Category Archives: Politics

Where Sen. Tom Cotton, Hallie Shoffner, and Jeff Wadlin stand on Iran

Tom Cotton, Hallie Shoffner, Jef WadlinThe United States’ conflict with Iran continues, with gas and diesel prices a continual and rising reminder. 

What do Arkansas’ three candidates for U.S. Senate think should be done?

Sen. Tom Cotton has long taken an aggressive stance regarding Iran. He opposed President Obama’s nuclear deal in 2015 that placed inspectors in that country. Cotton argued that it would allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons and help it fund terrorism. He then advocated for military action in 2019 after Iran attacked two oil tankers. He supported President Trump’s strikes last year against Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.

The day this year’s war started on Feb. 28, he told CBS News that President Trump had successfully laid out the mission’s objectives. Those were: thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions; destroy its missile arsenal; and dismantle Iran’s terrorist network. 

As Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Cotton has access to highly classified information. 

Given his position, I asked him Sept. 1 when he visited Henderson State University in Arkadelphia what hope he could provide that the conflict would work out OK.

Continue reading →

About those $5,000 ‘Trump dividend’ checks

tax, taxes, debt, deficits, spending, trillion, State of the Union, deficit hawks, balanced budget amendment, Jonathan Bydlak, immigration, $98.8 trillion, $970 billion, Social Security cutArkansas’ members of Congress reacted cooly to President Trump’s proposal to send a $5,000 “Trump dividend” to every adult American if Republicans retain their congressional majorities this November.

None of the five who answered questions explicitly endorsed the proposal, though they avoided directly criticizing it. 

In the Senate, Sen. Tom Cotton’s spokesperson said he “wants to put money back in the pockets of working Arkansans by continuing to lower taxes.” Sen. John Boozman’s office said he is “certainly interested in helping keep as much money in the American people’s pockets as possible” and looked forward to hearing more details. 

In the House, Rep. French Hill said the focus instead should be on implementing lasting policies such as his recently passed 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act along with Republican-passed tax reforms. Similarly, Rep. Bruce Westerman supports longterm policies encouraging business growth, good wages, reducing bureaucracy and regulations, lowering taxes, and reforming health care. Rep. Steve Womack said he had not seen the full proposal but had “concerns.” Rep. Rick Crawford did not respond to a request for comment. 

All of those but Boozman are up for re-election this year. Of the five, Cotton and Hill have the most competitive races.  Continue reading →

State would get millions; Facebook promises changes

Meta settlementThe state of Arkansas could collect more than $172 million spread over 10 years from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Meanwhile, the company says it will take steps to reduce its platforms’ potential harms to teens.

Those new developments would come as a result of a settlement announced Wednesday between the company and 48 states along with the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories.

Attorney General Tim Griffin was the nation’s first attorney general to file a lawsuit when he did so in 2023. He argued that Meta had violated Arkansas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act by misleading young people and their parents about its platforms’ addictive properties. 

Eventually every state sued. The company announced Wednesday it was settling with almost all of them, paying a combined $18 billion over 10 years. The exceptions being New Mexico, which has already won at trial, and Florida. The latter’s attorney general called the settlement “peanuts” and said the state is going to court. 

That’s understandable, considering Meta reported revenues of almost $201 billion in 2025. Continue reading →

On your ballot: $500 million to fix leaky water pipes

$500 million bond issueAs Chris Colclasure puts it, “Water falls free from the sky.” But it’s not free if you want it to come out of a pipe clean enough to drink.

Colclasure is director of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Division. He would help administer a $500 million bond issue for water and wastewater projects if voters approve it this November.

Issue 4 represents the fifth time legislators have asked voters to give the state such authority. Voters have said yes the previous four times. The first was in 1982, and the most recent was in 2008. The latter was for $300 million, with the last of the bonds issued in August. 

The state has identified $20.1 billion in needed upgrades over the next 20 years through its soon-to-be-released State Water Plan update. Issue 4 would help provide that funding for the next 16 years. It would help the state pay for its 20% share for federal matching funds and allow it to fund projects directly with general obligation bonds. The state would loan proceeds to communities, often at a better interest rate than they could obtain on their own. Continue reading →

Poll finds Arkansas races tighter than expected

Sen. Tom Cotton, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Rep. French Hill  are definitely still the favorites to win in November. But the election just got more interesting.

A Talk Business & Politics-Hendrix College poll released over the course of this week found that Cotton, a Republican, was trailing Democrat Hallie Shoffner, 47.4% to 44%. Libertarian Jeff Wadlin was running at 3%, while 5.65% of respondents were undecided. 

The poll also found that in the governor’s race, Sanders was leading Democrat state Sen. Fred Love, 45% to 40%, while Libertarian Colt Shelby trailed with 7%. Another 8% were undecided. 

The poll of 1,217 likely voters was conducted Aug. 11-12 via text message and had a plus-minus margin of error of 4.7%. That’s a 9.4% swing, which means Cotton could be leading his race while Love could be ahead of Sanders. 

In a separate survey of 1,112 likely voters in the 2nd District, Rep. Hill was trailing Democrat Chris Jones, 44% to 48%.

The impossible-to-ignore finding was that more respondents disapproved of President Trump than approved, 53%-46%. Perhaps even more significant was the fact that almost half the respondents (48.3%) strongly disapproved. Less than 5% only somewhat disapproved. In contrast, one-third (32.2%) strongly approved.  Continue reading →