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Thursday, November 30, 2006 - 18:39:42
Talk about burying the lead. Check the news release on the jump about a coming prime-time special on Channel 11 in which the Arkansas Department of Economic Development will present -- at 9 p.m. Dec. 5 -- a report on the state's needs for high-tech and knowledge-based jobs.
The prime time is available because Channel 11 is again refusing to air the network offering, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (an image from the show is included for informational purposes only). Devotees of frilly underwear will have to turn to KASN 38. I'm sure most will remain riveted to the knowledge-based jobs report.
We told you earlier, and in this week' Insider, about Gov. Mike Huckabee's $500-per-plate (they have plenty, thank you) fund-raiser Dec. 16. It's nominally for his Hope for America PAC. It's really to pay for presidential exploratory stuff without going through the niceties of forming a presidential exploratory committee. Huck's never been much of a stickler for rules.
Anyway, there is a chance for po' folks to attend. The Huckabee kids are throwing an after-party, featuring pop's band, for only $50 per head. Hang on, Sloopy. They could go until the midnight hour.
The Republican Party is flogging the event, even though they won't be receiving a dime. Thanks for all the good work Huckabee did for the party in the recent election, I guess. Full invite on the jump.
PS -- Be sure to bring extra cash to buy the governor's new book.
From a community correspondent:
After speaking today at the Statehouse Convention Center, Jesse Jackson went back to the Clinton School of Public Service for lunch where he visited with Little Rock Niner Minnijean Brown Trickey and her daughter, Spirit; City Manager Bruce Moore and his wife, Lena; Odies Wilson of the city of Little Rock and Little Rock School Board President Dr. Katherine Mitchell. Virgil Miller, co-chairman of the Little Rock Central High 50th anniversary commission, briefed Rev. Jackson on the plans for September 2007 and invited him to attend. Students from Helena who happened to be touring the Clinton library and the Clinton school got a special treat to meet, greet and have photos made with him.
The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled 5-2 today that it would delay issuing an order ending the Lake View school case for six months. The opinion is on the jump.
Chief Justice Jim Hannah and Justice Jim Gunter dissented, continuing previous opposition to the court's ongoing involvement in the case. (Justices Corbin, Glaze, Brown, Dickey and Special Justice Dalby, replacing Justice Imber, formed the majority.) Hannah wrote that the court didn't have jurisdiction for the review of actions taken by the legislature that is contemplated in the majority's order. Gunter said the majority of the court was acting as a "brooding super-legislature."
By the legislature's own admission, it will need the 2007 legislative session to complete work on compliance with the court's order in Lake View. It's unfortunate that the Supreme Court set itself up for this messy conclusion by not giving a lower court continuing jurisdiction over the case until action was completed. But the legislature has already proved once that it cannot be trusted to act constitutionally absent the need to comply with the court's orders. The 2007 session may now proceed with the understanding that homework will be checked.
UPDATE: Comment from A.G. Mike Beebe:
“This decision, coming 24 hours before the Court’s self-imposed deadline for reissuing the mandate, is a disappointment. When it last ruled on this case in December of 2005, the Court neither ordered nor requested any further reports from the State, as Chief Justice Hannah noted in his dissenting opinion. After the completion of April’s special legislative session, the Court remained silent, expressing no concerns or dissatisfaction with the steps taken by the General Assembly. It is only after an eleventh-hour filing by a handful of districts that the Court has spoken. Without evidence in that filing of any failures in continued reform efforts by the State, the Court has nonetheless decided to defy its own previous procedures and keep this case open.”
I've just moderated a discussion by a panel of legislators. I tried, but could elicit no support for legislation to end the wining and dining of legislators by lobbyists. You'd think it's impossible to talk to legislators without benefit of a cocktail. (It does help, I must admit.)
Anyway, it could be worse.
AUSTIN — A Texas official who receives any sum of cash as a gift can satisfy state disclosure laws by reporting the money simply as "currency" without specifying the amount, the Texas Ethics Commission reiterated Monday.
The 5-3 decision outraged watchdog groups and some officials who accused the commission of failing to enforce state campaign finance laws.
"What the Ethics Commission has done is legalize bribery in the state of Texas. We call on the commission to resign en masse," said Tom "Smitty" Smith, who heads Texas Citizen, an Austin-based group that advocates for campaign finance reform.
On another topic, I got a 5-0 vote from Sens. Farris, Broadway, Womack and Salmon and Sen.-elect Thompson that this legislature would vote to phase out the tax on food. I offered options of complete removal and no change.