat tip to Roby Brock’s BizBlog. Roby also interpreted Beebe’s remarks as a warning “against unionization efforts.”)

Governor’s Conference Shocker: Education Important

By David Kinkade - October 17, 2008 9:24 am

Gov. Mike Beebe and wife Ginger

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports on the “Governor’s Summit on Education and Economic Development” held in Little Rock yesterday, and based on this and other published reports, it’s just hard to know why they bother to host these conferences all the time. Unless you’re interested in hearing Gov. Mike Beebe assert yet again that “education and economic development are inextricably linked,” there’s little new insight to be gained here.

I actually feel pretty sorry for the reporters who have to go cover these things and pretend like they’re covering new news. I’m also pretty sure that the ADG headline writers (“Preparing future work force for global economy seen key”) are just cutting and pasting headlines from the last economic development conference the paper covered. I’m on to you, headline writers.

Noted: An Arkansas Project correspondent dropped an e-mail  that Sen. Bob Johnson, Arkansas Senate majority leader, was speaking at a conference panel Wednesday and blasted the increase to the state severance task passed in the special legislative session in the spring. Johnson expressed regret that he did not do more to fight it.

Major Arkansas Jobs Announcement Wednesday?

By David Kinkade - October 7, 2008 3:55 pm

Via Roby Brock over at the Bizblog, we learn that there is a press conference at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce in which Gov. Mike Beebe and economic development officials will make a major jobs announcement for central Arkansas.

What could it be? So far, I’ve only been able to ascertain that it will not entail an expansion of The Arkansas Project World Headquarters and the hiring of a support staff for the blog’s operations, sorely needed though they both are. The Arkansas Economic Development Commission denied my grant application, arguing that “blogging is not a real job.” Jerks.

Sanders Turns Spotlight on Arkansas

By David Kinkade - September 15, 2008 6:49 am

While the entire world breathlessly awaits the next twist and turn in the presidential race (lipstick on a pig! McCain doesn’t Twitter!), columnist David Sanders turns his eye to Arkansas to assess elected officials here. Remember those guys? Among the findings:

Does Gov. Mike Beebe’s managerial style include communicating with state agencies? A frustrated Sanders source in state government says “not so much.” (Earlier this year, we learned that Beebe had eliminated Cabinet meetings from the governor’s agenda.)

Sanders credits Lt. Gov. Bill Halter for standing by his guns on the lottery initiative, and reports that anti-lottery forces are “testing a few ideas as they gear up to take on Halter’s lottery proposal.” “Testing?” “Gearing up”? As early voting starts in a little over a month, they might want to get moving on that.

As Attorney General Dustin McDaniel wades into the minefield of illegal immigration, will he provoke a significant response from immigration restrictionists? (It’s a good test case for my earlier “illegal immigration is waning as a political issue” hypothesis.)

Read the whole thing.

More on ‘Troubled Teen’

By David Kinkade - September 12, 2008 12:48 pm

The Jonesboro Sun fills in some of the details on yesterday’s story about the Jonesboro woman who dropped off a troubled teen at the Arkansas Capitol with a note asking Gov. Mike Beebe to take her in.

AP: Troubled Teen Dropped Off at Beebe’s Office

By David Kinkade - September 11, 2008 4:20 pm

Oh, Beebe, I love your way

It’s about time something interesting happened in state government.

The AP’s Chuck Bartels writes that a city employee from Jonesboro dropped off an 18-year-old girl at the Arkansas Capitol with instructions for Gov. Mike Beebe and his wife, Ginger, to look after the girl for a week.

Authorities said [Brenda] Sipa drove from Jonesboro on Monday to leave the teenager with the governor. A Capitol Police officer saw the teenager wandering the halls in the middle of the day and asked if she needed help. The teenager replied that her mother had told her to deliver some papers to the governor’s office and that she was waiting for her to get back from shopping.

The young woman, described as a “special-needs girl” in the AP story, has been placed with a state agency for care.

That’s a pretty good story, but I think it would be better if, instead of a “troubled teen,” it had been more like a sitcom with a “sexy teen” who the Governor ends up adopting, and then she gets into all kinds of wacky misadventures around the Capitol, until a handsome political blogger steals her heart. I’d watch that show.

Huck on the Daily Show

By David Kinkade - September 5, 2008 9:24 am

I really don’t mean for this to be the all-Mike Huckabee, all-the-time blog, but here he is last night on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.

I’d post something about one of our current officeholders in Arkansas if one of them would do something interesting every once in a while. I swear, I’m really beginning to think that what we call “Mike Beebe” is nothing more than a computer-generated hologram.

So, hey, here’s the Huck being charming and funny on “The Daily Show.” Good stuff:

The Rubber Stamp Legislature

By David Kinkade - August 15, 2008 9:21 am

Pictured: The Arkansas Legislature

What’s a legislature for, you ask? Why, to unquestioningly do the bidding of the state’s Democratic Governor, of course..

In the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette this morning, reporter Mike Wickline notes that Tim Gauger, chief legal counsel in the office of Gov. Mike Beebe, is on track to receive a sweet $20,000 raise. He’ll go from $95,508 to $119,667, the story says, once the Legislative Council approves the raise today.

Wickline goes on to report that

None of the 20 or so lawmakers at Thursday’s personnel subcommittee meeting asked why Gov. Mike Beebe requested the increase.

Not a single legislator bothered to even ask why this raise was justified? Hmmm. Thought experiment: If Gov. Mike Huckabee had requested such a raise for one of his employees, do you think legislators would have requested an explanation? Of course they would have, and they’d have been justified in so doing.

A Beebe spokesman later explained that Gauger had a competing job offer, and the salary boost is to ensure that the governor’s office retains his services.

Fair enough. I’m willing to accept that Gauger is a fine attorney, a dedicated public servant, a loving family man and makes a mean cup of coffee. But it’s not too much to expect our legislators to do their jobs and provide a little oversight, even in this Restoration Era. Is it?

PETA To Beebe: Veg Out, Fatty!

By David Kinkade - August 5, 2008 2:56 pm

All right, all you Arkansas couch potatoes. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has your number!

Citing recent federal data that dubbed Arkansas one of the “fattest” states (we did it!), PETA sent a letter to Gov. Mike Beebe on August 4 suggesting that Beebe take up a vegetarian diet to “inspire Arkansas’ residents to shed those extra pounds.” PETA offers to send Beebe a “Vegetarian Starter Kit” packed with “shopping tips and delicious recipes” to get him started.

According to the PETA news release and letter (full text after the jump), vegetarians are “far less likely to be overweight than meat-eaters.” Of course, the news release fails to note that a vegetarian diet would also be a low-level daily nightmare of bland and boring meals, but I suppose the sense of superior self-satisfaction you would get from announcing that you don’t eat meat and demanding a vegetarian alternative at every social event you attend would more than make up for that.

Of course, you may also find it strange that PETA would send this suggestion to our relatively svelte Gov. Mike Beebe, but maybe they had him confused with circa-1999 Mike Huckabee. I’m eagerly awaiting PETA enthusiast Pam Anderson’s (pictured above) fact-finding mission to the Governor’s Mansion to straighten this mess out.

Full release on the jump

(more…)

“Delusions of Invincibility and Invisibility”

By David Kinkade - July 26, 2008 2:06 pm

If you’ve picked up an Arkansas newspaper in the last month, you’re well aware of the UCA bonus scandal, in which formerly popular UCA President Lu Hardin was discovered to have received a nice $300,000 secret bonus from the Board of Trustees. (That’s a very short version of what became a very complicated story). Because $300,000 is chump change, and who’s gonna notice that, right?

Beebe: He doth bestride the Arkansas River like a colossus....

Arkansas News Bureau columnist John Brummett extracts a few lessons from the recent flap. I liked this useful reminder, which he directs to Gov. Mike Beebe and his fans:

It’s simply that this lesson - to be ever aware of those roundly applauded for spectacular job performance, especially in the public arena - would apply powerfully to [Mike Beebe], or at least his office. Our term-limited legislators don’t keep a check on him. He dominates them.

Beebe has had scant detractors and, in fact, no substantive or significant ones. He seems by every reasonable and quantifiable indication to be performing the governorship with great and positive command. For that very reason, he should be ever vigilant not to deem himself invincible or invisible, and the rest of us ought to keep our eyes on him skeptically even as he appears clearly to excel.

It’s just something to keep in mind, not that there’s anything there. It’s an abiding principle of the news business, but one worth reminding ourselves - and our public servants - of. Like the old news media adage says: When your mom tells you she loves you, seek a second source.

A healthy admonition, that, in this era of Arkansas Democratic triumphalism.