The Tolbert Report

See the pro-life ad that NBC thought was too controversial to air during the Super Bowl. Why? Simply because it had a pro-life message. Unbelievable!

The Democrat Party of Arkansas released a press release this morning saying there is now bipartisan support for the cigarette tax increase. They plan to have a rally at the state capital on Monday at 11:00 to prove it. However, it does not say who the Republicans are that support the tax hike. I guess you will have to show up on Monday to find out.

Right now, the only name I have heard is Rep. Rick Green. This rally looks like an attempt to try and shore up support before the Republican rally against increasing your taxes on Tuesday with former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

Here is the Press Release (thanks to Max Brantley) …

HEALTH AND TOBACCO NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE
DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS UNITE IN THE FACE OF BIG TOBACCO

At a bipartisan announcement Monday, a call will be made to put Arkansas’s health care needs above partisanship despite efforts by the national tobacco lobby to divide Arkansas’s elected leaders.

WHO: Democratic and RepublicanLeaders
WHAT: Call For Bipartisan Cooperation in the Face of Divisive Action by Big Tobacco
WHERE: State Capitol Rotunda
WHEN: 11 a.m. Monday, February 2, 2009

UPDATE – I was told by an inside source that the other Republican who wants to raise your taxes is Sen. Cecile Bledsoe.

Today, the Republican National Committee will meet in Washington, DC to elect their officers. Even though the candidate I had supported, Chip Saltsman dropped out of the race on Thursday, there is still no consensus on who will win. The Washington Post’s blog The Fix has a good wrap up of where the candidates now stand. According to them, current Chairman Mike Duncan has the most committed votes at around 50 or 60; however, as the incumbent this means over 100 members of the Committee are looking for a change. Conventional wisdom is that Michael Steele, the outspoken charismatic GOPAC Chairman from Maryland, is close behind him. Saul Anuzis, as GOP Chairman of Michigan, and Katon Dawson, as GOP Chairman of South Carolina, also have a good deal of support and as RNC members themselves have an inside connection.

With Saltsman out, my personal favorite is former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell although he reportedly has the least support on the committee. I guess I just like an underdog. Blackwell has impressed me the most both with his presentation at the forums over the past month and with the endorsements he has received from people I respect such as James Dobson. Although Blackwell seems to be the favorite of Social Conservatives, unfortunately that has not translated into support on the Committee.

On the Arkansas front, RNC members Jim Burnett and Reta Hamilton are firmly in the Mike Duncan camp. As long time Party loyalists, this is not surprising; Duncan has been their man and they are sticking with him. Reports are that they are not only voting for Duncan but are working to convince other RNC members to vote for him as well. On the other hand, Arkansas Chairman Doyle Webb told me personally that he has not committed to anyone yet and is going into the meeting with an open mind.

Either way, we will all know one way or the other by Friday afternoon. With 85 votes needed to win, it is doubtful if anyone will win on the first ballot, unless some backroom deals are made in advance. The thing to watch on the first ballot will be how close can Duncan gets to the 85-vote mark. If he can get within 20 votes are so, then look for a deal or two to put him over the top on the second ballot. Otherwise, he will have a tough time convincing members looking for a change to switch their vote to him. The more rounds the voting last, the better the chance for the underdogs.

We will be watching this tomorrow with our Arkansas blogger in the field, K. Ryan James. (photos from his blog) He will be posting updates on his blog and via twitter. Even though Duncan seems to have the edge, I will be cheering alongside many grassroots activists that the RNC will vote for a change.

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UPDATE - It looks like C-SPAN will be carrying the meeting and vote this morning. I will try to listen and update this on my twitter account.
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UPDATE II – 10:50 AM CST – The first ballots have been cast and are now being counted. We will know the result soon. Will there be a winner or will there be more ballots? Most are saying more ballots.

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UPDATE III – 11:05 AM CST - First round results are Duncan 52, Steele 46, Dawson 28, Anuzis 22, Blackwell, 20. Since no one recieved the 85 votes needed, there will be another round!

Only 52 votes is a low number for the incumbant Mike Duncan. He could be done!

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UPDATE IV – 11:45 AM CST – Second round done. Ballots being counted. Tons of rumors of deals being made.

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UPDATE V – 11:55 AM CST - Second round results – Duncan 48, Steele 48, Dawson 29, Anuzis 24, Blackwell 19

We will move on to round three. The big news here is Duncan lost 4 votes and Steele picked up 2, for a tie for the current “lead.” I think this means Duncan is finished but where will his supporters go?

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UPDATE VI – 12:35 AM CST - Third round results – Steele 51 Duncan 44 Dawson 34 Anuzis 24 Blackwell 15

Steele has taken the lead and Duncan continues to lose votes, although Dawson picked up the most in this round. Time to play let’s make a deal before round four!

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UPDATE VII – 1:10 PM CST - Mike Duncan withdrawls his name before the fourth round of voting! There will be a new RNC Chairman – but who?

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UPDATE VIII – 1:40 PM CST - Fourth round results – Dawson 62 Steele 60 Anuzis 31 Blackwell 15 – Dawson take the lead for basically a tie with Steele! Will Anuzis or Blackwell make a deal? Either one could put Dawson or Steele at the 85-vote mark.

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UPDATE IX - 2:05 PM CST – Ken Blackwell withdraws and endorses Michael Steele before the fifth round of voting. Will it be enough to put Steele over the top? Probably.

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UPDATE X – 2:25 PM CST – Fifth Round results – Steele 79, Dawson 69, Anuzis 20. Immediately after the results were announced, Saul Anuzis says “That’s Saul folks!” and withdraws but does not endorse.

It will be decided in the next round with either Michael Steele or Katon Dawson.

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UPDATE XI - Michael Steele is elected the new Chairman of the Republican National Commitee by a final ballot vote of Steele 91, Dawson 77!

Here is his acceptance speech…

Chip Saltsman has withdrawn from the RNC Chairman’s race the night before Friday’s vote releasing the following statement. I worked with Chip during Mike Huckabee’s Presidential Campaign and know him to be a good and brilliant man. I wish him the best. As for the remaining RNC Chairman candidates, I am now cheering for Ken Blackwell. I will post more on that later…

I just wrapped up an interview with KATV’s Jessica Dean at the state capital. Her “Choose Your News” story today is on “Blogging Boom: Arkansas’ New Media.” She interviewed me and Blake Rutherford from BlakesThinkTank.com. I am not sure if that means I am among the top two new blogs in the state or if everyone else was too busy. Either way, it was fun. It was sort of different being the interviewee instead of the interviewer. Plus they used a real TV camera and wireless mics and all that high tech stuff, instead of a flip cam like yours truly.

Make sure and tune in tonight at 6:00 on KATV (that’s Channel 7 on my TV) to find out all about the growing new media in Arkansas. And how it will totally change life as you know it! If you want to be real hard core new media, you can watch their webcast here.

One of the things we discussed was how the Arkansas blogging community works together to cover various stories. As an example, Arkansas Republican gone to Washington K. Ryan James is the man on scene for all our DC blogging news. Today and tomorrow, he will be blogging live from the RNC winter meeting in our nation’s capital where the next RNC Chairman will be elected, in fact, he has already started. So I will be “covering” this event by linking and quoting him here. (How’s that for a segway.)

Here is the video of the report.

by Brett Hooton

Representative Jonathan Dismang (R – Beebe) filed a bill last Friday to protect the rights of everyday Arkansans. HB1178 protects Arkansas landowners from bullying by the large natural gas companies (to be fair only one natural gas company is currently doing the bullying). It should be the responsibility of government to protect the property rights of Arkansans…Arkansans who worked hard for what they have and pay property taxes to support, among other things, local schools. If we can’t expect our government to protect our property from the unethical encroachment of others, then we should realize our government isn’t really looking out for us. It is time our legislators stand up for us, and stand with Representative Dismang, regardless of how much money the natural gas industry donated to their campaigns.

Arkansas law allows utility companies to use eminent domain for pipeline (also could be telephone or electrical lines) declared as “common carriers”. This means that the pipeline is used by more than one company to transport, in this case, natural gas.

The problem in the Fayetteville Shale region is that the natural gas company is using the power of eminent domain to gain right-of-way access for their gathering system to collect the natural gas they just pumped out of the ground. The company is able to bully the landowners into providing access, threatening legal action if they refuse. Most of these landowners are not able to afford hiring an attorney to fight the horde of attorneys the company would haul in.

The law currently does not clearly define common carrier and this bill clarifies when companies are not able to use the power of eminent domain. This may not seem like a big deal, unless you’re in a similar situation as the family involved in this current court case.

Texas is experiencing a similar problem. There is extensive natural gas drilling throughout part of the Fort Worth area. The natural gas company in that area is using eminent domain to dig up peoples’ driveways and yards to lay large pipe throughout their neighborhoods. We need to clarify Arkansas law before we find ourselves in a similar situation.

The natural gas industry and their high prices lobbyists will probably fight this bill. I hope our legislators will have the backbone necessary to stand up for us.

Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) made the following statement after he joined U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-Florida) and others in introducing an amendment to reinstate the Mexico City Policy during debate on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill. Last week, President Obama overturned the Mexico City Policy by Executive Order, thereby allowing the use of taxpayer dollars to fund and promote abortion overseas.

“Taxpayers should never be forced to pay for the destruction of human life, here at home or overseas,” said Senator Jim DeMint. “President Obama campaigned on a platform of reducing abortions, yet one of his first official acts was to force millions of American taxpayers who find this practice immoral to pay for more abortions overseas.”

Without the Mexico City Policy restrictions, countries that have strong pro-life laws may be forced to reduce their protection of the unborn in order to receive U.S. foreign aid.

“We cannot have a debate about protecting the health of children while we’re use tax dollars to destroy the lives of the most vulnerable children. Children are a precious blessing and this amendment ensures American taxpayers will not be forced to support ending the lives of unborn children abroad.”

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UPDATE - The amendment failed by a vote of 37 to 60. Arkansas Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln both voted against the amendment. This means both of our Arkansas Senators voted to use your federal tax dollars to fund abortions.

UPDATE II - Still no comments from either Pryor’s or Lincoln’s office, although I put a call into both.

However, fellow Arkansas blogger and possible future Senator from Arkansas Tim Griffin notes my post and comments on his blog, “As predicted, Blanche is caught between her conservative state and her liberal party leadership. Once again, she chose the liberals. Arkansas deserves better.”

This morning, Sen. Steve Faris filed SB253, a bill to move the primary election to the second Tuesday in August. This is the second bill dealing with the date of the primary election filed this session. Last week, the house passed HB1021 by Rep. Jon Woods which will repeal the separate Presidential Preferential Primary, moving the primary vote for President to the same date as the regular primary election, saving the state an estimated $1.7 million.

Sen. Faris told the Associated Press that the reason he feels the primary should be moved is so that the primary campaigns are not occurring the same time as the new even year legislative session; these new sessions are due to the change to annual sessions approved by the voters in November.

But would moving the primary to August cause the state to lose any meaningful significance in Presidential Elections? Not necessary. Two years ago Arkansas created a special Presidential only primary in an effort to be one of the first states to vote thereby strengthening the influence of the natural state. This did not pan out as 23 other states also moved their primary to vote on the same day. But in the Democrat primary, we saw a long drawn out race that went all the way to the Puerto Rico primary on June 1 and the Montana and South Dakota primaries on June 3. Remember Hillary Clinton riding around Puerto Rico in the back of a pick-up truck?

If Arkansas moves its primary to August, then we would be the last state to vote in the Presidential primary campaign. In all likelihood, this would mean that the race would be decided months before we vote, but that would probably be the case in May as well. But by being last, we just might end up being the most important primary in the country. Who knows maybe in 2012 Hillary Clinton will be riding around in the back of a pick-up truck right here in Arkansas!

On an icy day in Arkansas, our state legislators managed to continue their business with an air of enlightenment. For me, two moves stand out head and shoulders above the myriad of activity that took place.

In a moment of clarity, the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs failed to return Rep. Lindsay Smith’s HB1086, a bill which would create a day to honor Thomas Paine. Paine is favorite founding father of those who try to deny our country’s Christian heritage. Although creating a state day to honor him would be largely meaningless, in my opinion, it is being pushed by those who want to highlight him because of his atheistic philosophy not in spite of them as they claim.

Of a much larger significance, Rep. Ed Garner filed HB1238, an alternate proposal to fund the state trauma system this afternoon. Garner’s proposal would fund the trauma system through increased fines on the violence crimes and serious traffic violations such as drunk driving. You know, illegal things that actually cause traumatic injuries

However, before the bill was even filed, Democrats began attacking the alternate proposal. House Speaker Robbie Wills, appearing on KATV’s “Daily Debrief” last week, called Garner’s bill “a distraction without any chance of passing.” Governor Beebe said on Monday that he is skeptical of actually being able to provide the revenue due to the inability to collect the fines. This point made by the governor has been the main criticism of Garner’s proposal.

In a telephone interview with Rep. Garner, I asked him about this and how his bill addresses this concern. Garner said that according to his data about 77% of the total fines are collected. The way his bill is structured, the local court would remit the fine based on collections not assessment but would remit the portion of the fine (usually $50) related to this subsection first. Since 77% of the total fines are collected then there is even a large insistence of partial collection of at least the first $50.

I am forced to tip my hat to our Democrat Governor Mike Beebe. John Brummett uses his column today to demonstrate why I am wrong and that Beebe does not deserve praise. But I am forced to dissent. Hopefully a hole will not form in the Arkansas blogosphere due to my defense of Beebe with Brummett’s criticism. I believe that his decision to decline his pay raise was not just a stroke of political genius but an honest move to do what he believed was the right thing.