My associate, Mr. Dogood, has raised the question about Bill Walker’s call for debates in the race for Mayor of Little Rock. Silas, old bud, you have it so right about Bill Walker’s debating style.
Bill Walker’s verbal shots remind me of Moe Green’s last rub-down.
The Arkansas Times has added a new blog
He does cover some new material
I have a second issue with the jail tax. As is repeated in every article about the tax – less than a year ago the Quorum Court voted to reduce the jail space by about 260 beds. I assumed the reason was lack of operating funds. What I have been told instead is that portions of the jail are essentially uninhabitable. There are significant structural problems, mainly with the roof, and the portions of the roof need to be fixed. This naturally begs the question: who designed the roof, who constructed the roof, and is anyone being held accountable for any flaws. My information might be wrong but I’m curious as to this issue.
Darned good question, bucko, and we are also concerned about the cost of a special election.
The Hoglawyer has published the official Pulaski County Q&A on the jail tax and it makes our case perfectly. You can read the “official” Villines pitch and NEVER see reference to the $18 million dollars to be raised each year. The County claims there will be no windfall, and that is just a LIE.
The more you know about the jail tax, the less you will like it. Remember, vote NO.
What can be said about Max and Warwick that has not already been screamed a thousand times already? Max and Warwick fit together like “tax and spend.”
The Arkansas Times is a reliable source of news and generally well thought out opinions, so how did they blow this one? The Arkansas Times has an editorial endorsement of the jail tax, which is most unfortunate.
They just don’t see how this tax will go on forever and empowers the powerful entrenched interests in county government. The natural liberal instinct that spending is often part of the solution is often correct. It is correct here too, but $18 million every year? We don’t think so.
This tax puts the squeeze on necessary government services like Central Arkansas Transit, which desperately needs a dedicated source of funding.
I don’t know why they have done this thing, but I want no acts of vengeance.
Talk about an incoherent, jumbled, mish-mash of illogic and foolishness! Today’s Democrat-Gazette’s editorial against the jail tax makes a mess of the discussion, and may do a great deal of harm.
They mixed in apples and oranges, peaches with pears, pickles and kumquats. The jail tax has nothing to do with the County Road and Bridge Fund. If budgets mean anything, the road budget is for transportation. The jail is an entirely different thing.
We tend to aggee with the basic point we think the super-intelligent elite editorialists were TRYING TO MAKE. We THINK they were saying that IF public safety were that important down at the county courthouse, the big boys would have gotten creative to finance keeping the 300 other beds in the jail open. (Are we getting warm?)
Pulaski County government may spend money on some pretty strange stuff, but that should not change this discussion. The business interests behind the Quarter-cent sales tax that will raise $18 million dollars the first year (and increasing amounts every year after that) is about $14 million more than is needed.
So tell us, what is the secret project? What is the money REALLY for?
Maybe that is what the Dem-Gaz editors were grasping at. Heck, we don’t have a clue.
Yes, we agree that the tax should be defeated. The statewide daily for that part right.
The editorial in The Leader, a newspaper that serves Loneoke, White and north Pulaski County, has an editorial on the jail tax. They correctly work the problem, and come up with the wrong result
The editors seem to have a good grip on the facts.
A special jail tax would be down our list of remedies for this intolerable condition — ideally. Like Gov. Huckabee, we think the legislature should modify the sentencing laws that were passed the past 25 years so that there are alternatives — much, much cheaper alternatives — to long prison terms for people convicted of using illegal drugs and some other victimless or nonviolent crimes.
It sounds like The Leader has been paying attention to the debate.
A tax of only one-eighth of a penny rather than one-fourth would be enough over time to address the simple crowding issue, though it would take longer to complete the physical jail improvements and get the expanded correctional operations going.
Jim Lynch, who was a member of the county public safety tax force that recommended the jail tax (and the only member not to vote for it), has computed revenues from the tax over the next 15 years, and it is fairly clear that after a few years the rising collections will begin to exceed the jail needs — that is, unless crime puts an ever-escalating burden on the system or hard times crimp the revenue growth.
But then, they completely misstate the situation.
But the only options now for voters are the fourth-of-a-cent tax or do nothing.
WRONG! VERY WRONG!
The real option is for Pulaski County government to give voters a REASONABLE solution. Voters will not reward admitted mismanagement with an $18 million annual gift.
Just as happened with Alltel Arena, it will take more than one trip to the polls to solve this problem. In the meantime, the worst ones are in jail. Blame the others on Buddy Villines and vote NO on Tuesday.
It’s in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the theme is (what else) fear.
There is more blabbering and crying than John Gotti’s wake. They even paraded out Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Victim Witness director. It was pure emotional manipulation, so let daddy set the record straight.
The tax proponents are waging a selfish campaign of terror in order to raise an annual sum of $18 million for jail operations. What they are suggesting is the equivalent of buying a thousand pairs of solid gold handcuffs. They want to build a Taj Mahal – a sprawling penitentiary where they can hire their buddies for cushy “rehabilitation” jobs and “administration.” This jail tax is a REWARD for bad management.
Let us be realistic and rational.
There is a problem. Due to the fiscal incompetence of county administration, 300 beds in the high security part of the jail have been closed for a year now. It does not cost $18 million. There is a legitimate need for more jail space to house burglars, hot check writers, and DUI offenders.
The current proposal raises so much more money than is needed and is endorsed by the local Chamber of Commerce types. We demand to know the SECRET PLAN for how the money will ACTUALLY be spent. The spare cash EVERY YEAR may be as much as $12 million. Taxpayers have every right to demand answers.
Remember Alltel Arena. It took several trips to the polls for the power brokers to realize that we are not as stupid as we look. Local voters are not interested in the get-rich-quick schemes of local power brokers. Eventually, a sensible plan was passed, the arena was built without a subsidy to the downtown bond houses and other wealthy elites.
On Tuesday, we will have to say “no.”
With the filing deadline closed Bill Walker is throwing the gauntlet down. He has challenged Mark Stodola, Barbara Graves, and Jesse Mason to a series of citywide debates. As yet its unclear if the Pander Bear, the Lingerie Saleswoman, and the former Prosecutor will accept the challenge.
One former colleague of Walkers in the Legislature has said this is not something the other three should take lightly. With the promise his name would not be used I will share the quote.
“Bill and I served in the ‘Ledge (Legislature) before and he’s not your typical debater. He’s tenacious and uses a combination of charm and ferocity with equal brilliance. Watching Bill Walker in a debate was like watching Sugar Ray Leonard fight — a sight of brilliance!”
So Billy Bob do you think the others will take the bait?
The North Pulaski County Leader has a story repeating how terrible things are since judge Villines and the Pulaski County Quorum Court have mismanaged the finances for the past six years. One bad outcome of that mismanagement is the closing of almost 300 high security beds as the county jail. It is a bad situation and the proposed cure is an outrage.
County government expects, instead of being punished, to be REWARDED by the gift of $18 million extra dollars every year. In four years, you could build another Alltel Arena with that kind of loot.
The “bad guys” contend that some mythical Maumelle rapist was not locked up because of the jail being “closed.” First, the jail is very much OPEN and doing business every single day. Furthermore, most of the violent offenders are quickly put behind bars.
It may be a good thing to expand the jail. My associate, Mr. Dogood, and I will need to schedule a sit-down over spaghetti to determine if we are willing to grant the accommodation of a one-eighth cent sales tax. We are, after all, reasonable men.
And what about the other side?
Let us go back to the Leader’s story and see what Jacksonville Police Chief Robert Baker has to say.
If the measure passes, Jacksonville would receive a $125,000 windfall because an inter-local agreement between the city and county officials would end, resulting in huge savings for the county’s cities.
“That is our share…$125,000 a year,” Baker told The Leader. Plus, there is a handling fee when those arrested in Jacksonville are sent to the county jail.
Baker explained that the $125,000 would wind up in Jacksonville’s general funds. When asked if he wanted the windfall to benefit the police department, Baker said he’d rather see the city, as a whole, benefit from the savings.
In other words, the savings iwll be an outright GIFT to the City of Jacksonville to use in any way OTHER THAN PUBLIC SAFETY. They talk a good game about police protection and a supposed increase in crime, but when given new money it goes for whatever is popular at the moment.
These are all good reasons to be solidly against the jail tax.
On the eve of a county-wide election to impose a quarter-cent wales tax to raise $18 million every year for the Pulaski County Jail, Sheriff Randy Johnson has been found in contempt for not taking some prisoners. So, why didn’t they just go ahead and lock him up?
We agree, at least in spirit, with Judge Stewart, whose ruling was quoted in the Democrat-Gazette.
“This is not a new problem,” he wrote in his ruling, delivered minutes after hearing testimony from jail officials that they have at least occasionally had to refuse some prisoners since 1998. “The failure of the county to solve this problem of long standing is a failure of the county to deal with reality.”
Stewart fined Johnson $3,500, to be paid by 1 p.m. Wednesday – the day after the jail-tax election – and threatened him with jail time if there are further refusals to detain prisoners. The case was appealed to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Willard Proctor Jr. By 4 p.m. Friday, Proctor had stayed the fine and the rest of Stewart’s ruling pending the outcome of the county’s appeal.
Shirley Simpson of Taxpayers Against Wasteful Spending is square on target. It’s a publicity stunt and the one that should be held in contempt are Judge Villines and the Justices of the Peace who have allowed this problem to grow over the years while County spending has exceeded revenue.
Sheriff Johnson is known to have had serious health problems and that makes this thing even worse.
We say it is time to WHACK the jail tax.
What will it take to be elected mayor?
With four seasoned politicians in the contest, it could get tight. My associates have made the proper inquiries and discovered the following.
To be elected Mayor of Little Rock outright in the November general election, the winner must have received 40% of the total vote. Remember there are FOUR candidates in this race.
In the city director races, the candidate with the most votes wins.
Barbara Graves has all the money on earth available for media. She should be expected to be on top, but getting 40% will be tough. The task for those of us working for change is to get out a large turnout and support somebody who can win in the run-off.
