Let's Talk Religion

No, let's not. If I did that, I'd have to close comments. But, politics? Now, that's a safe subject. lol.  Especially, Arkansas politics, which will make your eyes glaze over just before you move on to another blog. That's ok, though.Sometimes I just need to rant about Arkansas' elected officials land the voters who put them there. I forgive you for leaving for more interesting blogfodder.

In Arkansas, with a rather schizophrenic electorate, we consistently elect Democrats to our constitutional offices while voting Republican in the town and county elections statewide. Until this time, apparently.  We seem to have elected a Republican Lieutenant Governor. I don't know his name, and neither does anyone else. And, we also have a Republican Secretary of State, named Mark Martin, who has managed to get himself into a heap of trouble with a typical Republican boner, thinking he can make decisions unilaterally.

As Secretary of State, he is a member of a three-man board responsible for the redistricting effort made necessary by the ebb and flow of citizens into and out of various districts.  Now, Governor Beebe, in his budget, allowed for $200,000 for redistricting. And Secretary Martin jumped the gun and  hired one of his Republican cronies, Timothy Hutchinson, who is the son of former, discredited,  Representative Tim Hutchinson to head up the redistricting effort. You may remember that Tim's brother, Sen. Asa Hutchinson embarrassed all of Arkansas by leading the impeachment charge against Pres. Bill Clinton. Nobody knows where Asa is these days.

Secretary Martin hired Hutchinson and bought various software and purchased a new hybrid automobile, amounting to about $70,00 of the $200,000.  This apparently did not include the $63,000 salary he promised to Hutchinson. He did all this without consulting the other members of the board, which did not sit well, as the other board members are Gov. Mike Beebe and Atty Gen. Dustin McDaniel.

Well! If my math is correct, and remember, I am math challenged, this only leaves about $67,000, give or take, to accomplish the task of redistricting.

This is wrong on so many levels, one hardly knows where to start asking questions, but THIS one will try.

1. Why did he feel he needed a new car, a hybrid, no less, when there are so many state-owned vehicles available, evidenced by the recent "scandal" that the Republicans pounded on Gov. Beebe about until several elected officials and department heads turned in their vehicles.  The investigation is ongoing.

2. Why hire Tim Hutchinson, when that name is Mud in this state? Besides, the Board had already offered the job to someone else, before the latest election was held.  The former Secretary of State had arranged for an office, supplies, software, and had gotten the okey-dokey to hire a man to head up the effort. Why did Mark Martin not know this?

But, I'm getting bored with all of this.  You get the picture, if there's anyone still out there reading this. It remains to be seen how this will all turn out. I supposed it's too much to hope that this dust-up will cause Secretary Martin to resign.  Thanks for letting me rant. I'll try to come up with something more interesting for the next blog post.

Stay tuned - or, maybe I should say, tune in again, won't you?