No on all four, especially 4

By Steve Brawner, © 2022 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

I plan to vote no on all four proposed constitutional amendments on the Arkansas ballot because one is terrible, and the costs and risks outweigh the benefits for the other three.

The terrible one is Issue 4, which would legalize recreational marijuana in Arkansas by creating a constitutionally closed market dominated by a privileged few. 

If it passes, licenses would be granted to the eight cultivators who already have medical marijuana licenses. (Guess who funded this campaign?) Another 12 much smaller growers could get licenses, but they really wouldn’t be competing against the big eight. Individuals couldn’t grow their own marijuana. Under the amendment, 120 dispensaries would be licensed, including those with current medical marijuana licenses. 

The amendment caps taxes on recreational marijuana at the sales tax rate plus another 10%, which is less than it’s taxed in other states. Any tax increase would require another constitutional amendment. Taxes on medical marijuana would be eliminated. Local governments could not tax the farms or the stores, or zone them.

Hmm. Could I get something into the Arkansas Constitution guaranteeing a closed market for current syndicated columnists? Donate to my campaign!

David Couch, who wrote the state’s medical marijuana law, is opposed to this measure. He said because of the way it’s written, it could put out of business the state’s hemp producers as well as all the stores selling CBD products derived from the marijuana plant. 

Summing it up, he said, “They don’t want to make a lot of money. They want to make all the money.”  Continue reading →

It’s more important to vote in May than in November. Here’s why.

By Steve Brawner 

© 2022 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

If you want a say in who governs you at the federal, state and county levels, in most parts of Arkansas it’s more important that you vote in May than in November.

Many voters don’t vote in primaries but then vote in the November general elections. In the last midterms in 2018, only 18.76% of Arkansas’ registered voters, or 327,629 people, went to the polls. Turnout was much higher in November, with 898,793 Arkansans, about 50% of registered voters, voting.

Three million people live in this state.

Sen. Jim Hendren of Gravette, the Legislature’s only independent and the founder of Common Ground Arkansas, says voters kind of have it backwards. They should vote in both May and November, but the primaries are more important because most Arkansans live in places dominated by one party – Republicans, usually – and Arkansas as a state is dominated by Republicans. The November election is often a formality, with the minority party offering little to no opposition. Continue reading →

Never ready to let Hope go

By Steve Brawner, © 2022 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

“Weddy, Daddy?”

That’s what a blue-eyed two-year-old girl was saying to me 18 years ago as we played in the floor together – “weddy” being her pronunciation of “ready.” Now, another blue-eyed two-year-old girl is saying the same thing.

The first is now a 20-year-old woman, and we have a second daughter who’s 17. Today’s two-year-old, Hope, was born Jan. 10, 2020, when her mother was 44 and her dad was a not-very-spry 50. 

Having a third daughter 15 years after the second has been an interesting experience. We are trying to enjoy it more while stressing less. We’d better, because that girl is into everything. I don’t know how the iPad is going to survive. 

As middle-aged parents of a young daughter, we are aware of the need to take care of ourselves. We want to be healthy and active as she grows up, starts her own adult life and eventually gives us grandchildren. Continue reading →

Is this the beginning of the pandemic’s end?

By Steve Brawner
© 2021 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

In early December, I quoted British Prime Minister Winston Churchill saying after a World War II victory in 1942, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

That’s how things felt in early December regarding the pandemic. Now, it feels like this might be the beginning of the pandemic’s end.

On Wednesday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson released the latest COVID numbers: 803 new cases, 10 more deaths, 496 total hospitalized.

Those would be jaw-dropping numbers if they had occurred a year ago, but they’re a huge improvement over what we’ve experienced in the recent past. On Dec. 29, the state reported that the cumulative death toll had increased by 66 that day. The new year began Jan. 1 with 4,304 new cases and 1,185 people hospitalized.

So we’re still at war, but the tide is turning. Continue reading →

Hendren builds an independent home

Jim Hendren, tobacco taxBy Steve Brawner
© 2021 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The Arkansas Legislature’s former Republican Senate leader is no longer a Republican.

On Feb. 18, state Sen. Jim Hendren of Gravette announced he was becoming an independent.

Hendren served until recently as Senate president pro tempore. He is also Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s nephew and close ally, which increased his influence.

But Hendren’s standing in the Republican Party has been diminished by his increasing bipartisanship, some of the stances he’s taken, and his obvious discomfort with the party’s direction.

Once a hard-right conservative, Hendren has evolved into a pragmatic problem-solver – like his Uncle Asa. He had a hard time making his peace with former President Trump’s style and rhetoric going back to 2016. He voted for him in November, but Trump’s and the party’s actions since then and the attack on the Capitol Jan. 6 were the last straw. Continue reading →