Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Morning roundup: Vote fraud and can the Kochs buy Arkansas?
Posted by Max Brantley on Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 6:19 AM
Some odds and ends from the overnight accumulation:
* NON-EXISTENT VOTE FRAUD: The cooked-up Republican claim of "illegals" voting isn't proving out. You'll remember Secretary of State Mark Martin has indicated he might be willing to follow the vote-suppressing Republicans in other states by using an inaccurate federal database to root out supposed illegals on the voting rolls. Experience here would undoubtedly mirror the experience elsewhere — a monumental waste of time to prove the fears are unfounded.
* BUT IF YOU REALLY WANTED SOMETHING TO INVESTIGATE: Try to figure out where and how the Koch Billionaires' Americans for Prosperity is getting and spending money to produce Republican control of the Arkansas legislature. In addition to directly targeting individual legislators with dishonest attack mailers, the group is behind broader advertising attacking Arkansas governance in general. This is a hand-in-glove effort to help the Republican Party tear down Gov. Mike Beebe, whose popularity is being used as a campaign theme of Democrats. The latest ad jabs (one shown on YouTube above) depicts Arkansas — with its constitutionally mandated balanced budget — as wallowing in debt and poorly performing economically. (We do issue bonds with backing revenue pledges for building projects, just like people take out mortgages to buy homes.) The attack isn't sitting well with Beebe. From Talk Business:
After seeing it on TV before coming to the Arkansas Governor’s Quality Award event at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, Beebe took to the stage and discussed the ad at length.“When they trash Arkansas, they’re trashing you,” Beebe strongly emphasized. He spent several minutes talking about the accomplishments of his administration and how the ad did not reflect those achievements.
Afterwards, Beebe tempered his emotions and in a post-banquet interview said, “It trashes the state. It talks about how bad we’re doing as a state when that’s just not true. We’re doing so well educationally. We’re doing well with creating jobs, even though we’ve lost thousands, we’ve created thousands — it doesn’t bother to say anything about that. It doesn’t bother to mention the fact that we’ve cut more taxes than anybody in history, but we’ve done it in a responsible manner.”
When asked again if the ad was inaccurate, Beebe said, “Yeah, I think it’s very misleading. Yeah, absolutely.”
The purchase of Arkansas by a shadowy front group headed by a Rogers woman who won't take questions from people who question her methods is THE story of this election cycle. Ask a Republican candidate if they believe in transparency for AFP's spending. Watch them turn tail and run.
* HEY, COULD BE WORSE: Talk Business-Hendrix poll puts Mitt Romney up 55-34 over Barack Obama in Arkansas. That's not as bad as I figured.
* THE CHICK-FIL-A CHRONICLES: It has become pretty clear that Chick-fil-A was telling a Chicago alderman and other select people one thing while the man who controls the chicken chain was telling people like Mike Huckabee another. Bottom line: they want to continue to use chicken profits to help groups that discriminate against gay people, but they'd prefer that fact not affect their business. Sorry, Mr. Cathy. All people who work and shop at the chicken chain aren't bigots, of course. But its logo has become a symbol for intolerance (see its now almost required proudly advertised use at Republican events, such as Tim Griffin's tailgate party). Most retailers would prefer to be free of any political association.
Speaking of...
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TGIF line is open
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Which one?
May 2, 2013The city of Beebe or Mike Beebe? It's not an easy question. They're both from White County, both have their merits, and their advocates. The town has gained fame for its dead birds; the man as a competent and moderate governor, perhaps the last of his kind. /more/
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How the private option flipped the Medicaid expansion debate
May 2, 2013It took a group of clever and obstinate young Republican legislators who refused to go along with Medicaid expansion but weren't ready to close the door on other ideas. They helped force a crafty veteran Democratic governor who was eager to go forward with expansion to consider alternative approaches. Throw in tireless and creative state health officials who happened to have a cozy relationship with their federal It took a group of clever and obstinate young Republican legislators who refused to go along with Medicaid expansion but weren’t ready to close the door on other ideas. They helped force a crafty veteran Democratic governor who was eager to go forward with expansion to consider alternative approaches. Throw in tireless and creative state health officials who happened to have a cozy relationship with their federal counterparts. Probably some luck. And, among everyone involved, it took a slightly crazy, seemingly unjustified optimism that somehow a solution was possible. /more/
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Medicaid expansion: Two views
April 18, 2013The legislative vote to avail Arkansas of Obamacare Medicaid expansion money. Good or bad? /more/
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Obamacare rules
April 18, 2013At press time, a Senate vote was still up in the air, but the thinking was that senators would join the House in its momentous approval Tuesday of Medicaid expansion by a 77-23 vote. /more/
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Koch lobby has new leader in Arkansas
April 15, 2013The Arkansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch billionaires' anti-tax, anti-regulation political arm that spent a million bucks to produce a Republican legislative majority in Arkansas, has a new state executive director. /more/
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Gubernatorial campaign underway: Ross spotted with liberals
April 13, 2013I meant to mention earlier that I'd heard one announced and two unannounced candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination were pressing flesh at a fund-raising dinner last week in Little Rock. /more/
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Medicaid expansion: The Kochs call in their chits
April 7, 2013A momentous week lies ahead. Against all odds, a significant Republican caucus has developed for moving ahead with Medicaid expansion in Arkansas. /more/
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Republicans mount PR effort on Voter ID bill
April 4, 2013The Arkansas Republican Party, having passed a Voter ID bill developed nationally to depress turnout among traditional Democratic constituencies, mounted a PR effort this morning to show that they really do care about people voting. /more/
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Swine stampede
April 4, 2013Though needed, it came tragically too late. Legislation to curb feral hogs was approved by the House of Representatives last week, but not before Senate Republicans had already overridden Governor Beebe's veto of a bill prohibiting voting without photo identification. /more/
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