Arkansas Blog

I don't think we need a Wal-mart bill... not until we repeal term-limits. Really term-limits have made this almost a non-issue.

It's damn near impossible to pin a legislator down and get them to listen to you at the capitol. Really, they lack the office space--restaurants, bars are about the best option.

If a steak and a beer changes a lawmakers mind on an issue, we've got bigger problems. Ban gifts? okay. Ban food and drink? no way. Maybe cap it the $ amount per event.

"this legislature would vote to phase out the tax on food."

Any mention of how long the talking phase will last?

The Texas wheelbarrow with cash story is not surprising given that Tex gifted Amerika with Tom DeLay, two George's , one who screwed the economy and one who screwed up budget and an invasion of a sovereign nation. Tex also provided us the financeer of SwiftBoat attacks, and stepping back a few decades, H.L. Hunt was a Texas gift.
There's a Congressman in Tex that used to propose that Texas secede from the Union. I think the idea has come of age. Get on with it and keep your nutcakes all for yourself.
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I agree with lwood

Oh, I forgot to add that the leading delusional, Karl Rove, is offically Texan and even held a teaching position at their University. Could we as Arkies promise them all the water they need if only they will secede? Small price to pay. As Dale Bumpers once remarked we could run a big hose from the Ark River to Texas and they could suck all the water they need.

A Texas-Free nation. Wonderful thought.
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"I don't think we need a Wal-mart bill... not until we repeal term-limits."

You got that backward. The
only way the people would
ever end term-limits is AFTER
reforms. If legislators want to
keep the food and drinks,
then they can enjoy them for
a limited time.

"Really term-limits have made this almost a non-issue."

How so? You don't think a
new legislator is susceptible
to being wined and dined?
Please...

"It's damn near impossible to pin a legislator down and get them to listen to you at the capitol. Really, they lack the office space--restaurants, bars are about the best option."

How many voters have the
ability to "pin a legislator?"
Why should paid lobbyists be
given that advantage anyway?

"If a steak and a beer changes a lawmakers mind on an issue, we've got bigger problems."

It's not a matter of buying their
vote, It's a matter of persuasion.
Any please explain why you
can't meet with a legislator
in a bar or restaurant and they
pay for their own drink of food?

Term-limits are going nowhere
until the reasons the voters
passed them are addressed.
I'd love to see an end to term-
limits but not until reforms are
passed by the legislature. The
ball is in their court. Make the
play or go home in a few
years.

Max, you are dealing with an ethically challenged group.

it is like asking someone with a brain tumor to operate on themselves to fix it. it is impossible. i cant think of no one who could come into this legislature or executive branch of government and carry the word 'ethical' in a description of them without a snicker...that could lead lobbying reform.

win could have done that and probably would have done it if given the chance....

now, we just won't know.

it is like asking someone with a brain tumor to operate on themselves to fix it. it is impossible. i cant think of no one who could come into this legislature or executive branch of government and carry the word 'ethical' in a description of them without a snicker...that could lead lobbying reform.

win could have done that and probably would have done it if given the chance....

now, we just won't know.

I thought we had just read that obesity was such a big problem in Arkansas. Sees like a tax on food would help.

"It's damn near impossible to pin a legislator down and get them to listen to you at the capitol."

I think you are painting a broad stroke with this statement. It is a very very small percentage of legislators that will not talk to someone at the capitol.

If you deal with the US government, you know you can't buy their employees lunch. In a private firm there are many positions where the employee is forbidden from accepting food and drink from a supplier.

But then our legislature is obviously more shady than the US government or your average private firm.

Because if it weren't, it would see the problems with being wined and dined by people who stand to gain from influencing their opinion.

I agree with Bold and Blue

Texas is gone boys. It's rotten to the core, it's bullet-riddled, it's terminal. We should cut it off and take Bush's Mexican fence and ring the former state of Texas with it. It wanted to be a sovereign nation 170 years ago and it's time to let it.

I am 100% for zero gifts, money, lunches, dinners, drinks or new Pycopay tooth brushes being exchanged between our lawmakers and ANYONE they're not sleeping with....no make that ANYONE.

I don't have to buy some clod a steak dinner to buy a set of tires for my Ford. I don't have to discuss my kids teeth over drinks with their dentist. I never had to sleep with a boss to collect my paycheck. There is NO reason goodies need to be exchanged to get state business done. NONE

There is damn little reason why any lawmaker has to meet up after office hours with someone trying to peddle or protect their mouse trap. Make everyone come to the office to do business.

Put a closed circuit camera at all doors to each office and let's see who comes and goes. Again..I don't go to the Harp's Grocery manager's house to talk about the price of canned corn. Politicians have proved their dishonest, let's honest them up ourselves.

It's fine to have lunch and a few drinks....we can't put every lawmaker in a big plastic bubble like John Travolta, though I love the idea. Let them eat, drink and be merry, but I have to assume all of them are grown with their own credit cards and checking accounts.....to make it all look honest...let everyone go Dutch treat.....why is that so hard?

God, must everyone in politics be so Huckabee-like?

Btw, the Arky legies meals are paid by us whether a lobbyist picks up the tab or not. Don't legies submit a per diem reimbursement request?