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Senate committee chairman denies member's accusations of disruption Thursday, May 3, 2007 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The chairman of the Senate Efficiency Committee on Wednesday denied accusations he was trying to block the committee from meeting, though he did express misgivings about a proposal by some committee members to hire a former Huckabee administration official as special projects manager for the Senate. Committee members tried to call a meeting Tuesday in the absence of the chairman, Sen. David Bisbee, R-Rogers, but were unable to do so for lack of a majority. Sen. Shawn Womack, R-Mountain Home, claimed Bisbee had failed to schedule a meeting Womack requested and was absent Tuesday because he wanted to "disrupt the process." In an interview Wednesday, Bisbee said he was absent Tuesday because he was attending a meeting on school facilities at the offices of the Department of Finance and Administration, not because he wanted to block the committee from meeting. Bisbee said he will call a meeting of the committee, but he did not schedule a meeting Tuesday because he still had unanswered questions about the proposed special projects manager position. "What I wanted was, before I'd call a meeting, I'd like to know what the job description was, who is he going to report to, what's it going to cost, so I could get that information to the members before I called the meeting, so they'd know what's going on," Bisbee said. Womack said Tuesday the $60,000-per-year position would be created on a temporary, biennial basis. 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," he said. Womack said his choice for the job would be Bruce Campbell, former director of the state Rural Services Department. Bisbee said he suspects the real purpose for creating the position may be to subvert the method of appropriating General Improvement Fund money that was adopted by the Legislature this session. Instead of appropriating GIF money directly to local projects, as they did in past sessions, legislators this year directed appropriations to state agencies. This method is supposed to leave it up to the agencies to decide what projects across the state to fund, preventing legislative sponsors from directing money to projects in their own districts. Lawmakers made the change in response to a December state Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit filed by former state Rep. Mike Wilson of Jacksonville. The court ruled that a $400,000 appropriation for infrastructure improvements in Bigelow violated a constitutional ban on special and local legislation. The high court has yet to rule on other appropriations challenged by Wilson's lawsuit. Bisbee questioned Womack's statement that the special projects manager would track budget issues. "The budget's set for the next two years. There are no budget matters to monitor. So what they've got to be saying is, he's going to track the new general improvement process. Well, I've got an idea he'd be Mike Wilson's first witness at the trial," Bisbee said. Wilson said Wednesday that based on Womack's description, it appears the position could be used for unconstitutional purposes. "That sure raises big question marks in my mind, if they plan to use a Senate employee to direct or channel public funds to certain places and not to others," he said. A phone message left at Womack's law office was not immediately returned Wednesday. |
