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The miracle-worker's team Saturday, Apr 5, 2008 By Doug Thompson Give Gov. Mike Beebe a lot of credit for increasing the severance tax. Just don't give him all of it. The governor struck a deal that natural gas drillers didn't fight during this week's special legislative session. That deal raises tax revenues by $57 million. That's expected to grow to about $100 million a year. Nobody seals a deal that size without a fight unless he holds a hammer. Arkansas voters were that hammer. We wanted roads. Beebe pledged most of the severance tax money to roads. Everyone who complained to lawmakers about sitting in a traffic jam mattered. So did those of us who drove down dangerous two-lane roads and complained. We gave Beebe his supermajorities of legislators. We know because Beebe can't line up 80 percent majorities in a few days any more than he can turn water into wine. Only voters get lawmakers to fall in line like that. For instance, some of the few legislators voting "no" cited the calls they received from gas well owners. Some cited calls from constituents on holding a line against tax increases. Most of rest of the Legislature, apparently, got calls from everyone else. Give the Legislature some credit for being responsive. Lawmakers didn't sing the governor's tune. They sang ours. If you're not happy with the result, don't blame a small group of conspiring lawmakers. Blame your neighbors who picked up the phone. Voters were also the court of last appeal. The threat of going over the Legislature's heads and voting in a tax was credible. Voters provided the stick. There was no carrot for gas drillers. There was no magic wand, either. Beebe just waved the stick well. Some complain that Beebe's bartering sessions with drillers weren't open enough. I can't go along with that, not considering the preceding year and a half. I've covered almost every public appearance the governor has made in Northwest Arkansas since he started running for governor. People hit him up for money for highways every time. He knew the hit was coming every time he came here. He came anyway. He listened. Beebe consulted the public first - before the negotiations. Then he stuck to what we wanted. He came back with a severance tax people could quickly understand - imagine that - and support. The deal's not detailed enough and doesn't answer all questions, some say. They're right. We'll see how much of a super-majority the fine-tuning gets in January, when the regular session starts. Another thing; You don't win hard bargaining with business without good numbers. You have to sort through figures, which is the language business speaks. Those businesses pay well for experts in understanding and arguing about figures. So give the governor's staff some credit here. Give some to the Department of Finance Administration and the Oil and Gas Commission and too. Then give some to other departments I'm leaving out, and probably some private people in business. Give some credit to the Highway and Transportation Department for making its case for more highway spending. Then give some to lobbies like the Trucking Association and the Good Roads Council. Those lobbies haven't stopped looking out for more money for roads, either. I'm not trying to take credit away from Beebe. His talent mattered. My point is that the talent that mattered most was his leadership. That's the best talent of all. It brings out all the others, yours and everybody else's. As usual, leadership included sheer stubbornness. Grit wins more fights than skill. This deal was declared dead more times than Elvis. Beebe obviously refused to give up or angrily walk away. He didn't win the drilling companies over as much as he outlasted them. Speaking of determination, some lawmakers like Sen. Mary Anne Salmon, D-North Little Rock, sought such an increase for years. Gov. Mike Beebe may be Arkansas' star political quarterback. Other players took to the field with him when the severance tax passed, however. A whole team and a bunch of fans backed him up, too. --------- Doug Thompson is a Fayetteville-based reporter and columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau and the Morning News. His e-mail address is dthompson@arkansasnews.com. |
