The Tolbert Report

One of the hot button issues surrounding the health care debate has been whether taxpayer dollars will be used to fund abortions. Throughout this debate, Sen. Lincoln has been adamant that she will not support Federal funds for abortion in the health care bill. However, today in the Senate Finance Committee Sen. Lincoln had the opportunity to vote for an amendment offered by Sen. Orrin Hatch that would have tightened up the language in the Baucus Bill to make this clear. She choose to vote (by proxy) against this pro-life amendment.

“The American people do not want, and should not be expected, to foot the bill for abortions,” said Hatch in a statement this afternoon. “I am very disappointed that the Senate Finance Committee did not accept my amendment that would ensure this did not happen, especially given the fact that Chairman Baucus has made it clear during this mark-up that he did not want federal taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions.”

The current Baucus Bill does contain language that prohibits the federal subsidies from paying for abortions which complies with the longstanding Hyde Amendment barring Federal funds being using from abortions. However, the plan allows health insurance plans that participate in the newly created co-ops to offer abortion coverage by segregation these funds and using only premiums collected by participants.

The Hatch Amendment would have prevented this by requiring health plans participating in the co-ops to only offer abortion coverage through completely separate plans. In a statement from Lincoln’s office today, Lincoln made it clear that she voted against the Hatch Amendment as she felt this was unnecessary.

“Arkansans should know that I will not support a health care plan that would require insurance companies to cover abortion, require physicians to perform abortions, or allow federal dollars to fund abortions,” said Lincoln. “The Finance Committee’s health care bill definitively bars federal funds from being used for any abortion services not already allowed under current law in federal health programs today.”

She went on to say that she believes better pregnancy awareness education, which she voted in favor of adding to plan last night, will reduce the number of abortions.

“We need to make abortions as rare as possible by educating our young people about the responsibility that comes with starting a family,” said Lincoln. “Unfortunately, Arkansas currently ranks fourth among the 50 states in teenage birthrate. We all need to do a better job talking to our kids and making sure they know that bringing a child into this world is a tremendous responsibility.”

UPDATE - Potential Republican candidate Curtis Coleman addresses Lincoln’s vote on these amendments on his blog. Yep, he is a blogger. Needless to say he is not pleased with Sen. Lincoln’s vote.

“Senator Blanche Lincoln has once again failed to represent the values of Arkansans by voting against two key amendments to the Senate Finance Committee’s ‘Baucus Bill’ yesterday,” blogged Coleman. “It is clearly time for Arkansas to recover its voice and vote for life in the U.S. Senate.”

Rasmussen Reports released the latest poll numbers today for Arkansas and the news is not good for incumbent Democrat Sen. Blanche Lincoln with all four potential Republican opponents that were polled preferred by the voters. Sen. Gilbert Baker polled the best with 47% preferring him compared to 39% for Lincoln. The other three Republicans, Kim Hendren (44%), Curtis Coleman (43%), and Tom Cox (43%) all also beat Lincoln by two to three points (Conrad Reynolds, Fred Ramey, and Buddy Rogers were not included in the poll.)

This poll is constant with previous polls showing Lincoln’s weak numbers; however it is the first poll which begins to show some separation of one Republican candidate from the pack. This news comes on the heels of reports from the Baker camp of raising more than $200,000 in the opening days of their campaign.  The true test for Republican candidates will come next month when the next quarterly financial reports are due.

“We are obviously pleased with these numbers,” Baker tells the Tolbert Report. “However, it will be a long campaign and poll numbers will ebb and flow. Arkansas deserves a Senator who will never be a swing vote on critical issues like nationalized healthcare, card check, and cap and trade. I want to be a check and balance for Arkansas voters against the unchecked power of Barack Obama’s administration.”

Steve Patterson, campaign manager for Sen. Lincoln’s reelection campaign, felt the poll was more of a reflection on Arkansans attitude toward Washington than Sen. Lincoln. “Like other recent public polls, this is another snapshot of public opinion that tells us Arkansas voters are unhappy with their government right now,” said Patterson. “Senator Lincoln knows she will be held accountable in this election and will continue working as Chairman of the Agriculture Committee to encourage investment and grow new jobs in Arkansas. She is also working tonight in the Senate Finance Committee to meet the expectations of Arkansans for health insurance reforms that are deficit neutral and that create more choices for consumers. Sometime later, we’ll get to have a campaign where voters can learn about her opponents and make an informed judgment about her service.”

An email from “Organizing for America,” President Obama’s Campaign Organization, tells me that their “volunteers will be making phone calls asking Arkansans to support the President’s plan for health reform and to make their voices heard in this debate.” Being the diligent blogger that I am, I clicked on the link to check it out. It appears they will be hosting phone banks in Little Rock, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, Hot Springs, and Fayetteville.

The location of the Little Rock phone bank caught my interest. It looks like the benevolent folks at the Arkansas Education Association decided to let Organizing for America use their space. If you are a school teacher in Arkansas, you might be interesting in just what your union is up to.

Max Brantley points me to an article in the Social Conservative OneNewsNow (what Brantley is doing reading OneNewsNow is a mystery.) The article implies that we may be getting yet one more Senate Candidate. Jim Holt, who was the most recent Republican to take on Sen. Lincoln in 2004, is praying about whether to do this again. From OneNewsNow…

Holt, who says he is praying about whether to launch another Senate campaign, contends that five of the six candidates in the GOP primary field in Arkansas “have a track record of voting for bigger government and larger taxes.”

So many questions abound. How serious is Holt about running again? Which of the one of the six candidates does he find acceptable? I will attempt to get in touch of Holt to see if I can find some answers.

Digging through the Tolbert Report video archieves, I found a somewhat related video of Jim Holt speaking to the Arkansas Alcohol Beverage Control Board against granting a liquor license to MacaDoodles in Springdale, which will become the first gas station/liquor store in Arkansas.

The Republican Party of Arkansas confirmed Monday that they plan to host a straw poll to allow Arkansans to vote on their preference in the U.S. Senate race. New executive director Chase Dugger tells the Tolbert Report that the details are still being worked out but it will be much like the straw poll that Iowa Republicans host every four years before the Republican Presidential Primary.

The straw poll is planned for December 5 on the same day as the previously scheduled meeting of the state Republican Committee in Hot Springs. Republican candidates for U.S. Senate will each have an opportunity to address the crowd before voting takes place. Voting will be open for ticketed participants and will be a good indicator of which candidates have the grassroots support to turn out voters.

Candidates were notified today about the plans for the straw poll. Currently there are seven announced Republican candidates including Gilbert Baker, Curtis Coleman, Tom Cox, Kim Hendren, Fred Ramey, Conrad Reynolds, and Buddy Rogers.

State Sen. Gilbert Baker was pleased to see the party organizing the straw poll. “The straw poll will be exciting for our party,” said Baker. “We look forward to a spirited primary campaign.”

Over the weekend and on his blog today, Mike Huckabee advocated the United States withdrawing from defunding the United Nations. Since he has been critical of bloggers misquoting him lately, let me post his own words….

It’s time to say enough of the American taxpayer’s dollar being spent on something that may have been a noble idea, but has become a disgrace! It has become the international equivalent of ACORN and it’s time to say enough!

Let’s end the diplomatic excesses that these people enjoy. Let any country that is willing to spend the money that the United States is hosting – let them have it. Give it to the Saudis and let these diplomats suck the sand out of the Saudi desert for a few summers and see if that’s where they’d like to go and make their ridiculous speeches.

For too many years the United Nations has held its hand out for our money, and then thumbed its collective nose at the United States. It is obvious that all of the well intentioned efforts to encourage reform within the United Nations have failed. We have reached the point of no return with this organization. Reform has failed – now we should ask them to leave our shores.

Readers of my blog will no doubt know that I am and continue to be a supporter of Gov. Huckabee, but I am beginning to wonder if he is intentionally pressing the envelope to try and work his way into the headlines. His statements recently, such as on the death of Ted Kennedy, have been somewhat on the colorful side. Perhaps it is different to walk to fine line between politician, with carefully scripted press release statements, and pundit, where you have to compete with the Glenn Beck’s of the world for outrageous statements. Or perhaps he saw the attention of Gov. Sarah Palin got for her death panels statements several weeks back and decided to kick it up a notch. Regardless, I miss the kinder gentler Huckabee and hope he comes back soon.

(Video from The Washington Independent.)

I have not commented much, other than a few pot shots on twitter, on the whole plethora of events on Rep. Mike Ross. However, as few dedicated readers have asked so I am sure you are all dying to know my opinion. So here it is. In my opinion, the entire events speak volumes on the liberal left wing of the Democrat Party that is now in control and very little on Rep. Mike Ross himself.

There has been much written about the 2007 sale of Mike Ross’ pharmacy in Prescott for $1,254,420. The news was first reported by Pro Publica and Politico last Tuesday. Pro Publica focused heavily on the $420,000 paid for the pharmacy building and land and compared this to the assessed value somewhere in the mid $200,000 range. The implication of the article is the purchaser Stephen L. LaFrance Sr. of USA Drug was buying influence by paying more than the market value of the business and that Rep. Ross’ opposition as a leader of the Democrat Blue Dogs to the public option aspect to the health care reforms is the pay back.

Let’s take a look at this. First, this sale of Ross’ business took place in 2007. At this time, President Bush was still in the White House and any talk of dramatic health care reform was a nothing more than a dream wish list of liberal Democrats. To think someone would have paid off Mike Ross just in case it came up later seems a bit of a stretch for me.

Second, to analysis the sale of the pharmacy, one must analysis whether the entire purchase price of $1,254,420 was a fair price. To separate out the price paid for the building and land and compare this to the assessed value is not a sound comparison. Determining the fair price for the business would best be accomplished by an analysis of the financial statements, particularly the balance sheet and cash flows, for the years preceding the sale. However, a price of $1.2 million does not appear out of line to this accountant based on the information available in the press.  If someone has the actual financial statements for me to take a look at, I would be glad to do so.

Also last week the commercial above was released last week by a group called Change Congress which went after Rep. Ross for the $921,000 (according to them) that he received in campaign contributions from the health sector. The ad uses, with permission, some video I shot of a press conference Rep. Ross conducted on health care at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in August. The ad properly credits me for the footage and I appreciate that but I do want to be clear that the ad does not necessarily represent my views. I encourage you to watch the full context of the quotes here and here.

Last week was certainly a tough week for Rep. Ross. The liberal special interests went after him primarily because he stood up to the White House and the Democrat House leaders on health care (although it should be pointed out that he did end up voting for the bill/HR3200 before his committee.) However, in his home district, far removed from the beltway political environment, these political attacks might be a badge of courage that will end up as a asset if he can survive the short term political storm.

UPDATE – Max Brantley offers a similar take as mine, so I guess the extreme right and the extreme left agree on this one.  He does offer a keen suggestion as to why the purchase price is a bit high for the building and land and a bit low for the inventory – taxes.  I should have picked up on that one.  In short, you pay lower taxes on the gain from the sale of property (capital gains) than you do on the sale of inventory (ordinary income).

Max also bemoans the inability to see the cash flows for Holly’s Health Mart to determine in the total purchase price was fair.  I did offer to loan my CPA skills to Rep. Ross to take a look at these financial statements and see if it was a fair price.  They passed but the offer is on the table.

Source close to Tom Cotton confirm Sunday evening that he will not seek public office in 2010. Cotton recently returned from military service in Afghanistan and has been rumored as a candidate for U.S. Senate and, more recently, U.S. Congress in the Second Congressional District. However, confirmation comes in this evening that Cotton has decided the timing is not right currently for him to run during the coming election cycle.

More as it develops….

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. As evidence, this Saturday you too can learn how to become a real life blogger just like me. The Society of Professional Journalists (which interestingly enough is a group of people who actually get paid to do this whole reporter thing) has invited all of us lonely misfits or lonely misfit wannabes into their inner sanctum to teach us the tricks of the trade.

To get in on this offer, just show up at the Bowen School of Law on Saturday at 10:00 and be ready to stick around until 2:00 (just in time for the Arkansas game.) You will be able to hear from speakers on topics such as Andrew “the Machine” DeMillo on how to cover and report on at least a dozen events per day, Max Brantley on the importance of writing completely objectivity without any bias whatsoever, David Kinkade on the importance on finding the proper photo for your post, and much much more.

Seriously, this is a unique opportunity for us rookies to get some training from the pros. And the best part is that is it free.

David Kinkade wakes up from a month long nap to find that he has a hot tip on the search for the new executive director of the Republican Party of Arkansas. It seems the search has come down to RPA political director Chase Dugger (no relation to Jim Bob) and former press secretary for Gov. Mike Huckabee Alice Stewart. I like both Dugger and Stewart and think either one would do a fine job as executive director; however, I believe the choice of the RPA executive committee will say a lot about the direction they want to go.

Stewart would bring a wealth of experience to the position, particularly experience dealing with the media. She served as the press secretary for Mike Huckabee both as governor and for his 2008 Presidential Campaign. Prior to that she worked as an on air reporter for KARK Channel 4 in Little Rock. She has also recently been helping out with press relations for the RPA. She is widely known around the state and the country. However, I have trouble seeing Stewart staying on as the executive director for an extended period of time. It seems more than likely that she will be working on a Presidential campaign during the 2012 cycle, either with Gov. Huckabee or someone else if he does not run. In my opinion, bringing her on as executive director would signal that the executive committee wants someone who can increase the party’s exposure quickly and gear up for a high profile election cycle in 2010 but not necessary someone who will be around for a long term basis.

Dugger by contrast represents the future of the party. His political experience is certainly nothing to sneeze at. He currently serves as the political director for the RPA and came on shortly before the 2008 election cycle in which the state picked up three legislative seats. Previously, he worked as the campaign manager for Mickey “Stubby” Stumbaugh for Congress was active in College Republican and Young Republican groups. Dugger is one of the types of guys that works constantly behind the scenes to make sure the little things get done correctly. If a Republican ran for office in 2008 in Arkansas, they most likely at one time got help from Dugger. Because of this, he has support from many of the state elected officials which of course carries a lot of weight with the executive committee. In my opinion, selecting Dugger would signal that they want to bring on someone that can grow into the position. If he is successful, I could see Chase staying in this position for sometime and provide a lot of support and focus on our own state level races.

In my view, either candidate will excel in the position. But it will be interesting to see what direction the executive committee will choose to move the party with their selection.

UPDATE - According to Max Brantley, Chase Dugger got the nod. 

Note to my Republican friends on the executive committee, what are you doing calling Max Brantley for inside tips like these instead of the Tolbert Report or even David Kinkade?.  And we wonder why the liberal media kicks us around year after year.