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Senator accuses committee chairman of 'disrupting process' Wednesday, May 2, 2007 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A Senate committee's attempt to create a new staff position on the last day of the 2007 regular session failed Tuesday when not enough members showed up for a meeting to conduct business. The inaction by the Senate Efficiency Committee prompted one Republican state senator to accuse a GOP rival of sabotage, while another senator said creating the position could lead to constitutional problems. The Senate called a 10-minute recess Tuesday morning to allow the committee to meet, but the committee members who turned up for the meeting found they were one person short of a quorum. Sen. Shawn Womack, R-Mountain Home, later said he had spoken to the chairman, Sen. David Bisbee, R-Rogers, several times about scheduling a meeting of the committee before the session adjourned, but Bisbee never scheduled the meeting and was not present Tuesday. "I think he thinks if he can disrupt the process, he's being cute by doing that. It's unfortunate," Womack said. A message left on Bisbee's home phone was not immediately returned Tuesday. Bisbee was ousted as chairman of the Joint Budget Committee in November and replaced by Womack. Another committee meeting will be scheduled later, Womack said Tuesday. Womack wants the committee to consider hiring Bruce Campbell, former director of the state Rural Services Department, to serve as special projects manager on the Senate staff. If hired, Campbell's duties would include "helping to track budget issues, doing research, helping with communication with constituents, working with cities and counties and other local entities to pursue grants and helping with that grant application process," Womack said. Womack said senators currently write letters of support on behalf of entities seeking grants, but a special projects manager "would actually go and meet with cities and counties and fire departments and other entities and help them identify grant money that might be available." The position would be created on a biennial basis and would not be permanent. The annual salary would be $60,000, Womack said. Committee member Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, who also was absent Tuesday, said he has concerns about a legislative liaison possibly trying to influence state agencies in the expenditure of appropriated funds. This session the Legislature directed General Improvement Fund appropriations to state agencies rather than specific projects, in response to a December state Supreme Court ruling that said appropriations for local projects violate a constitutional ban on special and local legislation. "I think the more influence exerted by the Legislature on those agencies, the less constitutional those appropriations will be determined," Argue said. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee picked Campbell to head the Rural Services Department in 1999. Campbell resigned Jan. 9, the day Huckabee left office. Gov. Mike Beebe said Tuesday he would not comment on the proposed position because it was an internal Senate matter, but he added, "I will say that in my 20 years in the Senate, I was the liaison for my constituents to the agencies." |
