Blake’s Think Tank responds to my commentary on the LR power grab UPDATE: I respond to Blake’s response

Blake Rutherford wrote an incredibly reasonable and complimentary response to my recent postings on Little Rock city government’s current proposal to further solidify control in the hands of wealth special interests in his “Blake’s Think Tank” blog.

He does me honor by the extensive quote of my arguments against the August 14 ballot measure. Alas, he’s wrong.

It is an understandable error to take the twin items before voters as a first move toward more needed reform in Little Rock city hall. Alas, if this first step passes, it will surely be the last step taken for many years.

Proponents have only one object in the initiatives. They intend to preserve the three at-large seats which favor the wealthy interests that make contributions to those who run citywide for those positions. Doing so is essential to the larger plan to impose the land use plans of greedy real estate interests.

Let me quote myself. (Is this some sort of Internet first???)

The problem is the underlying hybrid manager-council arrangement in Little Rock, which includes three at large city directors. One more time, let us do the math. It costs more money to run citywide, so those individuals must raise enough to buy advertising and are more beholden to the special interests who make campaign contributions. They mayor also runs at-large. That’s four votes. Now, follow me. This is important.

There are eleven votes on the council, so it takes six to get something passed. There are two wards which would be considered affluent. Taken together with the mayor and three at-large seats, the wealthy special interests win every important vote.

The slick ad you got in the mail today never told you any of this, did it? They also did not tell you that, under this proposed reorganization, the mayor can hire and fire the city manager and city attorney. (Yes, we keep those high paying positions even though the mayor becomes a six-figure executive.) With six votes always in his back pocket, the mayor will attain absolute control over city hall.

As hard as it is to believe, things could actually get worse for neighborhoods and regular folks.

(WOW! That was fun!

Indeed, Little Rock needs a strong mayor and I would have no object to that man being Mark Stodola. The problem is institutional. The wealthy elites will never allow taking away their playhouse. As things are set up now, they win every time and this election changes none of that.

None of the cities cited as being successful with strong mayors has even ONE at-large board member AMONG THEM ALL. Without exception, the mayor-council form has local ward representation. One man, one vote. If it can work in South Africa, why not Little Rock? Why must the wealthy run everything?

Passing these measure assures 15 years of relentless tyranny.

Little Rock needs a mayor-council form of local government and the big shots will do anything to keep that from happening.

VOTE “NO” TWICE in early voting and on August 14.

UPDATE: My further response to Blake (who has a really cool and thoughtful blog and is going to be on my radio program Friday morning.)

It is true that I cannot foretell the future. I am good, but not that good. I do know something about history and human nature. The last tiem we in LR had the chance to “reform” city government was about 15 years ago. The power brokers ran a sneaky deal to keep control of things by offering up this hybrid thing with which we have been saddled ever since.

I must imagine that, once passed, the rich owners of local government will tell us worthless peons to “wait and see” how it works. All the while, they will continue robbing us blind. 15 years form now in 2022, we MIGHT get a chance to vote on a mayor-council arrangement. That is 15 long years of exploitation.

It would be such a good thing if the highly paid and more powerful mayor were held accountable by the people, but how is that supposed to happen? Who will have the money to run against him? If we got a mayor who represented neighborhood interests, the special interests would still control 5 votes. They only have to fool one ward representative to win the big ones.

I am holding out for the mayor-council form of government, and passage of the twin ballot items on August 14 assures no more reform for years. I believe my analysis is supported by history, common sense and an understanding of human nature.

VOTE “NO” TWICE ON THE LITTLE ROCK POWER GRAB.

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Tuesday summary

Arkansas is among a group of states that don’t think the Internet should be a tax-free haven for online shoppers. Since 2001, Arkansas has worked with several states in a project to streamline tax codes so vendors can tax online and mail-purchases when the retailer is located outside the buyer’s home state.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox will not stop the Little Rock School District from buying out the contract of Superintendent Roy Brooks. In two rulings issued Monday Fox declined to order a preliminary injunction to stop the payments, and issued a summary judgment for the school board and the district.

Three Texas men remain hospitalized, one in critical condition, after a fight Sunday between rival motorcycle clubs in Eureka Springs, where the Hells Angels met last week. Police arrested six men, including five who are Hells Angels. All are being held in the Carroll County Jail awaiting bond hearings, each on a charge of first-degree battery.

The small White County town of Garner is the new headquarters for a motorcycle club which is somehow affiliated with the Bandidos, a violent group known for its involvement in organized crime, especially the selling of methamphetamine. Local interest in the presence of Bandidos in White County began earlier in the spring when a building at 102 South Main Street was acquired by a motorcycle club.

Bikes, Blues & BBQ hasn’t had a problem with motorcycle clubs or gangs because event organizers and a strong police presence discourage them from attending, Fayetteville officials said Monday.

Axciom has released the salaries of top executives. Charles Morgan, the Little Rock-based data broker’s chief executive, received $1,151,210 for the year. The total includes Morgan’s bonus, salary and other compensation. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette also includes the estimated value of stock options and awards granted for the year in its calculation. Frank Cotroneo, who resigned as chief financial officer in February after nine months, received $1,000,851, including the severance payment.

Tyson Foods Inc. exceeded analysts’ expectations Monday when it announced $111 million in net earnings for its third fiscal quarter, the best results for the meat company in two years.

The Bankers Bank of Georgia, the nation’s largest institution that supplies services to banks, is doing business with about 15 Arkansas banks and expects to open an office in the state eventually, one of its officers said Monday. »

A missing 3-year-old boy is safe after being found in a deer stand in Pearcy following a three-hour search by authorities and emergency personnel Monday morning. Connor Williams, wearing only a T-shirt and underwear, reportedly was abandoned in the tree stand in a thickly wooded area off Whitfield Road by his mother, Dianna Farmer who was arrested Monday on a felony charge of endangering the welfare of a minor in the first degree.

Sherwood residents go to the polls today to fill the mayor’s office after an election earlier this month narrowed the race to interim Mayor Bill Harmon and City Clerk Virginia Hillman.

Jonesboro police have backed out of an offer to reimburse 18 traffic tickets issued by police officers conducting an operation to trap motorists into violating Arkansas’ new law requiring drivers to move to an inside land when police are on the shoulder. Attorneys are promising to fight the tickets.

Ex-American Idol Corey Clark, who claimed to have had an affair with show co-host Paula Abdul, is in the North Little Rock jail after being arrested early Monday on charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Clark has outstanding warrants from Arizona for aggravated harassment and interference with judicial proceedings. He awaits extradition.

A dispatcher with the Hughes Police Department is facing charges of theft of property after her arrest Friday. According to a report from the St. Francis County Sheriff’s Department, Stephanie Fuller, 37, of Hughes, was arrested and charged with theft of property under $500.

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Dirksmeyer Developments

The Russellville Courier had a sit down with the local prosecutor over the just concluded Kevin Jones murder trial. Talk about a bunch of rationalizations and excuses. You can read it all here.

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Clinton correspondence

A former pen pal of young Hillary Rodham has released 30 letters penned by the then-Wellesley student from back in the mid-60’s. Some friend, huh?

Do not take this as a defense of the Democratic presidential candidate and former Arkansas First Lady, but Isn’t it just something how people who are supposed to be a friend just toss you under the bus? There was nothing intimate or sexual in the lengthy letters, although I am sure the far right slander machine will go to work on an intelligent and socially conscious young person who was desperately trying to get her own life organized and amount to something.

I wonder what sort of letters George W. Bush was writing when he was in college. Don’t you suppose those would be some kind of literary triumph? If I am correctly informed, young women could not be officially admitted to Harvard at the time, and Wellesley was the equivalent Ivy League college for brilliant young females. She was sure that.

If I had my head on half as straight, I might have made something of myself. The story is in the New York Times and I am sure you can find it online.

Of course, I’m not satisfied. I want to know what she was thinking in Junior High.

(Broadcast July 30, 2007)

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We have guests

Tuesday morning at 9, the legal correspondent, local lawyer Les Ablondi, will stop in and I have a number of things to hash out with him.

Thursday at 9, yet another lawyer – and this one is a poltician, Rebekah Kennedy drops by. She is the Libertarian candidate for U. S. Senate.

If you missed my visit with the Sports Doctor, Gary Campbell, it is now posted on my home page, lyncho.com.

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Monday summary

Arkansas’ ability to ensure health care for its neediest children will be jeopardized if a federally funded health insurance program is allowed to expire. In his weekly radio address, Gov. Mike Beebe called on Congress to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. Congress has been debating the future of the 10-year-old program. The program will expire if it is not reauthorize by Sept. 30.

More than 600 new state laws take effect Tuesday, including one allowing charitable bingo games. So far 141 organizations across the state have registered to host the games. Among other laws passed this year, one adds a 1 percent tax on beer. Another limits the marrying age.

Four members of a rival biker gang were stabbed, and two critically injured, in a melee Sunday afternoon with a group of Hells Angels outside a closed antique shop in Eureka Springs, police said. Six members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club are being held for questioning. Their names were not released.

A former Fordyce police chief is charged with capital murder in the shooting death of his wife, with whom he taught Sunday school. Paul Douglas Gill is accused of killing Sandra Kaye Gill on March 22 at their Fordyce home and then trying to make it look like a suicide.

Kenneth James Istre of Russellville is facing child rape charges in connection with a series of alleged rapes investigators say occurred while the victim, a family member, was between the ages of 6 and 8 years old.

A Barling woman is facing charges after reportedly striking two children with her vehicle and fleeing the scene. Jessica Nicole Turner was arrested on suspicion of leaving the scene of a personal injury accident and driving while intoxicated. Two girls, aged 11 and 14, required hospital treatment. One sustained a broken ankle.

A Little Rock man accused in separate acts of firing a crossbow at a motorist and shooting out a window of a pizza restaurant with a shotgun was pronounced fit for trial Friday. A state psychologist who examined 27-year-old Wayne Allen Dierks Jr. found him competent to stand trial, diagnosing him with alcohol and marijuana dependence, in remission, and with a depressive disorder.

Authorities have identified a woman whose body was found hanging in a tree west of Batesville on Wednesday morning. Kevin Scott Honeycutt told police he found the body of Elizabeth Yvette Crutcher of Batesville hanging by a rope from a tree near his house.

A federal judge says that Hollis Wayne Fincher misrepresented his financial condition and will have to pay for his court-appointed attorneys. U.S. District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren also said he’ll ask the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to send the case back to him so he can resentence the militia leader based on his actual assets.

El Dorado Chemical Co. is still a partner in a proposal to build a pipeline to ferry wastewater to the Ouachita River, a company official said Friday – a month after the chemical manufacturer announced it planned to withdraw from the project. Gregory Withrow, general manager of El Dorado Chemical, said that the company did not want its three partners to have to restart the permitting process.

The Arkansas Travelers Baseball Club Inc. has settled up with the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, sending the agency $10,361 in back taxes from when the team played at Ray Winder Field.

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Get ready for doomsday

Since I was already up early, and the morning web walking was going well, I thought this might be a perfect opportunity to take the air out of your balloon, and ruin your day.

This may be hard to believe, but President Bush has yet another plan to take more power for himself. In this circumstance, all he need do is declare a disaster. The Memphis Commercial Appeal has the poop.

The plan, embodied in National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD-51), was issued without fanfare by Bush on May 9. It draws upon blueprints prepared by past administrations stretching back to the Truman administration.

The latest directive underscores long-standing presidential authority to declare a “catastrophic emergency” and coordinate “enduring constitutional government.”

But it also awards the president broader authority to take over disaster recovery from state officials and calls on federal authorities to provide “appropriate support” to the vice president to orchestrate any post-attack recovery, if necessary.

More power for the Vice-President? What could possibly be wrong with that?

One congressman, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, complains that the White House has rejected his request to review secret parts of the Bush plan.

“Maybe people who think there’s a conspiracy out there are right,” DeFazio speculates. “I just can’t believe they’re going to deny a member of Congress the right of reviewing how they plan to conduct the government of the United States after a significant terrorist attack.”

Then again, President Clinton and Vice-President Obama may need expanded executive powers to deal with such dire contingencies.

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Teaching Arkansas History

All the discussion about teaching Arkansas History has been most enlightening. I have no idea which side is right, and since when should the governor decide? Mr. Beebe, you may be heading for your first serous mistake.

I studied Alabama history for a semester of my freshman year at McGill High in Mobile. Our teacher was a man named Bob Castalian. He had deep wrinkles from working on a shrimp boat, and we called him “Scuba Bob.” The other half of the year was civics, and I had known that material all my life.

I do vividly recall our instructor’s respect for the early native people who inhabited Alabama, the five civilized tribes. He talked at length about a game played by the Cherokees called “ball play.” It was some sort of primitive form of baseball, but they didn’t even have steroids back then. All of the explorers came through Alabama and everything was going fine till about 1860. Then it all fell apart and how are you supposed to teach that anyway.

Come to think of it, I have a renewed appreciation for folks in Germany and Japan teaching about the unpleasantness of 60 years ago. Judge Buzz Arnold wrote a book on colonial Arkansas which pretty much says it all. St. Louis became the big city and economic development moved north.

(Broadcast July 27, 2007)

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Dems on YouTube

Even with the added value of viewer questions by way of You-Tube, I could not bring myself to endure the debacle of another Democratic presidential debate. It’s like a deathwatch. Everybody is waiting for the fatal error, and that seems a little morbid.

Here is where things stand, just in case you were wondering. There are three legitimate leaders at this moment. Obama, Edwards and Clinton are out in front, but it is tighter than you may think.

Edwards is running well in Iowa and Obama is a hit in New Hampshire. If either, or both, should pull even a narrow upset over Senator Clinton, she will have to do some damage control. Obama is especially dangerous because he is raising large amounts of money with which to get his name and message out to voters.

It is still Hillary Clinton’s nomination to lose, but it is very early. In politics, it is useless to make predictions. One good thing that is happening is that the candidates are defining themselves and being civil about it for the most part.

The issues are a lot more important than personalities, and how they deal with issues tells us a lot about character.

(Broadcast July 26, 2007)

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Little Rock Zoo attendance up so far this year

Zoo Director, Mike Blakely, was in for a checkup Friday morning. He says that crowds are coming back to the zoo since much of the construction has ended and some new facilities are open. It’s a fine hour, and I have posted it online at my home page in the Audio “on demand:” section.

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