The Tolbert Report

The Arkansas blogging community turned out to welcome Gov. Mike Huckabee back home on his book tour with his stop last night at Barnes and Noble in Little Rock. There was a good size crowd; my guess would be around 400. I attended with my wife Kathy, my son Luke, and my mother-in-law Linda (see picture left.) It was good to see and visit (shortly) with Gov. Huckabee again. The last time I saw Gov. Huckabee was in the Arkansas section on the floor of the Republican National Convention on Thursday night on the Convention! We also found out at a doctor’s appointment shortly before the event that we will be having a healthy baby boy in April. Needless to say last night was a good night and we have so many reasons to be thankful.

Also in attendance was Rep. Steve Harrelson from Under the Dome (pictured below.) Rep. Harrelson is the Democrat Majority Leader in the State House so it is pretty cool to see him out supporting Gov. Huckabee. According to Steve’s report, they became friends through their shared interest in running marathons and Gov. Huckabee is a regular reader of “Under the Dome.” Does Gov. Huckabee also read “The Tolbert Report?” If so – “Hello, Gov. Huckabee!”

Also from even further across the aisle, Max Brantley at the Ark Times blog sends his cub report David Boon to get his book signed and pick up a Team Huck shirt for him. Max laments that Boon decided to settle for having the Huckabus driver sign his book (to avoid the long line) and that the Team Huck shirt does not come in XXL. Anyway, Ark Times supplies us with some pretty good video below.

Gov. Mike Huckabee will be driving his Huckabus home tonight for the Thanksgiving Holiday for a pit stop in his 56 city book tour for his new book “Do the Right Thing.” I plan to attend tonight to get my copy signed so I will try to post a report on this. Gov. Huckabee will be at the Barnes and Noble in West Little Rock signing books from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The lines may be longer as I have heard reports of long lines at other book signings and David Kinkade at the Arkansas Project reports this morning that he received a robocall reminding him about the event.

By the way, I did finish reading the book and really enjoyed it. I still have not had a chance to put my thoughts down in a coherent review but perhaps I will get a chance to over the Thanksgiving Break.

Doyle Webb and Joseph Wood both appeared today on Dave Elswick’s talk radio show on KARN. They both made the case as to why they should be the Arkansas Republican Party Chairman.

Doyle Webb said that he is seeking this position not because he has any aspirations for public office but instead he wants to have promote the Republican Party and work full time to elect good candidates. Webb went on the say that he believes “the best government is the one nearest the people, at the local level” and that as a conservative he “wants to get more for your tax dollar” by help to build a more efficient form of government. Webb said that his experience in the state legislature, in the lieutenant governor’s office, and in various positions within the Party have prepared him to be the state party chairman.

Joseph Wood said that as chairman he wants to share his vision for the party. Wood wants to build upon the strategies the current chairman Dennis Milligan (who has publicly expressed support for Wood) has put in place and bring in new volunteers and new donors. He wants to build the party’s “brand name” by educating the community about what the Party stands for and strengthen the Party’s connection to the community.

Both men spent the afternoon taking questions from callers. One caller asked the candidates if they felt they could recruit candidates for the upcoming 2010 races, particularly the senate race against Sen. Blanche Lincoln, the representative race against Rep. Vic Synder, and the gubernatorial race against Gov. Mike Beebe. Wood said that his background in executive recruiting has prepared him to work in this area and to build relationships that will help recruit such candidates. He said that he has heard several names mentioned for the upcoming Senate race including former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Webb responded that while the party has done a good job recruiting candidates in the past, they have not done a good job supporting them. He said that the party needs to learn how “to block and tackle” instead of trying to “throw a last minute Hail Mary pass.” Webb stated, “We need to not only have the Republican name beside candidates but have a party organization behind them.”

Another caller, in reference to the Bush administration, asked if they felt the Republicans had adequate conservative leadership over the last eight years. Webb replied, “While he has tremendous respect for President Bush, he was not as conservative of a leader as President Ronald Reagan.” Webb said that on the state level, Democrats have controlled the state legislature for over one hundred years with failed results and it is time to give Republican a chance.

Wood responded that he believe President Bush will go down in history as “one of the greatest commanders-in-chief” but he did not do a good job controlling spending and allowed the government to continue growing in size.

Other callers asked how the candidates planned to connect with the community and communicate with the common voter as opposed to only the larger donors. Wood said that this begins by clearly communicating our values and our conservative principles and then moving into a connection with the community by using new technology and expanding community involvement. This will allow the Party to compete in future elections. Wood stated, “We don’t need to wait until 2010, we need to grow and we need do it now.”

In response, Webb said, “We have been not been effective communicators, and more importantly, we have not been effective listeners.” Webb wants to develop the state GOP website to be a resource for communication with the public and to encourage party involvement by letting people know when events are taking place and inviting people to attend. He also would like to see the party host some community meetings around the state to discuss issues directly with the public, noting that “good ideas don’t just come from Little Rock.”

In addition to the radio appearance of Webb and Wood, there was also some breaking news out of Fort Smith on the state Party Chairman’s race. Jake Files, the Sebastian County Republican Chairman, had announced that he was considering running for state chairman. Files told “The Tolbert Report” in an email today, “While I feel like there is a tremendous opportunity for the RPA to build and grow its numbers in the Legislature, I regret that I will not be able to continue my run for the Chairman’s seat.” Files stated that this was due to the fact that he is considering running for the state senate in 2010 and fells that he need to focus on that race. He did say that he is “going to be an active voice for the state party and hopes to contribute time and energy to building our base, growing our numbers, and working to see that Arkansas truly becomes a two-party state.”

I asked Files who he planned to vote for as state chairman, since Files is a member the State Republican Committee. He said that he has not yet decided although the individual that will receive his support “will be committed to making some changes in the operational side and focusing attention on building our numbers in the legislature.” He said that he does not know Joseph Wood but that he has visited with both Doyle Webb and Bryan King and believes they would both be committed to these ideals.

The State Republican Party Committee will meet on December 13 to elect their new State Chairman. The crowded field has developed after the current chairman, Dennis Milligan, announced earlier this month that he would not seek reelection.

Gov. Mike Beebe signed a clean water agreement today with Missouri Governor Matt Blout. Gov. Beebe spoke from Uncle Buck’s Auditorium at Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, MO. He started of by joking about staff member Andrew Parker stealing credit cards so that he could run up charges at Bass Pro Shops. Ah, credit card theft, that is one joke that never gets old.

He goes on to discuss how important it is for states to work together “to leave this place better than we found it” by working to keep our water clean. Then, a cell phone (maybe his, I don’t know) started ringing, and I sort of got distracted. Oh, yeah, then he starts talking about clean water again and that that having clean water is important for the future of both Arkansas and Missouri, blah, blah, blah. I know this story is even boring me as I am posting. But it is a very slow news day and I did find the above video, which is pretty cool I guess. Nothing compared to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s Turkey slaughterhouse interview, but hey I will take what I can get.

By now, I am sure most of you have seen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin being interviewing after pardoning a turkey in a video in which turkeys were being bloody slaughtered in the background. Taking note of this, as part of the Tolbert Report’s tireless effort to bring new and exciting original videos to my blog readers, I anxiously awaited Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe’s Thanksgiving week schedule. But to my disappointment, Gov. Beebe does not have turkey pardoning on this week’s schedule.

In a last ditch effort to not only find such an outstanding video of our own Arkansas governor but also save the life of at least one poor turkey, I asked Gov. Beebe’s Press Secretary Matt DeCample if any turkey pardons were scheduled. Much to my (and I am sure your) disappointment, DeCample said, “I can assure you, no turkey pardons are scheduled.” In addressing, the now famous Palin video, he told me “Backgrounds count.” How true. And now countless birds around the nation will have to miss out of the traditional governor’s pardon all because Gov. Palin was careless enough to not take that piece of advice to heart.

Cnn IReport reports on the Mike Huckabee book signing in Bentonville, AR where over 800 stood in line for hours to have their copy on “Do the Right Thing” signed by Gov. Huckabee. The video has a pretty good report of the event with some interviews from the crowd on why they support Gov. Huckabee. I finished reading my copy this morning and I really liked it, especially the last few chapters. I will post a longer review when I have a chance to put down my thoughts but it was good. Whether you are a Huckabee supporter or not, anyone who follows politics will enjoy the inside look at the Presidential Campaign.

The Griffin Room and the Arkansas Project, both fellow conservative Arkansas bloggers, and even the liberal Arkansas Times pick up on the tough spot in which poor Sen. Blanche Lincoln has found herself. Sen. Lincoln has survived as a Democrat Senator from a red state by effectively playing both sides of the issues. She faces a similar problem that her junior colleague Sen. Mark Pryor faces but she responds quite differently. Sen. Pryor often takes the more Conservative “Blue Dog” Democrat approach.

Sen. Lincoln on the other hand is a fence straddler. She often will take both sides on the issue until it is impossible to tell where she stands. This has worked well for her in a Senate evenly split between Republican and Democrats and the Republican Bush administration in the White House. In fact, she was often the swing vote and would use this to leverage some pork, eh, much needed legislation for her home state.

But alas, for Swingin’ Lincoln, the good old days are gone. With President Elect Obama set to take office and the Democrat fighting to win a seat in Georgia and steal a seat in Minnesota to reach the magical 60 seat number, Sen. Lincoln is being asked to do something she does not like to do – pick a side. This has come to a head on her vote on the misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act” which would allow the Labor Union Bosses more power to strong arm employee into joining the union with such measure as the elimination secret ballots. Arkansas business leaders are lobbying Sen. Lincoln to vote no on the bill, pointing out that 95% of her home state is non-unionized. But her good buddies inside the Beltway are insisting that she fall in line with the Party who is largely backed by these Labor Union Bosses.

Speaking on this issue to business leaders in Little Rock, Sen. Lincoln said, “I know it’s a big concern among the business community, and I know it’s a big concern among the labor community. I hope what we don’t do is to allow that discussion to become a distraction to the very critical issues that are facing this country right now.” In other words, can’t we talk about something else? How about something we are agree on where I can’t make anyone mad.

I think the days of Swingin’ Lincoln are over; she will have to pick a side. She will either have to join Sen. Pryor’s Blue Dog club and no longer be the popular kid at her Washington cocktail parties or she will have to cave in to Majority Leader Harry Reid’s iron fist and live it up during her last term in office. Either way, it will be an improvement.

Another round of bills were pre-filed in the Senate today. Sen. Denny Altes filed seven bills dealing with subjects from national teacher certification to additional state capital gains exemptions to a statewide prescription drug monitoring program. Combined with the ten bills Sen. Altes filed Wednesday, he is in the lead for most bills filed at seventeen. Sen. Terry Smith also filed SB 26 today, the Senate version of the Lottery Bill. This bill will compete with the House version, HB 1002, which still remains the only bill filed in the House.

The Senate and House Committees of Revenue and Taxation met together to discuss a proposal from Sen. Denny Altes to create a one day back to school sales tax holiday on the first Saturday in August. The committee hearing took several interesting turns, particularly when Rep. Lindsley Smith asked about whether the sales tax exemption would include underwear. I visited with Sen. Altes after the hearing and he said he has already pre-filed SB 12 which will create the one day back to school holiday on clothing items less than $75. He told me he hopes this will help low and middle income families to be able to better afford clothing for their school aged children. The DFA impact study projects that the bill would have a revenue impact of around $1.6 million.

UPDATE – Seth Blomely from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette also covered the hearing and comments on the underwear story as well.

The St. Paul Minneapolis Star Tribune has a story today on the ballot challenges of Al Franken in the race for U.S. Senator from Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Secretary of State, Sen. Norm Coleman currently leads Al Franken by 215 votes before the recount. However, Franken has called for a recount to put forward the Democratic principles of “making sure every vote is counted.” That is unless the voter disregards the rules to properly use a sharpened number 2 pencil and stay inside the bubble filling it in its entirety. As Franken quite correctly points out, there is no way the ballot pictured above was for Sen. Norm Coleman. The voter clearly is not staying within the lines and it almost looks like an X instead a filled in circle. Perhaps the voter was trying to say,”No Sen. Norm Coleman, not you again.” Who knows? It is clearly impossible for any rational person to figure out. This ballot, along with any other ballot where the voter has such blatant disregard for the staying inside the lines rules, should be tossed aside and the voters should have there vote registration revoked.