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OPINION: SB 301 REPRESENTS THE “SWAMP” ARKANSAS POLITICS

By: Chris Stafford, Reopen Arkansas

Arkansas SB301 was born when a few legislators, led by Senator Dan Sullivan, had enough of the Governor’s use of Arkansas small businesses as a punching-bag pawn by directing his Covid19 enforcement efforts exclusively against them. Not a single big-box store was inspected or fined by the Governor’s enforcers.  Small businesses from gyms to restaurants to salons to bars were hounded and fined relentlessly. Many went bankrupt.   SB301 would have returned Covid19 related fines the Governor and executive branch imposed exclusively on small businesses. It passed in the Arkansas Senate and House overwhelmingly, with the legislature apparently recognizing the lopsided unfairness of the attack solely on small business. Then, instead of returning fine money to small businesses as gesture of goodwill and to help them on the road to recovery, the Governor vetoed SB301.

The Governor argued publicly that the bill interfered with the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches.  When the Governor received little to no pushback on his Pinocchio claims from an absent press, he had the green light for the veto. In reality, the opposite of the Governor’s claim is true.  The executive branch is barred from making law – exactly what the Governor embarked on over one year ago with nearly a hundred “mandates”, “directives” and whatever other names he could come up with, declaring his rules had the force of law.   In fact, that is largely the reason for a current pending lawsuit led by a number of legislators and the citizen’s groups, Reopen Arkansas and NE Arkansas Tea Party, against the Governor’s Covid19 actions.

The veto should have easily been overridden; and it was, quickly and decisively in the Senate, which is less vulnerable to the Governor’s bully pulpit and a complicit press. Not so in the Arkansas House. Whereas 67 House members had voted to pass SB301 the week prior, only 39 voted for the bill again, to over-ride his veto. So, what happened to swing 27 votes in less than two weeks, and leave Arkansas small businesses out in the cold?

We don’t know what happened for sure, but numerous individuals have indicated the Governor started making calls to House members prior to his veto. It’s a safe bet those calls weren’t simply “could you please not vote to override my veto.”   The governor has in the recent past actually run primary candidates against his own party members in the legislature who displeased him. There are also the “favors.”  Does a representative’s district need funding associated with the Governor’s discretionary fund or other funding the Governor largely influences?  It’s a safe bet they won’t get it if they’ve crossed this governor. Then there’s that bully pulpit the Governor can use to paint legislators in a bad light and a main-stream press that no longer has any interest in holding a left leaning political class accountable for anything – especially a left leaning Governor with an “R” in front of his name.

Senate Bill 301 tells us that the state of Arkansas politics differs only in degree to the “swamp” that plagues our nation’s capital. That can change if voters start paying attention.  And more and more are paying attention since the recent “open and fair” election where that guy whose name starts with a T(rump) lost fair and square – that’s sarcasm in case you missed it. If enough voters are paying attention and send a few of the Arkansas House Members who reversed their votes on SB301 to find new employment come the next election, the legislature will take note.  Next time they may be more worried about their constituents sending them packing, than the threat of the Governor’s displeasure or withholding of favor.   Perhaps they’re that worried presently, as there has been discussion of vote expungement and a re-do on the SB301 issue, but that remains to be seen.

Here are the Arkansas House Republican members who reversed their votes on SB301, siding with the Governor and refusing to override his veto, instead of siding with Arkansas small businesses and the families and citizens dependent upon them for their livelihoods:

BOYD                                                             DAVIS                                                           HAWKS                                             SMITH(S)

BRAGG                                                          EAVES                                                          JEAN                                                  TOSH

BREAUX                                                       EUBANKS                                                    LYNCH                                               WARDLAW

BROWN                                                        EVANS                                                          JOHNSON                                         WARREN

CRAWFORD                                               FITE(C)                                                         MCNAIR                                             VAUGHT

COLEMAN                                                  FITE(L)                                                         LADYMAN

COZART                                                      HOLCOMB                                                   MADDOX

 

 

 

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