Key right person to lead schools, but has tiger by the tail

Johnny Key speaks after Gov. Asa Hutchinson announces him as his choice as education commissioner in 2015.

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

Johnny Key is the right person to serve as education secretary for Arkansas’ 263 school districts including charters, but with one of them, he has a tiger by the tail.

Key was appointed education commissioner by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in 2015, a move that met with some disgruntlement in the education community. That disgruntlement was caused by Key not having a background in education, other than owning a day care.

Instead, Key had been a Republican representative and then senator based in Mountain Home who had chaired the Senate Education Committee. He had a party label, but he sought consensus and got along well with others.

His political background meant he could build bridges between educators accustomed to working with Democrats, and the Republicans who now control the Legislature – and will control it for a long time. He understands education politics as well as anyone. What he may not know about education technicalities – he can hire educators for that. Continue reading →

Cotton picks Greenland

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 →

Mike Beebe: From shack to Governor’s Mansion to new film

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

First, Mike Beebe overcame an impoverished early childhood. Then, he overcame a Republican tide to be re-elected governor and win all 75 counties in 2010.

How he did both are subjects of a new hour-long documentary, “Men and Women of Distinction: Mike Beebe.”

The documentary was screened Wednesday at the Arkansas Cinema Society’s annual Filmland festival. AETN, which funded the $46,000 project, will begin broadcasting it Aug. 29. It also will be available for viewing at AETN’s website, aetn.org.

The work of first-time director Kathryn Tucker is an interesting look at one of Arkansas’ most important political leaders of the past half century. It’s well produced and worth an hour of your time – unless you can’t stand Beebe. That’s because it paints a very positive portrait of him, though everyone in the film seems to agree he had a cocky streak, including his wife, Ginger.

The film tells how Beebe was born in a tar paper shack in Amagon to a single mom waitress. They moved around during his early years. He never knew his biological father and had several stepfathers. Continue reading →

Arkansas gets more of a say for president. Is it worth it?

By Steve Brawner, vote, Mark Moore, 16-year-olds, Arkansas primaries, Goodson, photo ID© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Legislators this year permanently moved Arkansas’ presidential primary elections to March, and recently the state starting seeing the maybe-or-not-worth-it results: visits by two mid-tier Democratic presidential candidates.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke both talked guns.

In a press conference Aug. 15, Klobuchar touted universal background checks and barring guns from people convicted of domestic abuse against unmarried partners. As the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s John Moritz reported, she also expressed support for “red flag” laws creating a process for temporarily removing guns from people deemed a threat.

O’Rourke narrowly lost a high-profile Senate race in Texas last year. He entered this campaign with much promise but has yet to catch fire, so he’s trying to create a spark.

He spoke Aug. 17 at the state Democratic Party’s Clinton Dinner, spoke at a gun control rally at the state Capitol, and visited a gun show in Conway. O’Rourke has called for banning military-style assault rifles and instituting a mandatory government buyback program where owners of those weapons who don’t participate would be fined.

O’Rourke formerly represented El Paso, where a mass shooter killed 22 people Aug. 3. Continue reading →

What happens when Texas becomes a purple state?

Democrats, Alabama, blue wave, school boards, Hixson, Breanne, red tide, judicial electionsBy Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Arkansas is now dominated by Republicans, so the outcomes of most of next year’s elections aren’t in doubt here. Our neighbor, Texas – that’s where things are getting interesting.

Texas, formerly one of the country’s reddest states, is turning a shade of purple, with potentially huge electoral consequences for the entire country.

The state has 36 House members, nine times as many as Arkansas. Twenty-three are Republicans and 13 are Democrats, and both senators are Republicans.

But four Republican House members have recently announced they are retiring – three of them in competitive districts, which is no coincidence. The latest, Rep. Kenny Marchant, is leaving office after eight terms in a Dallas district after being re-elected with only 50.6% of the vote last year.

Prior to that, Rep. Will Hurd, the only African-American Republican in the House, and one of two in Congress, announced he is not running for re-election. A critic of President Trump who represents a district on the Mexican border, he was re-elected in 2018 by fewer than 1,000 votes. Continue reading →