The 2022 election has already begun

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The votes have yet to be counted in the 2020 elections, but in Arkansas, the 2022 campaign has already started.

Earlier his month, the state’s two confirmed candidates for governor announced their campaign hauls for the past quarter, and they were impressive. Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin raised $894,970 and has raised nearly $1.7 million this year. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge raised $838,340, with about $41,000 coming from carryover funds. This was her first quarter to file a report.

Griffin and Rutledge have been circling each other for years as they compete to be the Republicans’ alpha dog at the state level. Meanwhile, they are keeping an eye on the race’s potential alpha elephant.

That would be Sarah Huckabee Sanders, daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee and, more importantly, President Trump’s former press secretary. She left the administration on very good terms with practically a Trump endorsement. If she runs for governor, she would have star power Griffin and Rutledge couldn’t match.

However, she hasn’t announced anything, and she has reasons not to run. She can make a lot of money off her time in the Trump administration, and she has young children whom she cited as reasons for leaving the White House pressure cooker. So we’ll see. Continue reading →

Does Issue 3 fix the broken process?

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Arkansas state legislators are proposing a constitutional amendment that would make it harder for citizens to pass constitutional amendments in the future. And yes, the process is broken. The question is, will this fix it?

Issue 3, which is on this year’s ballot, also would make it harder for citizens to pass initiated acts, which are voter-created state laws, and also referenda, where voters can overturn a law already passed by legislators.

Let’s start with what clearly needs fixing.

First, the Arkansas Constitution is amended too often – 100 times since it was adopted in 1874 versus 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution since it was adopted in 1789 – and too easily. Sometimes it’s amended to create policy changes that should be made in less permanent ways, such as a law. Well-funded special interests and private businesses can write for themselves a permanent place in our state’s most important document.

Also, the current process is dominated by lawsuits that result in the Arkansas Supreme Court blocking proposals close to the election. This often occurs because of some technical issue regarding the voter signatures that citizen groups must collect to qualify for the ballot. For a constitutional amendment this year, for example, the groups had to collect 89,151 signatures.

The ruling often occurs too late for the proposal to be removed from the ballot. This year, voters will see a referendum to prevent optometrists from performing eye surgeries, but their votes won’t be counted.

Those are good reasons to reform the process. Here’s one that’s not as good: Some, including legislators, just don’t like how the people have voted lately. Examples include an amendment authorizing casinos, an amendment legalizing medical marijuana, and an initiated act increasing the state’s minimum wage. Continue reading →

Term limits with no lifetime ban on ballot

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

For the fourth time, Arkansans will vote on legislative term limits. The big difference with Issue 2 this November is that it would remove the current lifetime ban.

The proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution would limit state legislators to 12 consecutive years served in any combination in the House and/or Senate. After sitting out four years, they could run for office again – but this time, not as incumbents.

State lawmakers currently are limited to 16 years served in any combination of the House and Senate – for life. Some senators have a two-year term at the end of the decade that doesn’t count as part of the 16. That would not be the case with this amendment. Continue reading →

Cotton’s absence gave Harrington center stage

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Ricky Harrington had a good week.

The Libertarian challenger to Republican Sen. Tom Cotton released a poll Oct. 10 showing he trailed Cotton only 49% to 38%, with 13% undecided. Again, that’s Harrington’s poll, and we’ll need to see other polls from independent sources, but it did get him some attention.

Cotton is a polarizing figure. His approval-disapproval rating was 44%-47% in a June poll by Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College. Independents disapproved, 39-51.

Also, Harrington is the only challenger after the Democrat dropped out hours after the filing period ended. Libertarians haven’t really cracked the 3% threshold of statewide support in Arkansas, but Democrats generally run close to 40%. It’s likely Harrington is winning their anti-Cotton vote by default.

The poll numbers gained Harrington some attention, and he’s been raising a little money lately – around $40,000 total, his campaign said. It’s certainly nowhere near Cotton’s millions, but he could afford to run a poll.

Then on Wednesday, Harrington had the stage to himself during the debates organized by Arkansas PBS. Cotton declined to participate. It wasn’t worth his time, and he saw more harm than good in sharing the stage with his opponent.

All the state’s other Republican congressmen participated in their debates. That includes the two who are safely headed toward re-election in races contested by both Democrats and Libertarians. Continue reading →

Are there other choices? Actually 11

Jo Jorgensen is the Libertarian presidential candidate.

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Surely some who endured the presidential debate  must be asking themselves this question: Is there another choice?

For Arkansas voters, the answer is yes. Actually, there are 11.

The most credible third party candidate is Dr. Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian. Jorgensen is a Clemson University psychology professor and was the party’s candidate for vice president in 1996. She made an August campaign stop in Little Rock where she gave a good speech and was impressive in an interview.

Libertarians favor extremely limited government, which some Americans might like in theory until they saw it would mean ending popular programs such as Social Security and Medicare. On the other hand, their taxes certainly would be lower. Continue reading →