Friday, April 22, 2011
Arkansas Politics Dustin McDaniel's excellent week
Posted by Max Brantley on Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 6:39 AM
- Arkansas Leader
- OPPORTUNIST: Dustin McDaniel
* He got wide coverage front and center kissing the butt of the NRA's Wayne LaPierre at the Clinton School. "I'm at your service," McDaniel told him.
* Yesterday, the Arkansas media bought, with rare exceptions, McDaniel's trumped-up accounting report that implied that school districts in Pulaski County had misspent money provided by the state under the desegregation agreement. This is sheer dishonest demagoguery on a proven red-meat issue. The districts aren't required to spend the money on categorical deseg programs. They weren't required by law to account for the spending in the fashion McDaniel demanded. Even McDaniel's office will admit as much, when pressed. But I heard more than one reporter yesterday solemnly intone that the three Pulaski districts had "misused" the money. Not true, at least insofar as deseg is concerned. McDaniel gave far less billing to some true misuse of school money in Pulaski County on shady consulting deals and expense reimbursements. (The thorough account by Cynthia Howell in the Democrat-Gazette fills in all of the things McDaniel intentionally left out in his slanted news release, though it might have been fun to ask him why he spent a quarter of a million dollars on a report on something the districts weren't required to do.)
Let me be clear: There's plenty of room to debate the effectiveness of the state's spending in righting inequities in the districts and desegregating schools. Ongoing court hearings are considering that.
But if you want to find violations of the deseg agreement, look no farther than McDaniel. He has aided and abetted the state's violation of its court promise to not contribute to further segregating county schools. This has been in the course of fostering creation of majority-white charter schools that have damaged local school districts. Don't expect McDaniel to seek TV interviews on this. He wouldn't want to anger the Walton/Stephens/Hussman/Murphy charter school axis.
Heckuva job, Dusty. The 2014 primary season is going to be something. I never thought it was possible to top Mike Ross for opportunism and demagoguery, but we might have a contender.
Speaking of...
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Debra Hobbs to enter Republican race for governor
May 13, 2013I posted a note the other day that indicated state Rep. Debra Hobbs of Rogers was giving prayerful consideration to a run for governor. /more/
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Praying over gubernatorial candidacy
May 9, 2013Yes, please. Hobbs is a Republican backbencher who drew legislative notice mostly for negative reasons. /more/
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McDaniel announces air test results in Mayflower oil spill homes
May 9, 2013Attorney General Dustin McDaniel today announced results of air tests in 14 homes in Mayflower in the area of spill of Canadian tar sands crude from the ruptured ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline. /more/
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A.M. Report: A confederacy of stooges and a money quest
May 7, 2013Some other odds and ends that floated in overnight: * JOHN BOOZMAN, STOOGE OF THE NIGHT: I can't find a clip yet, but multiple readers report that U.S. Sen. John Boozman joined Sen. Mark Pryor in David Letterman's pantheon of "stooges of the night" for his vote against broadening background checks for gun purchasers. /more/
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Do Arkansas Republicans have room for a centrist?
May 6, 2013Good article by the AP's Andrew DeMillo on House Speaker Davy Carter's consideration of running for governor. /more/
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The line's open; first let's talk Arkansas governor 2014
April 23, 2013The line is open. What'll we do now that the legislature's done? /more/
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Dustin McDaniel reports misuse of campaign money
April 17, 2013I don't have all the details yet, but my attention was pointed to the recent campaign finance report filed by the now-defunct gubernatorial campaign of Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. /more/
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Fearless forecast: Obamacare will advance in Arkansas
April 16, 2013Not much to report this morning. The two dominant stories — the Arkansas Medicaid expansion debate and the Boston Marathon bombings — are fodder primarily for speculation at this point. /more/
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Gov. Mike Beebe vetoes Voter ID bill
March 25, 2013Gov. Mike Beebe has vetoed SB 2, the Republican-backed Voter ID bill. /more/
- More »
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