Arkansas Legislature

More Greenberg: Open Up Spending Info

Fans of Arkansas Rep. Dan Greenberg (who pops up on the blog below talking about his now-abandoned legislative inquiry into eliminating in vitro fertilization mandates for health insurers) will be pleased to see he’s been making some noise today on the open government and transparency front: Here’s an AP report that talks about his proposal to create a searchable web database of all state spending, one of several bills he’s filed to strengthen state Freedom of Information laws.

I asked him why he didn’t give me a heads up on this, and he said, “That’s a good point, David. I really should have considered the feelings of The Arkansas Project and its dozens of daily readers when charting my legislative course.” Sometimes I think Dan’s just mocking me.

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14 thoughts on “More Greenberg: Open Up Spending Info

  • Yeah. he is. Suggesting that you have “dozens of daily readers” – that’s just mean! It is no where near that many.

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  • Breanne

    I’m a committed reader, David…although not so much when all the half naked girl pics are up. I have to admit, I expected a little more out of this intellectual blog…

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  • David Kinkade

    We never do half-naked girl pics, Breanne. It’s usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-90 percent naked. And it’s usually a good idea to expect less, rather than more, of any undertaking that involves me.
    D.

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  • Cameron Bluff

    Perhaps Breanne could provide some pics of herself taken while she is half-naked and reading a book with few pictures in it so to stimulate the intellectual side of the other 11 readers of this blog?

    If this is an intellectual blog, find and dandy. Just don’t post so many photos of half-naked blondes and that should raise the IQ side of things.

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  • David Kinkade

    Careful what you wish for, Cameron. Sometimes people post comments under assumed names, and you have no way of knowing if this “Breanne” character is even a woman.
    D.

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  • Cameron Bluff

    Yes, I suppose that could be a nom de plume for Brummett or some other dastardly individual. Just what we need in this world, transgender blog posters.

    I did find it somewhat interesting that the writer “Breanne” referred to you as David and not TAP or MR. ARPro Guy or even MISS APG’s boyfriend. Very formal. There is definitely more to this post than meets the eye.

    Say, just where was Tolbert this afternoon at 4:48 PM?

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  • Now hold on everybody. How do we really know that all of the characters on this blog aren’t really just figments of David’s (if that’s even his real name) imagination? This could just be a sad attempt at trying to get me to think there are really “dozens” of readers. Wait a minute. Am I real? Is DumbArkie just another one of David’s (or whatever his real name is) creations? Oh God, suddenly, I feel like I’m in “A Beautiful Mind.” … Nah, that ain’t it.

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  • michaelk

    You underestimate this blog. I have it on good authority that readers from as far as OREGON (pronounced Ore-gun, not Ore-GONE) are reading this blog daily, fascinated with Arkansas politics, and studiously avoiding the pictures of 80-90% naked girls (in case the wife reads this).

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  • I’m actually a dog.

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  • I am most impressed by the extensive discussion of the implications of Freedom of Information Act reform in this comments section.

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  • David Kinkade

    Aw, geez, here’s Greenberg, wantin’ to talk policy. It’s like the teacher just walked back into the room. Quick, everyone look busy!
    D.

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  • Cameron Bluff

    OK, regarding FOIA, if we simply MUST return to Mr. Greenberg’s topic du jure.

    An ordinary citizen is not allowed to seek an Attorney General’s opinion regarding an issue of law related to the Arkansas Constitution. I am sure this is simply because our long line of illustrious Democrat Attorneys General here in Arkansas are way too busy doing Public Service Announcements on television to handle the daily minutiae from the everyday rif-raff citizenry. Thus, it typically falls upon the executive or legislative branches to do the bidding of the big campaign contributors, uh, I mean, citizens of the state who have issues requiring clarification of the Arkansas Code Annotated.

    Perhaps something similar is needed in relation to FOIA requests. If a citizen seeks an FOIA from an agency, their first step sould be to file the request with their State Representative. (Skip asking their State Senator, everyone knows Senators don’t do diddly. For proof, I offer up Senators Jeffress (Gene and Jimmy), Holt, Taylor, Laverty, Hill etc.)

    The State Representative for said citizen would then attach a cover sheet with the appropriate approvals, including the State Representative’s signature, initials, stamp (or X if the Rep is from south east or north central Arkansas). All of this paperwork should then be converted by legislative staff to digital format and transmitted to the specific agency. By going digital, this provides specific time/date stamps. The agency reply is returned to legislative staff and ultimately the State Rep who then notifies the citizen of the agency response.

    The good of this is that the citizen and the Representative and the Agency all know everyone involved in the request and each entity is aware that certain responsiblities are entailed which are much more public than in the present requesting method. Plus, the State Rep gets to look good with the local citizenry and then when it comes time for him/her to take the next step and become one of the Lazy Brethren in the Senate (LBITS or LilBITS), the rites of passage are made all the more uncomplicated.

    Oh yeah, there should be added into the new bill a series of significant penalties for individuals who make FOIA requests which require a state agency or constitutional office to spend a whole weekend searching out and making copies of required information only to have the requesting individual never show up to collect the information. Possibly the death penalty?

    Mr. Greenberg, if you could take a few minutes away from denying in-vitro fertilization rights to soccer moms and probably cutting off funding to Arkansas Children’s Hospital (A Tolbert Recommendation I am quite sure), I would be curious as to your reception to my ideas outlined above.

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  • Breanne

    Ok, I know I’m a little late on this convo but I am a woman. Thankfully. And I’m probably 1 of 2 females that read this blog. ha. And sending half naked pics are clearly out of the question. Stick with the McD’s girl.

    Reply
  • David Kinkade

    You know, Breanne, you’re always telling me that women are offended by all those pics of sexy chicks, yet the covers of all those women’s magazines I see in the check-out line at the grocery store suggest something altogether different.
    D.

    Reply

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