Pearson Gets HB 1042 Exactly Wrong
It is election season, and therefore the season of curious political ads — as well as patently false advertising.
Today’s special comes from a recent postcard from Arkansas Democrats’ boy wonder, Tyler Pearson, who is fresh out of graduate school and running against incumbent state Sen. Jason Rapert.
The Pearson campaign recently sent out a postcard criticizing Rapert’s vote supporting eminent domain by greedy oil companies, citing HB 1042. The postcard breathlessly explains:
“Rapert’s vote supporting eminent domain by greedy oil companies means they can seize local homes for pennies on the dollar … Rapert is on record supporting attempts by money hungry oil companies to declare eminent domain in local Arkansas neighborhoods so big oil billionaires can build pipelines and fatten their profits.”
Unfortunately for Pearson, his claims about HB 1042 are completely insupportable.
First, this mailer is an example of how American higher education has failed our young people. Pearson, 28, has a master’s degree, but he doesn’t seem to realize that as a state Senator, you can’t actually vote on a bill unless it actually makes it to the…state Senate. Apparently, such esoteric legislative nuances aren’t taught at the Clinton School.
Second (and more importantly), HB 1042 doesn’t change eminent domain law for pipelines at all. If you read the bill, you can see it prohibits forced transfers from one private property owner to another, but doesn’t affect public use rules (such as those which govern pipelines) at all. It is a bill that shrinks government’s powers of eminent domain; when Pearson attacks Rapert for expanding eminent domain, all that is demonstrated is that Pearson can’t shoot straight.
(In other words, the bill expressly states that, although it attempts to change some parts of eminent domain law, it leaves the portion of eminent domain law that deals with pipelines unchanged. Pearson is therefore criticizing Rapert for something Rapert never did.)
Pearson’s mailer also criticizes Rapert for not throwing more taxpayer money at our already bloated higher education system. However, the fact that we have a Clinton School graduate who lacks the competence to read and understand a two-page bill suggests a reality that many of us don’t like to think about: namely, some people have problems of comprehension that no amount of higher education will ever fix.
The fact that Pearson is making claims about HB 1042 that the bill won’t support is a bit of a danger sign. Word has it that part of the job over there in the Senate involves reading and understanding bills.
what a DUNCE. what do you expect from a Demo-crap.
Fact is the Dems have nothing to stand on,so all they can do is resort to lies and and name calling ! They have run the great state of Arkansas into the ground for the last 138 yrs. Now the people are tired of it and they are voting the Dems. out ! So all they can do now is try to convince the people that the lies they have and are telling are true.The people of Arkansas are not falling for it anymore,the Dems have cried wolf far to many times.
Gotta love an article that makes personal attacks on someone for not understanding the source they cite, while ignoring the actual source they cite.
Here’s the report actually cited.
http://origin.todaysthv.com/news/article/258089/2/State-Senator-Jason-Rapert-clears-air-on-HB-1042
Here’s the actual bill:
ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2013/Public/HB1042.pdf
“By: Senator Rapert”
“(b) Private property shall not be acquired by eminent domain for a
9 private commercial enterprise, economic development in the private sector, or
10 any other private use *except use by*:
11 (1) Privately owned utilities;
12 (2) Electric cooperatives;
13 (3) Publicly owned utilities;
14 (4) Utilities owned by improvement districts;
15 (5) *Pipeline companies*;
16 (6) Railroads; and
17 (7) Other common carriers”
The bill does have one line about not intending to increase exempted powers, but it definitely is not a bill written to make it harder to take land for pipelines.
@Jordan —
This really isn’t that hard. If a bill says that it regulates hamburgers but specifies that it has no effect on turkey sandwiches, you probably shouldn’t accuse the bill’s sponsor of trying to regulate turkey sandwiches. If you accuse the bill’s sponsor of trying to regulate turkey sandwiches, you are making a mistake. That is the same kind of mistake that Tyler Pearson has made. It is a basic, but substantial, failure of reading comprehension. It is flatly false to say that Rapert voted for a bill that never reached the Senate, and it is absurd and insupportable for Pearson to say that Rapert is on record supporting attempts to change pipeline law based on his sponsorship of that bill — because that bill does not change pipeline law at all.