News and Views on Politics, Policy and More
Below you will find my interview with Paul Harrell on The Paul Harrell Program from last week. We did two segments (as opposed to our regular one segment) so we could adequately dissect the DHS numbers on the Medicaid "private option." Enjoy: And, as a special bonus, I'll be on The Dave Elswick Show tomorrow live from the capitol at 3:30 to discuss Medicaid expansion. … [Read more...]
I wrote last week that the air had been released from the Medicaid “private option” balloon and that it was time for conservative legislators to abandon it. Now Avik Roy, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, has landed another blow to the “private option” hopes of Governor Beebe and several Republican legislators. Roy has a column in Forbes today entitled “The Arkansas-Obamacare Medicaid Deal: Far Less Than It First Appeared.” The title is significant for two reasons. … [Read more...]
I’ve received some off-the-record criticism just for recounting Michael Cannon’s opinions on health care reform the other day (boy, wait till I give my opinion). I always appreciate criticism, both negative and positive. It sharpens me as a writer and a fighter in the battle for a free society. Oddly, however, I am now being criticized for opposing something that (as far as I can tell) doesn’t exist. No Medicaid expansion plan, public or “private,” has been published -- and even if … [Read more...]
The Arkansas legislature is faced with a question: Do Arkansans have the right to buy and eat what they choose? The question may sound silly, but it is neither frivolous nor unimportant. It is basic: if legislators cannot get this issue right, it’s unlikely that they will be able to come down on the side of freedom on larger issues. The steaks (ahem) are high. The proposition is a bill by Representative Randy Alexander (HB1536) that would legalize the sale of raw milk in Arkansas. You can … [Read more...]
$148 per person -- that’s the amount of money, on average, that the state of Arkansas spends per year on corporate welfare, according to a new report from The New York Times. That’s more than Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri. In fact, The Show Me State just to our north spends just $16 per capita on subsidies -- nearly 90% less than Arkansas. I tend to think this debunks the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Grant Tennille who thinks we must continue this large-scale … [Read more...]
Congratulations Arkansas taxpayers! You are the proud owners of three magnificent signs at a failing wind power plant in Little Rock! Yesterday, I wrote about LM Wind Power's use of $230,000 of taxpayer money for "beautification." $41,250 of that was allocated for "signage." Thanks to a good friend (who shall remain nameless, to protect the innocent), you can now see exactly what your hard-earned money produced at the LM plant. It's reasonable to assume that this larger sign is "Sign … [Read more...]
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the ‘taxpayer-funded beautification of cronyism.’ In that piece, I mentioned that I was filing a Freedom of Information Request with the Arkansas Department of Economic Development to obtain more information about exactly how your tax dollars that were given to LM Wind Power were spent. Here’s what I’ve learned. I requested the financial documents from AEDC in electronic format so I could share them with you. Unfortunately, AEDC said they were not … [Read more...]
Arkansas journalists are paying lots of attention to the scandal surrounding state Treasurer Martha Shoffner (and rightfully so), but they shouldn’t overlook the fallout from Bill Walker's hiring of an unqualified friend to serve as a sign language interpreter for the state. As we previously reported, the interpreter has since been removed from that position and shifted into another position in the agency. The Personnel Services Committee has been reviewing the hire. They met yesterday. … [Read more...]
