News and Views on Politics, Policy and More
Dan Greenberg, in his post earlier this morning, wrote about his experience before the House Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee yesterday. I went and grabbed some video off of the House website of Mr. Greenberg's exchange with state lawmakers. His comments start just a little ways into the clip below -- because, in true governmental fashion, the House website's video editing features are inefficient. Things got a little tense at times. Grab your popcorn: … [Read more...]
Yesterday, I attended a meeting of the House Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee to speak in favor of Representative Dan Douglas’s bill to eliminate Arkansas’s prevailing wage law. Current law makes the price of construction projects artificially high, and burdens taxpayers, government budgeters, and consumers by forcing prices upwards. The theory of a prevailing wage law is that laborers working on public projects shouldn't be paid competitive wages; rather, we should have … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
Cougar Watch: An extensive Arkansas Democrat-Gazette story suggests that, despite numerous reported sightings, there aren't many cougars in the Natural State, but they obviously haven't seen your mom. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) Union Label: Newly minted blogger John Brummett digs up a scooplet with the report that state Sen. Gilbert Baker is on the board of a national group fighting union-backed card check legislation by amending state constitutions. We had a little union trouble recently at … [Read more...]
Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln—recently challenged by reps from the Arkansas business community for being all mealy-mouthed on the proposed 'card check' bill being pushed by labor unions—now says that the card check legislation may not be necessary. In this AP story by the Mysterious Reporter With No Name Because They're Stickin' It to the Man with a Byline Strike, Lincoln strikes a potentially more business-friendly tone on the issue: "I don't see this bill as being the solution to those … [Read more...]
