Category Archives: State government

M.L.K. and R.E. Lee

By Steve Brawner
© 2015 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Many Arkansans may not realize it, but the state celebrates two birthdays on the third Monday each January – Dr. Martin Luther King’s, and General Robert E. Lee’s. And that caught some people’s attention this week.

Arkansas has celebrated the two men together since 1985 as a result of an act signed by Gov. Bill Clinton. The combination was done out of convenience. Lee’s birthday, which is Jan. 19 (four days after King’s), was already being celebrated, and there were already so many holidays this time of year. As always, the secretary of state on Monday posted a sign on the State Capitol’s doors stating that offices were closed in honor of the two men.

Two other states, Mississippi and Alabama, also celebrate the two birthdays on the same day. Three other states also honor Lee, but not on the same day as King. Virginia, Lee’s home, separated them in 2000.

Arkansas’ dual holiday has become an issue this year, which happens to be 150 years after the end of the Civil War. Jason Tolbert, a contributor to the website Talk Business & Politics, pointed out the historical inconsistency of honoring King and the Confederate general on the same day. Secretary of State Mark Martin told Tolbert that his having to put both names on the same sign is “embarrassing to me.”

I caught Martin in the halls of the Capitol and asked if the word “embarrassing” was accurate. Yes, he said. Lee had many admirable qualities, but combining the holidays seems inappropriate.

On Wednesday, Rep. Fred Love, D-Little Rock, who is African-American, and Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, who is white, filed separate bills that would remove Lee from the holiday. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, his plate full during his first month in office, didn’t state a position when asked about it in a press conference.

Maybe this is much ado about nothing. Let’s be honest – many of us didn’t really honor either King or Lee Monday. For many of us who happened to work for the right employers, it was just a day off.

But the King-Lee holiday is not really about two men. As celebrated today, it’s a symbol of two very different eras – the Confederacy and the civil rights movement. The first should be remembered thoughtfully, and the second should be celebrated thoughtfully. There’s a difference.

The Civil War was not that long ago, and native-born white Arkansans my age grew up with the sense that “we” lost. Many years ago, I stopped having that sense.

If you think the war was not about slavery, then I’m not going to change your mind. Instead, I encourage you to research those who would know best – those who voted to secede.

Pay particular attention to Mississippi’s declaration of secession, a short document available online. Slavery was the secessionists’ justification for the war. The second paragraph begins, “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun.”

The secessionists said the Union “advocates negro equality” and that it was trying to “destroy our social system.” “We must either submit to degradation,” they declared, “and to the loss of property worth four billions of money, or we must secede from the Union framed by our fathers, to secure this as well as every other species of property.”

Property.

Regardless of who lost the Civil War, ultimately, for many different reasons and over a long period of time, freedom won.

Isn’t that what should be celebrated on the third Monday of every January?

Can states fix what Congress messed up?

By Steve Brawner
© 2015 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Can the usual processes that created the $18 trillion national debt – now more than $57,000 for every American man, woman and child – also be used to pay it down?

If your answer is yes, then I encourage you to check the history books. Almost ever year since the nation was founded, the federal government has added to the national debt, and under current projections, the debt will grow bigger each year, year after year, as far as the eye can see.

It should be clear by now that our nation’s capital will not suddenly see the light of fiscal responsibility, so can anything be done to reverse the slide? Apparently not by Congress, so two separate national movements are attempting to amend the Constitution by employing a never-before-used process led by the states. Under Article 5 of the Constitution, 34 states can call a convention, which would then propose amendments that must be ratified by 38 of them.

One of those efforts, the Convention of the States, proposes an open-ended convention tasked with limiting the powers of the federal government, with suggested amendments that would require a balanced budget, enact term limits, redefine the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, etc. In Arkansas, supporters are considering two versions, according to one of its supporters, Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville. He believes at least one will pass.

Nationwide, the effort faces a much steeper climb. The Convention of the States’ goals and its rhetoric are so conservative that it will have a tough time reaching 34 states, let alone 38. Also, the delegates would be free to propose whatever amendments they want, leading to fears of a “runaway convention.” Those fears are unfounded, because any proposed amendments still would require approval by 38 states. But the fear that something crazy might happen has cost the movement some allies.

The other effort, the Compact for a Balanced Budget, also is a long shot but would seem to have a better chance. Unlike the Convention of the States, the Compact proposes a single amendment. The amendment states that the government cannot spend more than it collects unless it borrows under a debt limit that can be increased only with approval by a majority of state legislatures. Also, all future tax increases would have to be passed by a two-thirds vote of Congress, though a majority vote could close loopholes or replace the income tax with a national sales tax.

With the Compact for a Balanced Budget, we know what we’re getting. The states that sign up agree to the wording upfront. The delegates would assemble, vote yes and go home.

Alaska and Georgia have already signed on as members of the Compact. Organizers see Arkansas as one of 30 other states they must have. Then they would have to sway six other states where passage would be harder.

In Arkansas, Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, pre-filed a Compact for a Balanced Budget bill before the legislative session began. He was one of the early supporters of the Convention of the States, and although he still favors it, he thinks this is a better way.

I like it, too, and not just because it has a better chance of passing. It creates a mechanism that helps Congress be more fiscally responsible. It gives states the ability to rein in Washington. It makes it hard for Congress to raise taxes, but not impossible, particularly not by closing some of the loopholes that riddle the tax code.

Bell, who is on the Compact for a Balanced Budget’s national board, plans to push his bill, HB1006, later in the session. Will it pass? It depends on a lot of factors. Legislators, including Bell and Ballinger, have a lot on their plates as they consider thousands of bills in three months’ time.

One of those is the Revenue Stabilization Act, passed each session since 1945. Because of that act, Arkansas has a mechanism in place to produce a balanced budget – which is one of the main reasons the state, unlike the federal government, always has one.

Arkansas’ vice president

By Steve Brawner
© 2015 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

It may be that the voters elected not so much a lieutenant governor as a vice president of Arkansas.

By that I mean that Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin looks like he might fulfill the same role filled by some vice presidents – Al Gore, Dick Cheney, Joe Biden – as a trusted and valued member of the administration, not a separate and often forgotten officeholder.

Griffin, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, sees his most important role as serving as Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s junior officer – advocating for the governor’s legislation, making speeches on his behalf, etc. He even said in a phone interview Wednesday that he has been “very active with the governor recommending personnel.”

He will try to pass his own stuff, as some previous lieutenant governors have done. The reason Arkansas has a lottery is because of Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. But, he said, his first priority will be helping Hutchinson with his agenda.

“I make a point of speaking with the governor or his chief of staff every single day,” Griffin said.

Under the Arkansas Constitution, unlike the president and vice president, the governor and lieutenant governor are completely separate offices elected on completely different parts of the ballot.

Governors and lieutenant governors don’t have to be members of the same party, they don’t have to work together – they don’t even have to like each other. I’m trying to think of the best word to describe the relationships Gov. Mike Beebe had with his lieutenant governors, Halter and Mark Darr. “Strained,” maybe? Before that, Gov. Mike Huckabee and Lt. Governor Win Rockefeller were personally friendly and in fact grew quite fond of each other in their latter days together – but their day-to-day paths did not cross that much. I worked for both of them at different times, by the way.

Constitutionally, the lieutenant governor is a weak office – so weak, in fact, that Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, and Sen. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, have proposed an amendment to get rid of it. The lieutenant governor has only three constitutional duties: to serve as governor if the elected governor does not or cannot finish his or her term; to preside over the Senate when it is in session, which is a largely ceremonial responsibility; and to act as governor when the governor is traveling out of state, a duty so antiquated that even Griffin says it needs to go.

It’s rare indeed for an elected official to advocate for lessening his or her power, let alone take actions to make it happen. Griffin says he intends to push for getting rid of that provision.

“When the president of the United States leaves the United States and goes to China, he doesn’t give up being president of the United States,” he said.

Changing the provision will require a constitutional amendment, which is no sure thing. In fact, voters rejected the idea in 2002. But that was before smart phones, Facebook and Skype made the world so connected. We all know the governor is no more out of pocket in Branson or Dallas than he is in parts of Arkansas.

This also is noteworthy: Griffin has cut his staff in half. Darr had four full-time staff members, and Griffin will have two, plus interns. He said he plans to return the extra money back to the state and hopes to set an example for the rest of state government.

So basically, Arkansas has a lieutenant governor who wants to relinquish a not very useful constitutional power. However, he probably will exercise much more day-to-day influence than previous lieutenant governors because of his working relationship with the governor.

He made a pretty smart trade, don’t you think?

Want to be heard? Focus on state, not D.C.

By Steve Brawner
© 2015 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

A new governor has assumed office, and legislators have begun the 2015 legislative session, but if you’re like most interested Arkansas citizens, you probably care more about what’s happening in Washington, D.C., than about what’s happening in Little Rock.

That’s understandable. The issues are bigger and the stakes higher in our nation’s capital. National politics lends itself better to story lines, heroes and villains. It’s the American flag to which we pledge allegiance.

Of course you should care about national politics, and you should try to change it for the better. But if that’s all you care about, and state politics is just an afterthought, I encourage you to focus more of your thoughts a little closer to home, for two reasons.

One is that in our state capital, democracy still works, and in Washington, it doesn’t – not the way it’s supposed to work, anyway. Washington politics these days is about pleasing special interests, scoring political points, and maintaining power. Republicans and Democrats have dug into their trenches and are mostly shooting at each other across no man’s land, and that’s not likely to change regardless of how much you or I yell at the TV.

In Little Rock, meanwhile, Gov. Asa Hutchinson and legislators will engage in civil discourse about important issues during this legislative session. How civil? House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, appointed Democrats to chair four of the House committees, which would never happen in Washington. And how important? Over three months, legislators will cut taxes and decide if the state should build a new $100 million prison or instead change the laws so that fewer people are incarcerated. While elected officials in Washington will bicker endlessly about health care, elected officials in Little Rock eventually will come to a decision regarding the private option and the 200,000 people it serves.

The other reason to focus a little more on state politics and a little less on Washington? Let’s turn to the late Dr. Stephen Covey, author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” Covey taught that we all reside in the middle of two concentric circles, a larger “circle of concern” and a smaller “circle of influence.” The circle of concern is what we care about but can’t affect. The circle of influence, we can affect. Invest your energies in the circle of influence, Covey taught.

Very few of us non-billionaires can influence what happens in Washington. Very few of us will ever meet President Obama.

But Arkansas governors are highly accessible. Hutchinson probably will appear at some event in your community or in a nearby one before too long, and you can approach him to share a concern or just ask him about his grandchildren.

State legislators, moreover, are regular people with limited staffs. They consider thousands of bills in three months’ time. On some issues they receive lots of constituent input, but on others not so much, so the words of a few carry a lot of weight. Sen. Jake Files, R-Fort Smith, thought of two instances off the top of his head where he sponsored and passed a bill based on the urging of a single constituent – one that changed a restitution law after someone’s four-wheeler was stolen, and one allowing police to administer a saliva test to suspected drunk drivers.

“Literally one or two phone calls can make a big difference in a yes vote or a no vote,” he said.

So Mr. Regular Arkansan, if you can make your case to your legislator, and if you’re a little persistent, you can change public policy in your circle of influence, which is the state of Arkansas.

Isn’t that better than yelling at the TV?

What should elected officials be paid?

By Steve Brawner
© 2015 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The toughest job in state government belongs not to the governor-elect or to the 134 legislators preparing to spend three months considering thousands of bills. It doesn’t belong to the Arkansas Supreme Court justices – a majority of them female for the first time, by the way.

It belongs to the seven people who must soon decide what to pay these folks.

That’s the appointed task of the Independent Citizens Commission, which we voters in November created through Issue 3, now known as Amendment 94. That’s the same amendment that, among other provisions, extended term limits and banned lobbyists’ gifts to individual legislators.

The amendment removed from the Legislature the decision-making authority for salaries for constitutional officers, legislators, and judges. The seven commission members can decide to pay those officials whatever they want to pay them, so long as the initial proposal is presented by Feb. 2, and then after a public comment period, their decision is final. In the future, they can adjust salaries up or down as much as 15 percent.

Most other dollars spent by state government are appropriated by the Legislature. The commission’s decisions, in contrast, come off the top of the budget. That’s why veteran journalist Ernie Dumas told the commission on Dec. 30, “This is the most powerful commission in many ways in the history of the state.”

So far, the commission has had a tough time getting a handle on its responsibilities. This past Wednesday, it began receiving the information it needs most – a comparison of Arkansas salaries with other states. For some positions, it’s fairly straightforward. The governor’s salary of $86,890 is the country’s second lowest, above Maine. The attorney general’s salary of $72,408 is dead last. The chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court ranks 27th among his peers with a salary of $160,001.

But with legislators, it’s much harder to make a comparison. Some legislatures are full-time, and some are very part-time. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Arkansas is one of 23 states where being a legislator is about two-thirds of a full-time job, but that’s a rough estimate.

Determining how much legislators earn in a given year is tricky, too. Their salary is $15,869, they’re paid extra for leadership positions, and they’re paid per diem expenses of $150, plus mileage, when they travel to the Capitol if they live 50 miles or more from it. That’s supposed to cover meals and lodging, but most of us could get by on less than that or just commute. Those who live closer are paid $61 a day for meals, which is far more than I would spend. They also receive $1,200 a month for office expenses, they get $410 monthly for their state health insurance, and they eventually can become eligible for retirement benefits, though those will be small unless they also work elsewhere in state government.

In other words, those who work the system right do OK, but it’s really not enough to make a living for a job that takes a lot of time and comes with a lot of expenses.

Legislators in most surrounding states supposedly spend a comparable amount of time on their jobs, and Arkansas is in the middle when it comes to salaries, apparently. The commission was given information Wednesday from the National Conference of State Legislatures that those in Missouri ($35,915) and Oklahoma ($38,500) make more than twice as much in annual salary. Tennessee’s lawmakers make $20,203. Louisiana’s make $16,800 but receive less in office expenses. Mississippi’s make less, $10,000, but supposedly work less. Texas legislators make only $7,200.

I’ve sat through three long meetings, and the commission is acting in good faith. It ultimately will vote to raise salaries, which, frankly, is why it was created. It was just too politically awkward for lawmakers to do it on their own. Ideally, salaries will increase while legislative expense reimbursements are reduced, but the commission can only recommend changes to those. Legislators still control those dollars, though legislative leaders say the commission’s recommendations will carry a lot of weight.

Really, here’s what commission members are wrestling with regarding legislative salaries: Pay too little, and good people can’t run because they can’t afford it. Pay too much, and lawmaking stops being an act of service.

They don’t have much time to decide how to strike that balance. Feb. 2 will be here soon.