Election Time

We earlier presented our endorsements in the Republican Primary races for U.S. Senate and Third District Congress. Today we offer up a glimpse of what our ballot will look like tomorrow when we waltz into the polling place and vote in the Democratic Primary and the so-called Non-Partisan Judicial Election. How you vote is your own business. And no matter what they say, you can still bitch if you don't vote, but it just feels more righteous if you did.

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY:

BILL HALTER for UNITED STATES SENATOR

GREG LEDING for STATE REPRESENTATIVE

PAT O'BRIEN for SECRETARY OF STATE

JUDICIAL ELECTIONS:

TIM FOX for SUPREME COURT (Pos. 6)

JOHN FOGLEMAN for SUPREME COURT (Pos. 3)

BETH STOREY BRYAN for CIRCUIT JUDGE (Div 5)

STEVE ZEGA for CIRCUIT JUDGE (Div 7)

LOCAL ORDINANCE:

FOR ORDINANCE ON CITY PARKS. This proposed ordinance will not raise the current Parks Hotel, Motel and Restaurant tax nor have any effect other than to establish a special city fund in which Parks HMR revenue could be used for the development, construction and maintenance of city parks.

Fayetteville's State Representative Race

The only local Democratic Primary race in town is that between Greg Leding and Bill Ramsey to replace State Representative Lindsley Smith and represent Fayetteville's House District 92, which includes Dickson Street and the University of Arkansas. You can check out the candidate websites linked above to see how they are presenting themselves, and the League of Women Voters conducted interviews that are available online.

Here is the Northwest Arkansas Times overview of the race. I kept hoping that the Fayetteville Flyer would run those cool personal and political interviews like they did for the mayor's race in 2008, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Anyway, you'll have to look a bit further to see what the public thinks of them. Birds of a Feather Analytics are sometimes helpful in getting beyond the images created by the ad agencies.

Using the convenient Ballot Bucks website created by the folks at Ozarks Unbound and snooping around the online media outlets, here are the candidate composites that emerge for the two candidates. You can make your own choice about which one you think will represent your interests and our community in the state legislature.

BILL RAMSEY

Endorsements
Northwest Arkansas Times
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Contributions:
Arkansas Oil Marketers Association PAC
Arkansas Bankers Association PAC
Southwestern Electric Power Company PAC
Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce PAC
Don Tyson
Dr. Bobby New
Jim Lindsey

GREG LEDING

Endorsements:
Arkansas Education Association
Arkansas Sierra Club
Northwest Arkansas Labor Council

Contributions:
Representative Lindsley Smith
Senator Sue Madison
Representative Monty Davenport
Susana O'Daniel
Dr. Hershey Garner
Karon Reese

Endorsements in Republican Primaries

There are lots of people running for the Republican nomination for federal office, but there are few quality candidates from which to choose. It is almost by default that we offer these as the best of the lot.

John Boozman for U.S. Senate. He is more sane than Jim Holt or Gilbert Baker, one of whom might make a run-off with Boozman. We know that Boozman votes and talks the right wing party line, but he seldom goes beyond those marching orders to make up stuff to get attention. He is a tool of Walmart and the monied interests, and he cares not for the average voter in Arkansas. In other words, a typical Republican.

Cecile Bledsoe for Congress, 3rd District. Again, all of the Republican candidates swallow the party line and can be counted to vote as the Whip tells them. Bledsoe would be better than Steve Womack or Gunner DeLay, because she is a nice person and generally unoffensive. Womack or DeLay would be sure to embarrass us with their loose lips as well as their voting records, so we go for the safer alternative.

Bad Day in Benton County

The front page today has two stories from Benton County, related to position on the page and on the political spectrum. Benton County Judge David Bisbee was charged with five counts of ethics violations related to three separate incidents. Bisbee offered no comment, but it looks like he was just following the Republican Party line of running government like a business -- his own or maybe Enron. Lots of self-dealing, corner-cutting, and ethics-winking by the developer-politician. The Prosecuting Attorney is preparing a petition to remove Bisbee from office; Bisbee says he ain't going nowhere and is running for re-election in that little one-party fiefdom.

Just down the road, Pinnacle Point Properties, LLC, already way behind on paying $700,00 in local property taxes, has filed for bankruptcy. Lined up to take another hit to their capital accounts are Metropolitan National Bank of Little Rock ($34.9 million) and Chambers Bank of Danville ($6.65 million). Chambers Bank is also sucking air in the John Lindsey bankruptcy deal. Bill Schwyhart is the man behind the curtain here. Last year, he was slapped with a $27 million foreclosure suit by Bank of America on other properties, and was involved in litigation, and the year before that he was sued by widow Johnelle Hunt, a former partner in a $30 million air charter deal.

In 2008, Schwyhart invested $13,900 in the campaign coffers of Mike Huckabee, John Boozman, Jim Inhofe, Mitch McConnell, John McCain, and the Republican Party of Arkansas. Back in 2004, he dumped $18,300 on Bush-Cheney, John Boozman, Ernest Istook, Kit Bond, and Marvin Parks. Less than 5% of his generosity went to Democrats, and that was a single wasted contribution to Dick Gephardt.

John Boozman should consider hiring Bisbee and Schwyhart as campaign consultants and economic advisors. He owes them something for their past support.

Astroturf Politics from Another Planet

There is a bunch of wingnuts calling themselves Secure Arkansas and claiming to be "a grassroots organization" dedicated to making damn sure that no Mexicans get anything but a raw deal in Arkansas. The Third District coordinators are Jack and Jan Lea in Rogers. Dawn Harpell of Bella Vista, Kevin Connor of Rogers, and Joyce Loftis of Bentonville are the Benton County cell coordinators, and the Washington County klavern is headed up by Teabaggers Christine Keller and Jim Laubler. The Madison County bunker is staffed by Linda Vandiver, owner of the Faubus Motel that hoisted the Confederate Battle Flag after Obama's victory.

If you ever had any notion that this gaggle was mainstream, let their own Tea Party Straw Poll of over 1,000 people who attended their rallies this week clear your mind. In the Governor's race, they voted 94% for Jim Keet to Mike Beebe's 6%. In the Lt. Governor's race, Democrat Shane Broadway also got 6%. I would be willing to wager the farm that both Beebe and Broadway waltz into office with clear majorities among the more sane voters in the general election. Their little poll also had Republican Mark Martin of Prairie Grove thumping Democrat Pat O'Brien by 95% to 3%. For Land Commissioner, Republican John Thurston, whom I've never heard of before, getting 98% and Democrat Monty Davenport getting less that 1%. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel was given a 95% disapproval rating.

The Third District Congressional race is another example of the disconnect with reality. Among those running in the Republican Primary, the Secure Teabaggers favored Bernie Skoch and Mike Moore tied at 23% each, while Rogers Mayor and Mexican Hunter Steve Womack had only 3%. In the Fourth District, Mike Ross was favored by 4%. No Democratic cendidate in the Second District broke 1%. It was about the same story in the First District with Republican Rick Crawford picked by 81% to 17% for Republican Princella Smith.

The ranking of United States Senate candidates was the only surprise, with Bailout John Boozman leading with 27%, just ahead of Jim Holt at 23%. None of the Democrats broke the 1% barrier.

I can think of nothing clever to say that would be any funnier than the raw numbers in this poll.

A&P Requests Revealed

Thanks to the good journalistic work of the Fayetteville Flyer, we now know which local groups have applied for this round of funding from the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission. Thirteen groups requested $260,869 for projects ranging from $1,000 for Puppets in the Park to a whopping $62,000 for the 540 Film Festival.

Too bad that the Commission blew most of their cash wad last fall, because they have only $31,000 left for this round, and the film festival wants twice that much. Poor budgeting at best, but all of Allyson's insider deals were at the trough last fall and had to be fed first. The Walton Arts Center, never shy, is back again asking for $25,000 for Beauty and the Beast, and TheatreSquared is again wanting another $15,000 on top of their previous funding. Now, I like TheatreSquared productions, but I have seen no evidence that their productions draw many tourist dollars to Fayetteville.

The most reader comment at the Fayetteville Flyer has been a raging back and forth about the $10,000 request by All OUT June for some kind of GLBT parade and festival. Some don't think it is appropriate to fund such a celebration, as opposed to, say, $20,000 for Babes and Bling Bikers. The worst application, in my opinion, is $36,612 for the Washington County Fair. Someone should take a look and see how many overnight guests booked rooms in town for the county fair last year and how much sales tax the carnival rides and cotton candy vendors paid to the city.

The Commissioners need to get control of the A&P staff and start being more cognizant that there are two funding cycles. They should also be more sensitive to the conflicts of interests that abound when A&P employees are on boards of groups that seem to get full funding while everyone else gets a rain check. They did take one baby step for mankind when they adopted a policy that commissioners had to bid on insider contracts; they should have been prohibited outright, but that would be asking too much of Bob Davis who continues to milk the goose.

Arrogance and Plunder -- In Secret Yet Again.

About a month ago, we had a good discussion here about the secrecy that abounds at the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission. Chairman Tim Freeman posted several comments promising to make its operations more transparent and accountable. Nice words, and a new section was put up on the A&P website. Nice words, but nothing else has changed. Nice words, but we are still being kept in the dark.

The A&P Commission meets today to dole out grant funds. There is no notice of that on the website, which only says it meets at 2:00 p.m. on the second Monday at the Town Center. I've heard a rumor that they are meeting somewhere else, but, if so, that is not information the Commission staff has shared on its website. Even more disturbing is that there is no listing of which groups applied for A&P Grants, and there is no information about which ones the Commission staff is recommending for funding at what level. How convenient for a cabal that wishes to do its work in secret. How unacceptable.

If a citizen wanted to show up today and comment or voice support or opposition, it would be difficult to do so, despite Chairman Freeman's Nice Words and Empty Promises. You would have to know where the A&P Commission is meeting. You would have to know what is on the agenda. You would have to have a crystal ball or be well connected with someone on the staff, because, like the A&P Commission, the local excuse for a newspaper has again failed to do its job of informing the public. Otherwise, unless you check out the Fayetteville Flyer for the new meeting place and the agenda, you are SOL. Again.

The Nature of Socialism in the Ozarks

No, I'm not talking about Medicare, public libraries, free parking on Dickson Street, farm subsidies for Jim Lindsey, management training programs for a Chinese flea market, or home delivery of junk mail. This is real, and it is costing taxpayers $2.4 million. Not a single Republican candidate for Congress has called a press conference to denounce it or to urge their flock to chain themselves to the fence in protest. The Teabaggers who oppose all millages for public schools have made n'airy a peep nor a misspelled sign against this one.

R&P Electroplating of Fayetteville operated a metal plating facility from 1974 to 1997 in the industrial area on the banks of the White River. The company illegally dumped cyanide and heavy metals into the Fayetteville sewer system and severely damaged the city's sewer treatment plant. That cost Fayetteville taxpayers $21,000 in repairs.

The business owners walked away from the site in 1997, leaving the abandoned facility full of cyanide, acid plating solutions, solvents, acids, caustic soda beads and soda ash, oils, spent solutions and sludge. In 1999, 42,081 gallons of liquid waste and 410,200 pounds of solid and sludge waste were removed under an emergency order from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Then it just sat there for years as environmental reports documenting the hazards piled up on the shelf. A few years ago under a previous city administration a proposal was floated to make it a city park with a playground. Obviously a bad idea, and it went nowhere.

Yesterday, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality announced public funding for a $2.4 million contract with Southern Environmental Management and Specialties Inc. of Baton Rouge to clean up the abandoned industrial site on Pump Station Road. The taxpayers will foot the bill to clean up the mess left by a private corporation that reaped profits and degraded the environment for more than 20 years. Still to come is the multi-million dollar cleanup of the toxic dump at SouthPass that a former mayor rushed to get for the citizens of Fayetteville.

Everyone seems to think it is alright to bailout banks with toxic assets and businesses that leave their toxic chemicals, but it is horrible to provide a public option for those who cannot afford private Blue Cross health insurance rates. The only consistency in all of this seems to be that socialism for the rich is fine, but public assistance for the less fortunate is terrible.

Political Cretin Science like Kudzu

The big idea to improve Arkansas public education back in March 1981 was passage of Act 590, mandating the teaching of “Creation Science” in any public school classroom where evolutionary biology was mentioned. This offended almost everyone except a few zealots and was quickly declared unconstitutional. How did such an embarrassing travesty come to pass?

Wendell Bird of San Diego’s Institute for Creation Research helped write a draft for a state act mandating the teaching of creationism alongside evolutionary theory that ended up in the hands of State Senator James Holsted of North Little Rock, who introduced the bill into the Arkansas Senate, where it passed without hearings on March 13, 1981. The House of Representatives held no hearings either, debating the bill for only fifteen minutes before passing it by a vote of 69–18, with the support of Rep. Bill Ramsey of Prairie Grove. Governor Frank White signed it into law on March 19, 1981. After a vigorous and very expensive defense by Attorney General Steve Clark, the bogus bill was declared unconstitutional on January 5, 1982.

You'd a thunk the legislature would catch on about the constitution, but no. In 2005, Rep. Mark Martin of Prairie Grove tried the same stunt with a different name, introducing a bill to require the teaching of "Intelligent Design" in the public schools of Arkansas, although his own children do not attend the public schools. That ruse has also been discredited and declared unconstitutional.

Here we are in 2010, and they are still with us. Bill Ramsey, the former state representative from Prairie Grove who supported the Creation Science bill, is running to represent Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas campus in the legislature. He says he has some "innovative ways to address our educational concerns." I'll bet. Mark Martin, the current state representative from Prairie Grove who introduced the the Intelligent Design bill, is the Republican nominee for Secretary of State. If elected, he will certainly have some zealous ideas for the intelligent design of state legislative districts in Arkansas.

Of course, it's just a theory.

Lincoln and Boozman Say NO to NWA Students

It cannot be the cost of the health insurance reform bill, because the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office report this week shows that the legislation will actually reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion over the next decade. Yet, Senator Blanche Lincoln and Congressman John Boozman, the Tweedledum and Tweedledumber politicians with our vote, both say they will vote NO on the budget reconciliation proposal that requires only a simple majority to pass. It is expected to pass in the House tomorrow and in the Senate next week.

They will also be voting against provisions to reform the student loan program, increase the amount of Pell Grants to low-income students, and fund job training programs at NorthWest Arkansas Community College. First, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act saves $61 billion by instituting direct loans to students instead of letting the banks skim off and charge large fees for processing the funds. Second, it adds $36 billion to Pell Grants at $5,550 per year for tuition. This is a huge impact locally, where NWACC had a 9.6% increase in students receiving Pell Grants last year that averaged only $1,738.

Even more disappointing is that Lincoln and Boozman will be voting against the $2.5 million that Arkansas is guaranteed to receive for job training programs and that NWACC is planning to use for jobs in the health care profession. Working with the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation to prepare competitive grant applications, Arkansas community colleges could receive even more job training funds from the $500 million appropriation.

Why? Boozman will vote NO, because he and the Republicans always vote no on everything. Lincoln will vote no, because she cares more about bank profits than affordable college education and job training. She also thinks she will get the votes of the Teabaggers and other Republicans if she continues to vote with them against health insurance reform. That we are represented by such tools is a shame for which Arkansas voters can only blame themselves.