The Tolbert Report

Max Brantley breaks a bit of news this afternoon on the Arkansas Times Blog. It seems State Senator Sue Madison plans to file a bill that basically calls for a do over on the lottery. Her bill would repeal the enabling legislation passed by the state legislature in 2009, but the constitutional amendment passed by the voter in 2008.

It is an interesting proposal and as the leading internet right wing lottery watchdog, I have already had people ask my opinion. I am sure the rest of you are all too busy hitting the refresh key so many times on my blog that you have not had time to ask.  So here it is..

While I opposed the lottery in 2008 and would support another separate constitutional measure to repeal the amendment, I do not support the state legislature circumventing the will of the people by effectively killing the lottery. I agree with Sen. Madison that the 2009 legislation has some problems. But I think the most prudent measure would be to revisit the legislation and make changes where necessary. 

If sentiment against having a lottery at all is strong enough, then we should be forced to do what the supporters of the lottery had to do.  We should have to draft an amendment, go get enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot, and then persuade over 50% of the voters to approve it.  I am all for that but I am against making an end run around the voters by going through the state legislature just as much as I would oppose the legislature trying to legalize casinos without going through the amendment process.

Okay, enough of that prudent moderate advice from a crazy right wing blogger. Everyone go back to the normal gossip of how much Ernie P is making and what not.

UPDATE - The report is posted on the FEC website.  It shows that in the first six months of 2009, HuckPAC raised $304,673, spent $325,435 on operations, contributed $11,155 total to 7 Federal candidates ($1,000 to Arkansas own Rick Crawford for Congress), and incurred $63,168 in debt.

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According to a release this evening from Gov. Mike Huckabee’s Political Action Committee, HuckPAC has raised just over $300,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2009. HuckPAC’s financial report for this period is due to be filed with the FEC tomorrow and will release more details.

“So how are we doing so far? Well by the goals I personally set for our efforts, we are largely on track,” said Huckabee in the release. “Are we satisfied and complacent? Absolutely not, we are always working to do better and we will. We’ve got some new ideas up our sleeves so please stay tuned.”

By comparison to the other two early contenders in 2012 Presidential GOP Race, Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC raised $1,924,373 and Palin’s SarahPAC raised $732,867 for the same time period.

A source from HuckPAC tells me that the fundraising is on track for the budget that was set. In addition, Gov. Huckabee is focused on raising money for candidates by attending the events and promoting support for their campaigns through HuckPAC.com and his volunteer network.

UPDATE – A quick check of my fellow Huckafriendly blogs (and yes, I make no secret here that I am a supporter of Mike Huckabee) reveals that many share my concern regarding his low fundraising numbers.

Kevin Tracy, who is a die hard Huckabee supporter in Indiana, writes about the issue of Huckabee’s lack of fundraising for HuckPAC while charging candidates $33,900 to candidates to speak at their events. Another supporter, Larry Jackson from Oklahoma, writes this morning about the disappointment of Huckabee finishing a distant third behind Mitt Romeny and Sarah Palin.

I must admit that I share the concerns of my fellow supporters. I too am and will continue to support Gov. Huckabee but I cannot sit back and not say something when problems arise. If Gov. Huckabee is serious about running for President again in 2012 and all indications are that he is, then he must address this problem. I think it is wonderful that he has been successful with his ventures in television and radio. If he chooses to focus on that, then great. But if he really wants to be a contender, then he must get serious about fundraising and he must raise these funds directly.

The limited response from HuckPAC has been to defend the numbers as being on target for their goals. If this is the case why is long term staff being let go? If fundraising is meeting budget targets, then they either are very poor at budgeting or they have way overspent thier budget.

HuckPAC is also touting their network of volunteers as opposed to their ability to raise funds. It is certainly true the Huckabee had extremely organized and dedicated volunteers during the Presidential Campaign. I helped coordinate many of these efforts through an organization called Huck’s Army. We operated outside the campaign and did things that we just saw needed to be done. If you saw a Huckabee for President sign in Arkansas, it was likely put up by a volunteer from Huck’s Army. In fact, we were actually the group that put one in Huckabee’s own front yard.

However, with the 2008 election long over and 2012 still in the distant future, this network is almost non-existent and has no real excitement. The current push is to organize Team Huck House Parties in August to make phone calls supporting Republican Bob McDonnell’s campaign for governor of Virginia. I am sorry but I do not see Arkansans turning out in droves to support someone in Virginia that they have never heard of simply because HuckPAC asked them to.

In my opinion, most of HuckPAC’s problems steam from one main issue – there is no real effort from Mike Huckabee himself to continue to give this group a focus. Huckabee is rarely seen by his volunteers and supporters. Most all communication comes through the filter of HuckPAC. At the HuckPAC house parties in February, Huckabee sent DVD’s to groups meeting around the country. Think of how much more successful these events would have been if Gov. Huckabee actually attended. People will turn out and make donation to see Mike Huckabee. But they will not turn out to see a volunteer and watch a video. And they are certainly not going to pay money to do so. If Huckabee wants to raise some serious money for HuckPAC, he has to have some fundraising events across the country that he actually attends. He has to personally and directly make the appeal.

My point in saying all this is because Gov. Huckabee is at an important crossroads. Obviously many things can and will happen between now and 2012. But for HuckPAC to become a serious organization, Mike Huckabee has got to roll up his sleeves and get directly involved. I understand the difficultly involved with the demands of his television and radio show, but without his direct involvement HuckPAC will not be able to continue with any meaningful significance.

by Sen. Gilbert Baker

State Sen. Gilbert Baker from Conway sends along his thoughts about the federal health care proposal. Baker is one of the plethora of candidates rumored to be considering running for U.S. Senate. Is he? Well, depends on who you ask. But he is sending out press releases on the federal healthcare proposal.

For the last several weeks I have watched the debate surrounding comprehensive healthcare reform. It is amazing the number of calls I have received and conversations I have had regarding this critical issue. As an on-looker, I have found myself cheering for Congressman Mike Ross as he has attempted to slow down this government train and control costs. He and I may not always agree, but his conservative approach should be commended.

I’ve stood aside and listened to Senator Lincoln state many times, “we must do something.” I agree; but we must be careful not to do the wrong thing and jeopardize the necessary medical care for patients. There is now a need for all Arkansans to speak out and make sure these reforms do not weaken our current healthcare system.

Arkansans are tired of government bailouts and government intervention. We are told it is America’s obligation to fix this “broken” system. This is true, but there is a great disconnect between the talks taking place in Washington D.C. and what my constituents are saying to me on the streets of Conway, Arkansas.

We can all agree that there are improvements that need to be made to our healthcare system in access, affordability, and delivery of care. However, the approach to solving this problem may be where we disagree.

It will be a mistake to allow a government takeover of our healthcare system that currently satisfies more than 200 million Americans. More specifically, a recent bi-partisan survey of Arkansans shows that 86% of people are satisfied with the quality of healthcare their family receives.

By allowing the federal government to be the central provider in this system, we can only expect to see quality decline. I cannot imagine the same federal government that responded to Hurricane Katrina controlling healthcare for all Americans.

The bottom line is that Arkansans do not want additional government bureaucracy to make it more expensive and harder to receive medical care. We are opposed to a federal government provider healthcare system, and I have serious concerns about Senator Lincoln’s “cooperative” system. I believe this is nothing more than a backdoor approach for government-run healthcare, paid for by more borrowed federal dollars.

The solutions to healthcare reform must be driven by competition, transparency, and empowering consumers without raising taxes. Healthcare consumers must know what they are getting in terms of value and cost. Overall, consumers and competition should drive our healthcare system.

Healthcare reform is critical, but my fear is taking a “just do something” approach will lead to government-run healthcare resulting in decreased quality and access to those who need it most.

Word on the street is that Family Research Council will begin running the above ad in Arkansas, encouraging people to call Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Sen. Mark Pryor to vote against the Federal Health Care Proposal.  The ad shows an elderly couple sitting at the kitchen table after being denied payment for surgery under the government run health care.  From the ad…

“…And to think that Planned Parenthood is included in the government run healthcare plan and spending tax dollars on abortions. They won’t pay for my surgery but we are forced to pay for abortions…”

At today’s Lottery Commission meeting, two things were apparent. Director Ernie Passailaigue has felt the pressure and is doing everything in his power to reduce cost, and he has no plans to slow down or push back the start date.

At the meeting, Passailaigue outlined three proposals that could save the state up to $2 million this year. First, Passailaigue suggested cutting the sponsorships and promotions budget at a cost savings of $800,000. After much discussion the Commission agreed to cut the sponsorships but decided to keep at least some the promotions budget, particularly since the advertising RFP process has not been completed.

Second, Passailaigue recommended that the Commission consider outsourcing the work done by the claims centers to regional banks around the state at an annual cost savings of up to $400,000. The original lottery plan calls for claims centers to be placed in the first, third, and fourth congressional districts where lottery ticket winners can turn in their ticket and pick up their winnings. But Passailaigue’s proposal would allow banks to provide this service instead with a processing fee charged to the commission. Several commissioners expressed skepticism as to whether any banks would be willing to provide this but agreed to allow this to be determined through the RFP process after making some modifications to the proposal to make it easier for smaller banks to be eligible for participation.

The final suggestion from Passailaigue involved the process for selecting the actual lottery numbers. By selecting the numbers through a computer generated random number generator instead of through a live broadcast, the Commission will be able to save $800,000, primarily by not having to build out a production studio for the broadcasts. Passailaigue did caution the Commission that these were one time cost savings while the first two proposals were ongoing. Commissioners expressed that while they felt many might prefer the live broadcasts, it was not worth the additional cost and approved this proposal as well.

The biggest announcement came from Passailaigue as he announced the result of Intralot only bid to be the service provider for the Arkansas Lottery’s online games. Passailaigue has been pushing to start the lottery on October 29, two months ahead of the previous schedule but Intralot upped the ante even further saying they can have the games online by September 28. Lottery Chairman Thornton asked Passailaigue “But can we be ready by then?”

Passailaigue was not sure but that Intralot would be expecting it. Not only that, he showed every sign that he intended to try. In fact, several times during the discussion of the cost cutting proposals, Commissioners asked if it was possible to study the proposals further. Passailaigue resisted fearing that this would delay his timetable.

One thing is clear. Passailaigue is confident that he and his handpicked well-paid staff can build a “world class lottery” and do it in “world record time.” So confidant, that he is gambling the future of the Arkansas lottery on it.

“What we have been able to do has put us on the path of not only winning the Bowl Championship Series but going to the Final Four and winning that and going to Omaha and winning the College World Series of Baseball.”

I took a break from my stake-out of the Lottery Commission offices to go get some more paper to compose a couple new FOI requests when I noticed that David Kinkade posted a complete run down of the Arkansas House legislative races. It appears that the lists shows the incumbent for each district, if the incumbent is term limited, and who is rumored to run for the seat in 2010.

Note, I say appears as I only made to Prissy Hickerson when I got a text message on my Blackberry that Ernie Passailaigue is meeting for lunch with a couple unnamed legislators. So I had to stop reading and head over the Capital Hotel Restaurant with my flip cam. This promises to be the scoop of the week!

UPDATE - I have gotten a couple emails about this so I feel the need to clarify.  This post was a tongue in check joke making fun of myself for my obsessive lottery coverage. 

No, I am not actually staking out the lottery offices. No, I did not really follow Passailaigue to a restaurant with a flip cam.  But thanks for asking.  My readers either have a lot of faith in me or believe I am crazy (or both.)

I hate being the type of guy that says cock-a-doodle-doo and takes credit for the sun coming up. But just yesterday I asked where Bill Halter is on the lottery issue and today he is quoted in a story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Looks like Halter did not have time to talk to the Tolbert Report but made the time for Michael Wickline at the ADG. (Smart guy. His staff deserve a raise.)

Anyway, Halter was certainly careful with his words but he did say he thought that some of the salaries were “too high” but dismissed most of the lottery’s problems as “speed bumps.”

You know speed bumps tend to be a lot more damaging when your driving 75 miles an hour than if you slow down and go over them carefully. Which reminds me, make sure you check out my op-ed for the Arkansas News Bureau – “Taking Measure of the Lottery: Why the Rush?”

Perhaps the most interesting quote from Halter was the following, “In this office, we don’t have any role in the appointment of the commissioners and we don’t have any role in terms of the legislative oversight, so what purpose does it serve for me to point to an individual and say that person’s salary is too high?”

As a background on this, Halter was all but excluded from the process of drawing up the legislation during the previous session. This role was largely taken over by House Speaker Robbie Wills. In addition, the Lottery Commissioners are appointed by Speaker Wills, along with Senate Pro Temp Bob Johnson, and Governor Mike Beebe. The Legislative Oversight Committee is appointed by Speaker Wills (who also serves on the Committee) and Pro Temp Johnson.

Gee, I wonder who Halter is saying is really to blame for these problems. (Hint – It’s Robbie Wills.)

There was interesting editorial in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette today on the lack of Bill Halter in the press lately. It seems like you used to not be able to read a story on the lottery without having several quotes from the lieutenant governor sharing his views as the “Father of the Arkanas Lottery”. The ADG writes this on the lack of Halter comment…

He doesn’t write, he doesn’t call, not when the subject is the lottery. We would like to know what he thinks of what he (and, yes, We the People) have wrought. Yet all is silence on his end. Can he be feeling the first twinges of shame, or at least remorse, for his part in this growing debacle? Or would that be to give the man too much credit?

Reading this, I took it upon myself to see if Halter had any comment of the lottery startup. I actually saw him at the state capital last week in his office and stuck my head in the door to see if he had a few minutes for me. He did not as he was in hurry for a meeting. Understandable, it was a pop-in by me after all.

So with this in mind, I asked his communications director Garry Hoffman if I could get a few minutes with him anytime this week. No such luck. According to Hoffman, the lieutenant governor is out of state the rest of the week.

I wonder what he is up to. If anybody knows please fill me in.

UPDATE - Halter’s office directs me to this article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette this morning pointing out that Halter is in Baltimore for the National Lieutenant Governor Association for the rest of the week.  The article also reminds me that Gov. Mike Beebe is in Cuba this week meaning Senate Pro Temp Bob Johnson is acting governor.  Johnson tells Beebe’s office he is too busy to actually make it in.  Call him if you need him.

One small correction on the ADG story where it mentions this is the first time Johnson was acting governor.  Actually he was acting governor in January 20 when Beebe and Halter were in Washington for President Obama’s inauguration.

Over the weekend, I wrote an op-ed piece for the Arkansas News Bureau on the lottery.  The piece looks at the mistakes that have been made as legislators, commissioners, and now lottery employees have rushed to start the lottery as soon as possible.

I invite you to read it on ArkansasNews.com or in your local newspaper.  But one thing I mentioned was how taken the Lottery Commission was with Ernie Passailaigue from the very beginning.  One internal memo I obtained through an FOI request displays this admiration.  The unsigned memo was attached to communication from Commissioner Dianne Lamberth so I assume she is the author.  Regardless, it was obviously written from one Commissioner to her colleagues just before extending Passailaigue an offer of employment. (Any emphasis added is mine.)

This turn of events has been quite a surprise.

There’s been pushing from all sides demanding results. Yet we all would rather get it right than rush and make mistakes.

The scrutiny and criticism has cost us one good candidate, which I regret.

I expected, when we met last Monday, that we would spend the next several weeks going through the existing applications and those that came in later, looking at qualifications and experience and trying to decide on the best person for this big job.

Today, because of a nomination call by Commissioner White and an unrelated call from me, both of us anticipating rejection, we suddenly – today – have an unforeseen opportunity to hire one of the top lottery executives in America.  Someone we know!  He came here twice to help us – once with writing the legislation and once for our Commission startup.  We met him, we got to know him.  We saw his respect for our Commissioners.  We all got to watch him in action without the high-pressure of a formal interview.  We got a better look at him than we will get at any other applicant.  We know for certain exactly what we would be getting. It’s like finding a four-leaf clover.

While we were getting to know him, he got to know us.  He liked what he saw.  He respects us and our Commission, he thinks we have a good law, and he feels at home in Arkansas.

Will working through an extended process produce better results in this particular case?

Today we have an opportunity to capture for Arkansas the past president of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries and the current President of Powerball.  The architect and contractor who built the most successful small-state lottery in America, and one with a wholesome image.  Because of Ernie’s respect for his South Carolina Commission, he is unwilling to risk losing their confidence by learning he has looked at Arkansas and is willing to leave them and come build for us.  He is not looking anywhere else.  I think he is as surprised as we are.

This moment, we already know more about Ernie than we will likely know about any other candidate.  We know enough today to make this momentous decision.  Today, do we take him or leave him?

It seems the two titans of the Arkansas blogosphere have banged head on recent post over the weekend. Kinkade offered and interesting comparison of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette’s coverage of the Arkansas Democrat’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner compared to the coverage of the Arkansas Republican’s Governor’s Dinner a few weeks back. Kinkade writes…

I suppose it would be churlish to point out the egregious disparity in coverage of the two events, and who’d listen anyway, right?

But I’d be interested to hear the editorial decision-making that adjudges one to be “news” and the other to be “not-news.” Seems like either they’re both “news,” or they’re both “not-news,” if you boast of being a balanced, trusted, objective news source serving the community. (Having worked as a reporter and attended my fair share of events like this, I can tell you that they are typically “not-news,” because they are “pseudo-events,” but a newspaper generally has to cover them in case news breaks out.)

I don’t much go in for “liberal media bias” bellyaching from conservatives, because it’s boring and unconstructive, like whining about the weather. But if you are an Arkansas Republican candidate for office in 2010, I’d keep in mind that the state’s largest daily newspaper and its chief political reporter have done you a tremendous favor by laying down their standard, at an early point in the process, for how you and your Democratic opposition will be treated in the coming campaign season. Rest assured, you will not receive the same type of coverage. Plan accordingly.

Apparently, this did not sit well with the Blake Rutherford who thought Kinkade was being petty in his criticism of the ADG and Democrat’s friendliness. I guess Rutherford has friends over there or something. He writes…

Mr. Kinkade has twice written on the op-ed pages of the Democrat Gazette in recent months. The first was about the role of bloggers in today’s media climate (an exception piece and you should read it). The second was about the value and impact of the TEA parties. Thorough and helpful for those of us who think TEA parties are a much like county fairs, I don’t recall the Dem-Gaz offering a counterpoint on the issue. In fact, the last time I checked the editorial board held Republicans in pretty high regard over there.

I will warn you that this could get ugly before it over. Kinkade has already responding in the comments section of Rutherford’s blog. No tell what Photoshop presentation will soon be on the The Arkansas Project. But I for one say, bring it on. Should be fun to watch.