No ‘I feel your pain’ answer from Cotton

By Steve Brawner

© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

May 16, 2019

We don’t do politics like we used to. Exhibit A would be President Trump and his trade policies. Exhibit B would be Arkansas’ junior senator.

Trump won the presidency as a Republican despite counteracting some long-held Republican beliefs, particularly about trade.

Republican officeholders have been internationalist free-traders, even while many of their voters weren’t. In many cases, those voters stuck with Republicans, or started voting for them, because of cultural issues like guns and abortion.

But now Trump has come along and spoken to their economic anxieties as well – by initiating a trade war with China, and by making illegal immigration his primary issue.

The trade war has alarmed many Republicans and people who support Republicans. Continue reading →

Let’s talk politics – for 2022

By Steve Brawner

© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

May 14, 2019

Next year’s politics will be dominated in Arkansas by the presidential race, despite Sen. Tom Cotton’s already contested re-election race and several interesting ballot initiatives.

It’s in 2022 that the focus will be on Arkansas races. Sen. John Boozman will be up for re-election, and the state’s most prominent statewide officials will be term-limited.

It’s early, but let’s speculate. Continue reading →

One family’s calling to serve the least of these

Project Zero

Donald and Jennifer White with, from left, Lilly, Keelan, Michael and Aiden.

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

The number of Arkansas foster children waiting to be adopted has fallen to 343 as of Saturday, and Donald and Jennifer White are the reason it’s not 347.

The Little Rock couple finalized their second two-sibling adoption April 26 by welcoming brothers Keelan, 4, and Aiden, 3, into their family.

Like their new older siblings, Michael, 10, and Lilly, 6, the two brothers first came into the home as foster children. When parental rights were terminated, the Whites adopted them.

“They felt like they were a part of us,” Jennifer said. “We felt like they were a part of us, so it just made sense.”

The Whites became foster parents about a decade ago after a friend underwent the preparation process and alerted them to the need. At the time they had two sons, 12 and 10, and hadn’t really thought about fostering. But their interest was sparked by that friend and by Bible passages like Matthew 25, where Jesus speaks of “the least of these.”

“I know what our Creator wants us to do,” Donald said, “and that’s what I’m designed to try to do with His ability.” Continue reading →

Seeking signatures, not funnel cakes, at Toad Suck Daze

Michael Pakko

Dr. Michael Pakko, right, and Joe Swafford, left, seek signatures at Toad Suck Daze.

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

Dr. Michael Pakko doesn’t have a problem getting people’s attention when he stands before Arkansas business leaders to give his annual state economic forecast. Last Saturday was a little harder.

On that day, he was asking voters to sign a petition qualifying his Libertarian Party for next year’s ballot while standing in front of a vendor that was selling funnel cakes and other items at Toad Suck Daze in Conway.

Pakko is chief economist and state economic forecaster at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Arkansas Economic Development Institute.

He’s also the state Libertarian Party chairman, which became harder this year with the passage of Act 164. It increased the number of signatures third parties must collect for ballot access from 10,000 to almost 26,750 in a 90-day period. Continue reading →

Highway tax supporters might keep this in mind

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

Supporters of the legislatively referred constitutional amendment that’s most likely to pass in 2020 might want to think about how they’ll distance their proposal from the two that probably won’t.

The one that’s most likely to pass would indefinitely extend a half-cent sales tax for highways. Voters first passed the tax with 58 percent support in 2012 to fund the Connecting Arkansas Program, but it’s due to expire in 2023. Pre-legislative session polling by supporters found an extension had similar support. Gov. Asa Hutchinson made fixing roads a priority this session. The state’s most powerful business groups were big supporters. Lawmakers were hearing from constituents who want the potholes filled.

In response, legislators placed the extension on the 2020 ballot – one of three proposals the Constitution allows them to make.

One problem for highway supporters could be the other two. Continue reading →