Friday, June 15, 2012
Friday night line
Posted by Max Brantley on Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 2:52 PM
Let's toss out the open line early. Odds and ends:
* CHILD PORN: The U.S. attorney says a Searcy couple has been indicted for production of child pornography, specifically images made of the man having sex with a minor female.
* BOOZE BROTHERS: Sam Walton grandsons Steuart and Tom Walton have so far poured $330,000 ($165K each) into the campaign to call a vote on legalizing retail alcohol sales in Benton County. About $58,000 has gone to a company that pays canvassers for signatures.
* ALSO REPORTING: Here's the report on $65,000 raised by the Better Ethics Now Committee for the campaign to get the ethics law on the ballot. Chair Brent Bumpers and his family led the way. Other significant contributors include Baker Kurrus and Bobby Roberts. Full disclosure: You'll find my $250 in the modest amounts raised by the original Regnat Populus 2012 committee.
* HOW MUCH IS A LOW SEVERANCE TAX WORTH? The gas company expenditures to beat a gas severance tax increase now total $1.55 million — $600,000 each from Southwestern Energy and Stephens Production and $350,000 from XTO. And this is before Sheffield Nelson has qualified the proposal for the ballot. His group has raised $155,000 overall.
* CASINOS? No spending report on file yet at the Ethics Commission for the group trying to put a casino amendment on the ballot. Nothing since organizing papers in May. They are, if not spending money, obligating expenditures, because they have paid canvassers everywhere.
* CATHOLIC HOSPITALS SAY NO TO BIRTH CONTROL PILLS: Hospitals with Catholic affiliations have told President Obama they reject his compromise plan to provide birth control pills and other preventive services to employees through mandates on insurance companies. St. Vincent Health System no longer talks to us since we've reported on their birth control policies. Presumably, the Little Rock hospital is on board with denial of birth control coverage for their employees, despite some contradictory state law guidance and even some conflicts in its own operations. Pressure from the bishops has been heavy on this and other issues related to sexuality, including rights for gay people. Surveys show broad disregard for the hierarchy in use of birth control among Catholics, free or not.
* WALMART PR PRACTICES: A Walmart-hired PR employee who did undercover work was mentioned here yesterday. Was it a first? Gawker makes the contrary case.
Speaking of...
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Regnat Populus plans lawsuit over petition restrictions
April 25, 2013Regnat Populus, the grassroots group that succeeded in putting its ethics initiative in a legislatively proposed constitutional amendment heading to the ballot in 2014, has circulated a statement touting its achievement and defending some of the items grafted onto that amendment to achieve legislative approval, particularly an extension of term limits and a mechanism to raise legislative pay. /more/
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Legislative pay raise amendment comes out of committee
April 18, 2013David Couch, a lawyer active in the Regnat Populus ethics reform movement, e-mails me to say that HJR 1009, given up for dead at the first of the week, has been reborn. /more/
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Monday morning: Medicaid, ethics, Bill Clinton, bar brawlers
April 15, 2013The Monday miscellaneous report: * ARKANSAS LEGISLATIVE ETHICS: An oxymoron that headline, I know. I wrote at some length yesterday about the evolving proposec constitutional amendment to tighten state ethics rules a bit, while also providing legislators with a path to increased pay and easing of term limits. /more/
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The price of ethics: more payola for Arkansas legislators
April 6, 2013I reported yesterday that a constitutional amendment modestly addressing state ethics law was approved by both the House and Senate committees that clear the three proposed constitutional amendments that the legislature may send to voters every two years. /more/
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