Reform-minded young golfers

John Brummett puts Lu Hardin in context. He was part of a group of reform-minded state senators who challenged the status quo in the 1980s and 1990s. Several interesting names are mentioned: Mike Beebe, Bill Gwatney, and Nick Wilson.

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.

The Arkansas News Bureau observes that the "social Media" are suddenly making a big impact on Arkansas. Twitter, Facebook, and blogging allow anyone to participate in politics, communicate quickly, and by-pass the traditional media. These trend may not be totally new, but they are more in evidence now. Arkansas politics has been in a logjam for a long time, and now it may break free of the network of smug politicians who have largely looked out for themselves.

Blanche's office is sending out Tweets, according the Cleveland Plain Dealer. For more on her online efforts see here.

The ADG this morning has a lot on Arkansas politics. Berry won't run again because of unspecified health problems. His retirement along with Vick Snyder's and Blanche Lincoln's dismal polling numbers have thrown state politics into disarray. The political environment is in "full boil," according to a comment in the paper. Arkansas is entering "a once-in-a-generation moment when longtime politicians retire, opening up opportunities for a host of younger, ambitious office seekers," as David Pryor put it.

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Talk Business puts the political news in context:  63 percent of Arkansas "strongly disapprove" of the job Congress is doing.