Post from: The Arkansas Project

Pryor and Lincoln

Union-backed card check legislation, much dreaded by the business community and a top priority for declining unions in newly-Democratic Washington D.C., may be in for a rockier road than expected, writes the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel.

A key obstacle? Red state Democratic Senators like Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln (up for re-election in 2010), both of whom have zigged and zagged wildly on the issue and really, really, really, wish that it would just go away:

In 2007, Mr. Pryor voted to move card check, Big Labor’s No. 1 priority. And why not? Mr. Pryor knew the GOP would block the bill, which gets rid of secret ballots in union elections. Besides, his support helped guarantee labor wouldn’t field a challenger to him in the primary.

Postelection, Mr. Pryor isn’t so committed. He’s indicated he wouldn’t co-sponsor the legislation again. He says he’d like to find common ground between labor and business. He is telling people the bill isn’t on a Senate fast-track, anyway. His business community, which has nimbly whipped up anti-card-check sentiment across his right-to-work state, is getting a more polite hearing.

The piece is careful to note that the legislation isn’t dead—but it may not be the slam-dunk that union officials were hoping for in Barack Obama’s Washington.

Post from: The Arkansas Project

Pryor and Lincoln flex Senate muscle, via U.S. mail

Take a Letter: Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor are among senators who have indicated via a strongly worded letter that indicted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich shouldn’t attempt to appoint anyone to fill Barack Obama’s seat. Like he did yesterday. Because there’s nothing that a villainously corrupt politico fears like a strongly worded letter. (Arkansas News Bureau)

ERA DOA?: Dem state Rep. Lindsley Smith pledges to bring back her push for the Equal Rights Amendment in the ‘09 session. While she’s bringing back unnecessary things from the early ’80s, I hope she’ll get “WKRP in Cincinnati” back on the air. I loved that show. (Arkansas News Bureau)

Plant Science: A Rhode Island manufacturing concern with interests in Arkansas will move two plants from Newport to Pocahontas. In a related story, I’m thinking of moving two plants over closer to the window. These peace lilies just aren’t getting enough light. (AP)

Post from: The Arkansas Project

Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln: Key votes on union bill

Arkansas News Bureau columnist David Sanders notes that Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor’s support for the “Employee Free Choice Act,” the union-backed “card check” bill that may be a Dem priority in the coming Congress, seems to be moderating a bit:

The usually soft-spoken junior senator angered many in the Arkansas business community last spring when he forcefully claimed that those in the state Chamber of Commerce, as well as other business leaders who lobbied him against card check, were simply doing the bidding of their leadership in Washington.

But when I interviewed Sen. Pryor last week on my television program, gone was the vitriol, which had angered so many. Instead, Pryor mollified his position. When asked if he would again line up as a co-sponsor of the legislation, he indicated he wouldn’t.

In fact, he attempted to alleviate concerns that the bill would be on the fast track that union leaders had hoped for in the new Congress. He predicted that a President Obama wouldn’t push the measure in the first six months of his administration and that he might wait until 2010 to bring it up.

And this one’s a couple of days old, but Sanders’ colleague John Brummett suggested in a Monday column that President Barack Obama would do well to hold off on pushing for the controversial labor bill for now. Brummett suggests the bill may be “too polarizing” for immediate action.

More from the Fort Smith City Wire’s Michael Tilley, who offers a more in-depth examination of what the bill would do to ease unionization efforts.

Post from: The Arkansas Project

Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln

Washington D.C. pub Politico notes that Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas will be one Democrat to watch in the coming debate on the absurdly monikered “Employee Free Choice Act,” a labor-backed bill to make union organizing easier by eliminating the secret ballot. Lincoln’s not been clear on where she stands on the issue.

That fact that has not gone unnoticed by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial board, which has no use for the mealy-mouthed hedging on the issue coming from Lincoln and fellow Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor:

If and when our two U. S. senators make up their mind on this issue—perhaps they have and just don’t dare tell the rest of us—it would be nice to get a straight answer out of them.

Should they decide that Americans should be denied a secret ballot at their workplace, their votes would not be without irony.

Having just participated in the Democratic caucus in the Senate, which allows senators to cast their ballots in secret for their leaders, they would have tried to deny the same right to American workers.

The Arkansas Project has touched on this issue in recent days, along with other members of the Arkansas blogging posse Jason Tolbert at The Tolbert Report and Tim Griffin at The Griffin Room.

Post from: The Arkansas Project

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.”)

Post from: The Arkansas Project

Pryor points to Barack Obama’s strong nationwide polling and several unexpectedly competitive Senate races as evidence, the Northwest Arkansas Times’ Trish Hollenbeck reports.

Pryor also points to what he calls “the best political advertisement I’ve ever seen” from Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Ronnie Musgrove in Mississippi. I’m presuming he means this one, for you Arkansas project readers who are students of the art of political ads:

Post from: The Arkansas Project

We're still waiting for the "sexiest lawmakers" list.

U.S. Senator Mark Pryor (D) of Arkansas is named one of the “10 best lawmakers in Congress” according to Esquire Magazine. It’s a strong endorsement for the first-term senator from a magazine that hasn’t been at all relevant for about 30 years.

You can read the full list, thoughtfully provided by reporter Aaron Sadler of the Stephens Media Washington Bureau, over at the Politics in Arkansas blog. Bonus: Yep, they’ve got the “10 worst” list, too.

In November 2007, Esquire named actress Charlize Theron the “Sexiest Woman Alive,” and I thought you’d prefer that cover to yet another photo of Pryor’s smiling mug.

Post from: The Arkansas Project

They tell CNN that they were deceived as to the purpose of the interviews with Maher, and Maher admits on camera that “We lied” to get his foot in the door.

The video was a little hinky, so I’ve pulled it, but here’s the CNN link since I can’t get it to work. (Hat tip: Hot Air)

Earlier: Watch Pryor’s interview with Maher.

Post from: The Arkansas Project

Pryor campaign manager Randy Massanelli at campaign HQ. (Photo: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor doesn’t need your dirty money.

Specifically, Pryor has told his fundraisers not to bother raising any more cash for his re-election campaign, because he ain’t gonna need it, according to ace reporter Seth Blomeley at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Arkansas Republicans, in all our glorious lameness, were unable to field a challenger to Pryor.

What’s Pryor going to do with the rest of his campaign nut? Based on the photo in today’s paper, he’s not spending it on rent, since the picture shows campaign manager Randy Massanelli sitting at a folding table in the Pryor campaign headquarters, in what looks to be a room without heat, running water or a roof. It looks like the room a serial killer would hold you in while he develops some ingenious plan for your demise.

Anyway, I presume what’s left of Pryor’s campaign cash will be squandered on a gambling jag across the border in the Mississippi casinos.

Forgoing fundraising is a bold move for Pryor, who still faces a challenge from Rebekah Kennedy of the Green Party. He’s raised $5.4 million; she’s raised $12,000. I sure hope he knows what he’s doing.

Post from: The Arkansas Project