Category Archives: Politics

What Crawford, Westerman must consider with Trump

Politics, U.S. Congress

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

I don’t know the real reasons why people do things, including often myself. This column is about considerations.

Recently, all four U.S. House of Representatives members from Arkansas voted for a resolution criticizing President Trump’s decision to let Turkey attack the Kurds. It passed 354-60 with 225-0 support among Democrats and 129-60 support among Republicans.

That was interesting but not surprising. Republicans and Democrats disagree about much, but there’s a consensus – not unanimous agreement, but consensus – that the United States cannot simply disengage from the world’s hotspots. Trump disrupts that consensus, as he does so many things.

Also interesting – and also not surprising – were the comments made by Arkansas’ House members, as reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Continue reading What Crawford, Westerman must consider with Trump →

GOP will produce Arkansas’ first statewide minority official

Elections, Politics, State government

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 GOP will produce Arkansas’ first statewide minority official →

RBG holds court before 13,000 in North Little Rock

Politics
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 RBG holds court before 13,000 in North Little Rock →

Cotton picks Greenland

Politics, U.S. Congress

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 Cotton picks Greenland →