LITTLE ROCK — THE GOOD news is that Dustin McDaniel, the state’s attorney general, is going to stop treating the public’s money as if it were his and his alone to decide how it should be spent.
In this case, we’re talking about the money the state acquires when it settles a case against, say, one of the big drug companies that have been overcharging-a sum that varies but now stands at some $8.6 million.
Following years of bad precedent, the attorney general has been distributing the dough to his favorite causes, like the state police or the Arkansas Foodbank. Or the firefighters’ memorial fund. All donations to good causes-and sure tobe remembered at election time.
That’s the bad news: No one public official should be allowed to distribute the public’s money at his own whim, however worthy the cause. And it’s been going on for years under more than one attorney general. This one is to be congratulated for letting the Legislature review his choices. Not that legislators aren’t good at acquiring their own slush funds for their own pet projects, but at least this way there’ll be somebody looking over the attorney general’s shoulder.
It’s an improvement, and one in line with James Madison’s advice in the Federalist Papers: The proper remedy for government’s abusing its power is not necessarily to restrict that power, for under our Constitution the government should be able to do all that is “necessary and proper,” to quote the granddaddy of all elastic clauses.
No, the guard against abuse of that power is to divide it-through a system that allows one branch of government, one party or interest, to check and balance the other. Which is what the attorney general has started to do in this case.
Congratulations, General McDaniel.
And congratulations to reform-minded legislators like Jane English (R-North Little Rock) who blew the whistle on him. She describes his decision as a “good first start to accountability for those funds.” But since the legislative review the attorney general now has instituted is less than a formal system on the statute books, more can be done. And the next legislative session is the time to do it.
Contrary to the cynics, we do make progress in this state-if only gradually. See how long it’s taking to eliminate the sales tax on groceries.
But step by step, Arkansas is getting there. It’s just that first we have to get our politicians’ attention. And sometimes it takes the equivalent of a two-by-four to do it. Like the dramatic election results in this state last year, which bolstered not just the GOP but the whole idea of a working two-party system. This latest step forward indicates that it’s working, all right. Good for those in both parties who make it work.
Editorial, Pages 14 on 10/28/2011