Arkansas Blog

It appears the state board of education has finally gotten two firm vertebrae to form a new spine. I wonder how this will play out in the area of accountability? Roy Brooks make actually have to live up to his promise to educate the kids he's getting in his E-STEM Charter School. LOL, wouldn't that be a sight to see!

Don't know Alice, but former state rep Sam Ledbetter is an outstanding choice. Congratulations to the Guv on one (or two) of his better appointments so far.

Ted Knight!?!? I bet Mary Richards and Lou Grant are laughing at Arkansas over that one.

Alice Mahony of El Dorado. Had hoped there might be a connection to brothers state Rep. Jodie Mahoney of El Dorado (a true champion of public education) and Emon Mahoney of Fort Smith, but then noticed that Alice doesn't spell her surname the same way. Shucks.

Wrong, Durango. They all are spelled Mahony. Alice is former Rep. Mahony's sister-in-law.

Gee, PVNasby, Jodie's been a friend of mine for 40 years. Throughout those years, he's always spelled his name "Mahoney." Everybody at the Capitol has, too, including Mike Beebe. (See excerpts from a 2006 AG opinion below.) Hopefully, you're right about Alice's family connection to the Mahoneys. If so, I'm betting her appointment will prove to be one of Beebe's best. (Apparently, Max just got it wrong when he spelled "Mahony" the way he did.)

Opinion No. 2006-025

April 3, 2006

The Honorable Jodie Mahoney
State Representative
106 West Main Street, Suite 406
El Dorado, AR 71730

Dear Representative Mahoney:

I am writing in response to your request for an opinion on the following:

The Union County Industrial Board is organized pursuant to Act 142 of 1975 (A.C.A. §§ 14-137-101 though 123). The Board holds a substantial amount of money, most of which was acquired by the sale of land donated to the County when American Oil Company shut down its El Dorado refinery.

(THIS OPINION IS 7 PAGES LONG, SO I'M PASTING ONLY THE OPENING AND CLOSING PARAGRAPHS HERE. durangokid)

In my opinion, the Union County Industrial Board, organized as a public facilities board, is not authorized to grant board money to a private company as contemplated in your request for an opinion.

Assistant Attorney General Joel DiPippa prepared the foregoing opinion which I hereby approve.

Sincerely,

MIKE BEEBE
Attorney General

MB:JMD/cyh

PVNasby, as the clock is about to strike 12, it occurs to me that if you know Alice well enough to know that she's Jodie's sister-in-law, you certainly should know her well enough to know how Jodie and Emon spell their surname. In retrospect, I should have said that in the 40 years I've known Jodie, I have always (instead of Jodie has always) spelled his surname "Mahoney," as have so many at the Capitol and in the press. Well, ya know what? Just because so many of us have stuck that "e" in there all these years doesn't mean that we've been correct in doing so. And, besides, when has Max Brantley ever misspelled anybody's name? So until proven otherwise, I'm gonna go with you and Max and say "Mahony" is right. Mahony, Mahoney, who cares? The important thing is that it looks like the govnah has made a doggone good appointment. On that one, I'm sure we can agree.

What great appointments!
Had these two been on the Board earlier I'll bet the controversy generated by the proposed Code of Ethics would have been averted.
I expect that they might add a more critical eye to future and on-going Charter School reviews and districts in academic and fiscal distress.
It will be very interesting to see the Board's role in dealing with fall-out from the elimination of deseg payments to the three Pulaski County districts once they are all declared unitary and released totally from court supervision.

Congrats all around for two excellent appointments!

Durango, what's funny is that the AG mispelled it.

It is amusing, PVN. But I can understand the AG messing up. The most common spelling all these years has been "Mahoney." To my knowledge, Jodie never corrected anybody, including me, and I sent him many an epistle over the decades. Guess it just wasn't important to him. It's sort of like William Faulkner. He was born and raised William Falkner, but early on, a copy editor or somebody stuck a "u" in his name and old Billy just let it go.

Here's just one more example (and then I'm through) of the misspelling of Mahony in the press. This excerpt is from a 2005 news article about a meeting during which HSU president Charles Dunn and John Choate, the university's counsel, were discussing some higher ed legislation:

"Several legislators have proposed measures that could create difficulties for higher education, Dunn and Choate said. For example, Choate cited Rep. Jodie Mahoney's proposed repeal of Amendment 33, which protects the state higher education institutions' boards of trustees from interference by the governor or the legislature. The measure was adopted in 1942 after J. William Fulbright was fired by the governor from the presidency of the University of Arkansas. Under Amendment 33, the state's boards and commissions are free to conduct institutional business without interference from the Legislature or the governor. Mahoney's proposal 'is a very serious matter for higher education,' Choate told the group. Mahoney's proposal has been recommended for further review by a House committee."

Thanks for setting the record straight on this, PVN. Guess I (and so many others) oughta write Jodie an apology for screwing up his name. I'm not gonna bother him, though. Understand he's had/having to deal with some real health issues.

You're right, Durango. A common mispelling, and Jodie never corrected anyone. Guess it happened so frequently he didn't think it was worth the bother.