|
|
| |
| Sun, Jul. 20, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Simple and dangerous Saturday, May 10, 2008 By John Brummett This business about Democratic state legislators raising campaign money for Republican colleagues is easy to solve. They could just stop. But any attempt to impose real party discipline - by Gov. Mike Beebe or his pal serving as state Democratic chairman, Bill Gwatney - is surely fraught with danger. We've now had 13 state Democratic legislators, including some in leading roles, who have allowed themselves to be listed as hosts of fundraising receptions for Republican colleagues who have Democratic opponents. These party-snubbers explain that nonpartisanship is the way of the unique insular culture of the Arkansas General Assembly. They say strict partisans have their place and that they respect that place, but that state legislative business is not that place. In a severely term-limited body with leadership chosen from the full membership and with cultural conservatism a common denominator, folks are just looking for friends. But surely there is a party line not to be crossed. And, actually, it's not hard to find. A Democratic state representative running for speaker of the House and seeking the support of a Republican colleague could express it this way: "Bubba, you and I have always gotten along well and been fair with each other. If you'll elect me speaker, you know I'll be fair to you on committee assignments and how your bills get handled. If you get a Democratic opponent, I'm not going to raise any money for him or even endorse him or help him in any way. We need to stay out of each other's districts. But the one thing I can't do, and you shouldn't ask me, is help you raise campaign money. I have to show some loyalty to the people who work hard in the Democratic Party, just as you do the people who work really hard in the Republican Party. I just think it's important that we remain open and honest with each other about everything." Any reasonable Republican would accede to that. Gwatney, who served in the state Senate and knows how things work legislatively, was within his reasonable rights in sending out a letter asking Democratic legislators to stop helping Republicans. But when, in a press interview, he accused a leading state Democratic legislator of effectively helping Asa Hutchinson against Beebe, he was in a place he probably needn't have been. He's better off tactically not being hostile or punitive. The overwhelming Democratic control of the state Legislature is a nominal and tenuous thing. It's a DINO thing, meaning Democrats in name only. The fact is that many rural Democratic legislators think more like national Republicans than national Democrats. I'd venture that John McCain will get more votes in November than Barack Obama from Democratic state legislators. If you start hammering these rural Democrats for acting like Republicans, then they might just get their backs up and go ahead and become Republicans. The state Republican Party, otherwise inept, might be able to grow only by just such a method. If Democrats want to continue dominating Arkansas, at least by the numbers, then they need to avoid being or appearing dominant, if you know what I mean. In this case, using it might mean losing it. ------- John Brummett is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is jbrummett@arkansasnews.com; his telephone number is (501) 374-0699. |
