Category Archives: Elections

Mayberry seeks post he wants to abolish

mayberry-andy

Would you vote for a candidate who wants to abolish the office he’s seeking? That’s what Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-East End, is asking voters to do.

Mayberry’s platform includes the usual planks – education, economic development, etc. He also wants to present ideas for streamlining government after talking to frontline state agency employees to learn areas of waste and duplication.

On the campaign trail, Mayberry has been asked if the lieutenant governor itself is part of that waste and duplication. The office’s only constitutional responsibilities are to preside over the Senate (a mostly ceremonial duty), to ascend to the governor’s office if the elected governor dies or is incapacitated, (which another officeholder does in some states) and to serve as governor when the governor leaves the state (which is unnecessary with modern communication technology).

The issue gained relevance in recent months when former Lt. Gov. Mark Darr was forced to resign over financial improprieties. The Legislature recently voted not to spend millions of dollars for a special election to replace him, which means Arkansas won’t have a lieutenant governor from Feb. 1 until Darr’s successor takes office next January.

That begs the question: If Arkansas taxpayers can go 11 months without a lieutenant governor, why should they pay $400,000 every year to support one and his or her staff afterwards?

When asked such by voters, Mayberry told me, “It’s very difficult, with a straight face, to give them an honest defense of why, yes, it’s absolutely necessary. We need an office that’s going to sit vacant for a year.”

For such an unnecessary position, the lieutenant governor’s race has drawn its share of candidates. Also campaigning are two other Republicans: U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin and state Rep. Debra Hobbs, R-Rogers; a Democrat, John Burkhalter; and a Libertarian, Christopher Olson.

The office’s attraction is understandable. With few duties, it is whatever the officeholder makes it. Former Lt. Governor Bill Halter used its visibility to push the lottery through the Legislature, while Darr’s pet project was an online checkbook to give Arkansans a clearer view of the state’s finances. The officeholder has an impressive title and remains in the public eye at taxpayer expense. In recent years, two lieutenant governors, Jim Guy Tucker and Mike Huckabee, became governor.

Mayberry’s plan if elected is to spend two years looking for government waste and then present his findings at the 2017 legislative session. He believes he would have more success cutting state government if he also worked to cut his own job. At that 2017 session, he’ll try to push through a constitutional amendment that, if approved by the voters, would abolish the office at the end of his first and only term and make the secretary of state next in line to be governor. Mayberry’s wife, Julie, who is running unopposed for his legislative seat, could introduce the bill, he said.

In the meantime, he promises a smaller staff. Four employees worked there under Darr. The lowest paid employee earned more than $50,000 a year plus the state’s generous benefits package. When I worked in the office from 2003-06, there were three employees, plus usually an intern, and we were bloated back then. In fact, as “communications director,” I was definitely part of the bloat. The office could get by with one person to answer the phone and schedule appearances.

I say either make the office relevant or get it rid of it completely. Mayberry hopes to do both – first make it relevant, and then get rid of it.

Column: Pass the highway bond issue

Arkansans are going to the polls (again), this time to decide on whether the state should do a $575 million bond issue that would repair 400 miles of interstates.

They should say yes, even though it means adding to Arkansas’ state debt, which the nonpartisan State Budget Solutions totals $25 billion counting pension liabilities.

That’s because when it comes to roads, the state is going into debt whether we realize it or not. Every day, the interstates deteriorate. We can pay a lot to fix the cracks now, or we can pay a whole lot more to totally rebuild them, after they have torn up our cars and caused accidents.

Bottom line: If we are going to have interstates, we have to maintain them.

Here’s more in today’s column.

For Congress: Arkansas engineers

I publish a magazine for the state’s two engineer associations, the Arkansas Society of Professional Engineers and the American Council of Engineering Companies of Arkansas.

These are good folks, they work hard, they are mathematically inclined, and sometimes they are a little nerdy. I wish they would run for Congress.

You won’t see a road-building project stalled because engineers refuse to budge on some side issue. You won’t see a project fail because one faction of engineers wanted to embarrass the other.

Engineers build bridges and roads; our current congressmen can’t even agree how to fund them. In fact, Congress is two years late passing its latest highway bill.

It’s time to replace these rigid ideologues and political game-players with practical problem-solvers who know how to get the job done. That’s why I’m endorsing Arkansas’ engineers for Congress.

More in this week’s column.

Column: More voters would mean less partisanship

When only a small percentage of voters goes to the polls and those that do vote tend to be the most partisan parts of the electorate, guess what happens? Partisan elected officials get elected.

Here’s what turnout has looked like in the past few Arkansas elections:

2010 midterms – 48 percent
2010 primaries – 29 percent
2008 presidential – 65 percent
2008 presidential primary – 35 percent
2008 general primary – 18 percent

That means lots of people are voting in the general election for candidates that were chosen by the most partisan voters on the left and the right in the primaries. The result is a partisan Congress – and the mess we saw on the debt ceiling deal.

Voters can’t complain about their choices if they sit out the primaries. A more diverse Congress would be less partisan. And for that to happen, more people must vote in primaries and midterm elections.

More in this week’s Arkansas News Bureau column.

Americans Elect putting democracy online

The writer Rita Mae Brown once shared a piece of wisdom that has been used so many times that it’s become a cliche: “Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”

If that’s so, then if Americans keep electing officials like they have been, then the country truly has gone nuts.

In 2012, there will be a new way. Americans Elect is creating an online nominating process where voters can register as delegates at the effort’s website and then eventually select a nominee. The group is collecting signatures – including 1.6 million already collected in California – to get on the ballot in all 50 states.

Americans Elect is a nominating process, not a political party. Delegates who register at the website are asked a series of questions to determine their political views and will be connected to like-minded voters. Six candidates will emerge from that process to compete for the group’s nomination in June. Each must name a vice presidential running mate who is a member of a different party or is an independent. At that point, Americans Elect’s job is finished and the nominee will run his or her own campaign.

The effort has strong backing so far. It says it has raised $20 million, including $1.55 million from investment executive Peter Ackerman, who’s son, Elliott, is the chief operating officer. Its chief executive officer, Khalil Byrd, is a Republican strategist. Its board of advisors includes former CIA chief William Webster. Its chief technology officer, Joshua Levine, did that same job at E-Trade.

More in my column this week for the Arkansas News Bureau.

Here’s a very informative story in the Los Angeles Times.

And, once more, here is the Americans Elect website, www.americanselect.org.