We have two really good political flaps going on in Arkansas right now. One involves the use of state-own vechicles. Jason Tolbert has a link to Gov. Beebe's report along with his comments. See ADG story here. The governor seems most upset with the fact that the state's colleges and universities own more than 1,500 vehicles. When I was a professor and needed to attend a meeting I always checked out a school car. Why take my own car and put miles on it? With a school car you were given a credit card in case the vehicle broke down. One time this did happen on a trip with a van-load of students.

Governor Beebe is going to fix the problem to some degree, but some agencies are independent. The Game and Fish Commission has been singled out in press reports for having more vehicles than employees. Republicans claim that the main problem lies with the state's constitutional officers.

The other flap concerns pastors, as they are called in the newspaper, who receive tax-exemptions for their homes. Some of these homes are assessed at over a quarter of a million dollars. The ADG quotes tax assessor Janet Troutman, "It used to be that parsonages were right next to the church, but that's evolved over the years. The church business has changed. I hate to say it's a business, but it is a business." She has decided that several ministers are no longer exempt for property taxes.