Category Archives: Politics

GOP will produce Arkansas’ first statewide minority official

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Arkansas has never elected an African-American statewide official, and when it finally does, he or she likely will be a Republican.

And he or she probably will be someone like Leon Jones.

The state has taken such a sharp turn red-ward in recent years that to be elected to a statewide office, a candidate almost must run as a Republican – much as the Democrats were the default party for a century and a half. That’s why the first African-American official probably will come from that party.

Jones, 47, Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s appointee as executive director of the Fair Housing Commission, is gauging support before making a final decision on running for attorney general in 2022. The current attorney general, Leslie Rutledge, is term-limited. Jones previously served as Hutchinson’s Labor Department director.

If he runs, he’d be Arkansas’ first elected African-American statewide official and also the only African-American Republican currently elected to any position at the state level – unless one is elected in 2020 or alongside him in 2022. The state’s seven constitutional officers and six members of Congress are white Republicans. As of Oct. 8, the 135-member Arkansas Legislature was composed of 102 white Republicans and 33 Democrats, 15 of whom are African-Americans including the recently elected Denise Ennett of Little Rock. Continue reading →

RBG holds court before 13,000 in North Little Rock

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, left, speaks with National Public Radio correspondent Nina Totenberg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

An 86-year-old woman sat down for an hour-long interview in North Little Rock’s Verizon Arena Tuesday, and one out of 100 Arkansans either were there or tried to be there.

The woman was Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female appointed to the court.

The event gave away 15,000 free tickets. About 13,000 attended, and there were another 15,000-16,000 people on a waiting list. That’s about 30,000 in a state with about 3 million people, or about one out of 100.

Ginsburg was interviewed by National Public Radio correspondent Nina Totenberg as part of the Clinton School of Public Service’s Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture Series. Former President Bill Clinton, who nominated Ginsburg to the court, introduced them.

Eleven days earlier, Ginsburg had received the last of three weeks of pancreatic cancer radiation treatments after undergoing a lung cancer operation late last year. Asked why she was appearing so soon, she said she had promised she would come, which drew a standing ovation.

She said she was “feeling very good tonight.” And she looked and sounded good. We should all be so sharp at 86. Continue reading →

Cotton picks Greenland

Tom CottonBy Steve Brawner , © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Sen. Tom Cotton is serious about the United States buying Greenland, so let’s take the idea seriously and examine it from both sides.

President Trump’s interest in purchasing Greenland from Denmark was first reported Aug. 15 by the Wall Street Journal. When Denmark’s prime minister rejected what she called an “absurd” offer, Trump cancelled a planned visit to that country.

He shouldn’t have cancelled the trip.

Offering to buy Greenland? Well, he is big into real estate, and Greenland covers 836,000 square miles. It’s the world’s biggest island, although 80% of it is covered by ice. In fact, the ice sheet is three times the size of Texas. About 58,000 people live there, mostly along the western coast. The island has its own parliament and prime minister but is part of the Danish Kingdom. The United States has an air base there.

During an interview with Roby Brock in Little Rock August 21, Cotton said he had suggested Trump make an offer for Greenland and personally had proposed the idea to the Danish ambassador. Continue reading →

Mike Beebe: From shack to Governor’s Mansion to new film

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

First, Mike Beebe overcame an impoverished early childhood. Then, he overcame a Republican tide to be re-elected governor and win all 75 counties in 2010.

How he did both are subjects of a new hour-long documentary, “Men and Women of Distinction: Mike Beebe.”

The documentary was screened Wednesday at the Arkansas Cinema Society’s annual Filmland festival. AETN, which funded the $46,000 project, will begin broadcasting it Aug. 29. It also will be available for viewing at AETN’s website, aetn.org.

The work of first-time director Kathryn Tucker is an interesting look at one of Arkansas’ most important political leaders of the past half century. It’s well produced and worth an hour of your time – unless you can’t stand Beebe. That’s because it paints a very positive portrait of him, though everyone in the film seems to agree he had a cocky streak, including his wife, Ginger.

The film tells how Beebe was born in a tar paper shack in Amagon to a single mom waitress. They moved around during his early years. He never knew his biological father and had several stepfathers. Continue reading →

Arkansas gets more of a say for president. Is it worth it?

By Steve Brawner, vote, Mark Moore, 16-year-olds, Arkansas primaries, Goodson, photo ID© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Legislators this year permanently moved Arkansas’ presidential primary elections to March, and recently the state starting seeing the maybe-or-not-worth-it results: visits by two mid-tier Democratic presidential candidates.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke both talked guns.

In a press conference Aug. 15, Klobuchar touted universal background checks and barring guns from people convicted of domestic abuse against unmarried partners. As the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s John Moritz reported, she also expressed support for “red flag” laws creating a process for temporarily removing guns from people deemed a threat.

O’Rourke narrowly lost a high-profile Senate race in Texas last year. He entered this campaign with much promise but has yet to catch fire, so he’s trying to create a spark.

He spoke Aug. 17 at the state Democratic Party’s Clinton Dinner, spoke at a gun control rally at the state Capitol, and visited a gun show in Conway. O’Rourke has called for banning military-style assault rifles and instituting a mandatory government buyback program where owners of those weapons who don’t participate would be fined.

O’Rourke formerly represented El Paso, where a mass shooter killed 22 people Aug. 3. Continue reading →