2 Capitol luminaries remember Bumpers
Dale Bumpers retired from the U.S. Senate in 1999, but he still had plenty of friends and admirers on Capitol Hill.
On Monday, those who served with him, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, reminisced about the Democrat from Arkansas, who died New Year's Day at age 90.
"He was larger than life in many ways," McConnell told his colleague. "I am sure his name will continue to be remembered by Arkansans for many years to come."
Reid spoke about his trip to Arkansas for Bumpers' funeral, calling the service "a stunningly spiritual, humorous and historical occasion."
Bumpers, elected to the first of four terms in 1974, served with Reid from 1987-99.
"He was an extremely funny man and a man who taught me a lot about the Senate. I have missed him for a long time, and I will always remember him for a number of reasons, not the least of which was his ability to speak," Reid told fellow lawmakers.
Senate's 100 join tribute to Bumpers
U.S. Sen. John Boozman introduced a resolution Monday honoring one of his predecessors, the late U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers. The other 99 members of the U.S. Senate signed on as co-sponsors.
Senate Resolution 343 highlighted Bumpers' decades of service. It also said he is "remembered fondly in the Senate for his story-telling style of oratory and his use of the full length of his extended microphone cord, which allowed him to walk up and down the aisles of the Senate chamber as he spoke."
Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, said he and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Dardanelle, prepared the wording of the tribute.
An enrolled copy of the resolution, recording the Senate's "profound sorrow and deep regret," will be forwarded to Bumpers' family, the resolution said.
Civil rights' Sutton honored in Record
Boozman paid tribute to civil-rights activist Ozell Sutton in the Congressional Record, saying that the Gould native "paved the way for desegregation in the Natural State and throughout the South alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders."
Sutton, a graduate of Dunbar High School and Philander Smith College, both in Little Rock, "broke barriers as the Arkansas Democrat's first black journalist" and was present for the integration of Central High School, for the 1963 March on Washington, D.C., and for the 1965 voting rights protests in Selma, Ala., Boozman wrote.
He noted Sutton's stint as director of the Governor's Council on Human Resources during then-Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller's administration and his decades of service with the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Services.
Sutton, who also was one of the first blacks to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps, died Dec. 19 at age 90.
Boozman, Cotton meet Jordan king
Boozman and Arkansas' U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton spent time last week with King Abdullah II of Jordan.
In addition to visiting Capitol Hill, the Jordanian leader visited with Vice President Joe Biden and met briefly at Andrews Air Force Base with President Barack Obama.
Abdullah, 53, has been Jordan's sovereign since 1999, and his country is a longtime ally of the United States.
2 of state 6 up in air on presidential race
Four of the six members of the all-Republican Arkansas congressional delegation endorsed Mike Huckabee for president last year, but the other two remain uncommitted: U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and 3rd District U.S. Rep. Steve Womack.
Asked recently whom he favors in 2016, Cotton said he knows whom he wants the Republican presidential nominee to face in November.
"Months ago, I endorsed Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary," Cotton said, referring to the senator from Vermont whose competition includes Hillary Clinton. When it comes to his own party's candidates, Cotton said, "I don't have any plans at this point to endorse anyone."
Asked if any of the Republican presidential hopefuls impress him, he didn't offer any hints about which way he's leaning. "We've got a lot of candidates; all impressive in their own way," he said.
Womack, the former Rogers mayor, said he's trying to determine which of the White House hopefuls has the best chance of winning in November, but he hasn't made up his mind yet.
"Any of those candidates, to me, are better than the Democrat alternative whether it's Hillary, Bernie, Joe Biden or anybody else," Womack said.
A Republican win "is incredibly important if we're going to make the kind of changes to the direction of this country that I think need to happen," he said.
Noting that the national debt is nearing $19 trillion, Womack said: "From a spending vantage point, we're not going to be able to get many of the things that are needed to redirect our country to a better fiscal path without a friendly person in the White House. It's just not going to happen."
Site for Clinton adds instructor's salute
Let's Talk Hillary, a website that records and posts pro-Hillary Clinton testimonials, is adding video featuring Don Ernst, an instructor of education policy at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. Ernst was an aide to Bill Clinton when the former president was governor of Arkansas.
The former teacher, who worked on education policy, traveled with Hillary Clinton in 1983 as she met with parents and teachers to discuss education legislation, according to a spokesman for Correct the Record, the pro-Clinton group that launched the video project.
"She recognized when she became first lady of Arkansas that the future of the state [was] bound up in how we're going to make a difference in the educational lives of kids," Ernst says in the video. "I think all you have to do is look at her track record -- beginning in Arkansas and even before and certainly after. There is no one who has had the kind of experience and commitment to the needs of children -- particularly the most marginalized of our children. She's grounded in a rural, poor state in which she made a big difference."
Videos are posted at lthproject.org.
The website, launched in October, is a "nearly $1 million project designed to soften the Democratic front-runner's image and improve her relatability with voters," according to the Washington Post.
Planning to visit the nation's capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Contact Frank Lockwood at (202) 662-7690 or flockwood@arkansasonline.com.
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