We went to press this week before the polls closed.
But I can safely predict that a change in the partisan balance in the Arkansas legislature, if Republicans triumph, won't have a dramatic effect on some of the most important issues of the day.
For example: Republicans in Arkansas have the votes, thanks to the Arkansas Constitution's requirement of a 75 percent vote on most financial measures, to block the expansion of Medicaid whether they are in the majority or not. They began flexing that rump veto tentatively last year. Expect more of this as their numbers grow.
Republicans, expecting to kill Medicaid expansion with or without a majority, have already begun to alibi by suggesting — inaccurately — that the state could choose to take just a little bit of Medicaid expansion, not all of it. The federal government has said it's an all-or-nothing proposition. Republicans also want poor people to pay tribute for new Medicaid services, they want drug testing and they want rigorous fraud investigations of poor people, though probably not of the doctors, hospitals and drug companies that are responsible for most Medicaid fraud.
Also consider so-called education reform. The Billionaire Boys Club, led by Jim Walton, has been slowly purchasing influence in the Arkansas legislature, to the point that it had a bipartisan majority for a loosening of the state charter school law in 2011.
The billionaires now want unfettered charter school expansion. They have a receptive audience in the Arkansas Republican Party, which favors private school vouchers, taxpayer-subsidized home schoolers and any plan that further cripples big city school districts with teacher unions.
A Republican majority would swell the votes for the Walton plan, but the billionaires' lobby is probably sufficiently influential without it. Republicans seem to be even more servile, however.
Sen. Michael Lamoureux, who'll lead the Senate if Republicans have a majority and who'll be part of a charter school majority vote no matter which party is in power, was quoted in the Democrat-Gazette over the weekend as saying charter school supporters don't believe that the current process for considering proposed charter schools is "very fair," but he doesn't know what "the exact solution would be."
I asked him what was unfair about the current system. We have a diverse, diligent state Board of Education. Its membership includes black people, white people, a Latina activist, former legislators and a pillar of the Little Rock charter school movement. It has rigorously reviewed charter school applications and existing charter schools. It has been generally supportive of charters (and tough on failing conventional public schools), but it has rejected some charter expansions and some new applications for cogent reasons. What's not to like? I wish that the Game and Fish Commission, to name one, had such broad viewpoints and dealt so openly and earnestly with competing philosophies.
Lamoureux's response:
"I guess by unfair I mean, we are not getting the desired result."
Wow. That's an honest answer.
Republicans don't want facts, fairness or due diligence. They want their way. Or the way of the fat cats who bankroll them.
I pressed Lamoureux on whether the state Board of Education review was somehow flawed. He responded to my specific question about the required review on finances, track record and the like.
"Yes, those issues should be considered," he wrote. "I think proponents feel the process is not yielding desired results. I do not know all the details."
Who needs details? It's enough to know the Waltons are unhappy with results. Republicans aim to please them. But so, too, do many Democrats. The election won't change that.
Speaking of Michael Lamoureux, Jim Walton
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Partisan justice
May 16, 2013I had a nice visit with Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Rhonda Wood last week. /more/
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Diamonds in the manure of the Arkansas legislature
May 9, 2013Some legislators and legislation shone. /more/
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Morning roundup: Partisan judge, Children's leader
May 3, 2013Light start to the day: * PARTISAN JUDGES: I noted yesterday the highly partisan flavor of Appeals Court Judge Rhonda Wood's Twitter feeds, as well as those of colleague Circuit Judge Mike Maggio of Conway. /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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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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Prospects good for steel mill subsidies
March 29, 2013Sounds like this turkey is cooked. Direct support by House Speaker Davy Carter and slightly qualified support by Senate President Michael Lamoureux would make it appear Gov. Mike Beebe is going to get his big state subsidy to help a startup steel mill operation in Mississippi County, despite stout opposition from an existing competitor that cranked up here without such millions in taxpayer help. /more/
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Connectivity: Business and governance by citizen legislature
March 27, 2013Little attention has been given to an interesting little story Michael Cook wrote about the other day in Talk Business. /more/
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Putting the genie back in the bottle
February 28, 2013As they came into their leadership roles following the 2012 elections, the moderate, young GOP leaders of the House and Senate emphasized that they expected the current legislative session to be focused on the bread-and-butter issues of economic development, tax policy and Medicaid. In short, they indicated that they wanted to be Republican versions of Mike Beebe, a governor whom House Speaker Davy Carter regularly holds up as the best in the state's history. /more/
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