Even though the state's Democrats lost seats in the Nov. 8 election, they still get to call the shots on the state Legislature's Revenue and Taxation Committee come the forthcoming fiscal session. All of which is as it should be, for the Arkansas House has its own rules, and following them will make life simpler for all. It will also allow the Democrats to determine the order of seniority of newly elected members and make committee selections. Fair's fair. Them's the rules, and anybody who doesn't want to follow them can find another game. They're not likely to come up with a better one.
But sore winners we will always have with us, and this time they're led by Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin, who all too quickly tweeted that the vote in the Arkansas House was "an affront to voters and outrageous. Unacceptable." He sounded all too much like the old Donald Trump before the now president-elect saw the light and became a respectable and respectful winner. It happens when a politician wins. Arkansas' own Lite Guv would do well to follow the example set by his national party's leader. Instead of grousing all the way to victory, why not take Yes for an answer and go happily along?
As for Arkansas' real governor, the Hon. and honorable Asa Hutchinson, he's prudently staying out of this little dust-up in Legislature, as befits a statesman. Instead of tweeting first and thinking later. Yes, the governor is still hoping the Legislature will enact a hefty tax cut. So is Bart Hester, the Republican state senator from Cave Springs, who would reduce state revenues by more than $100 million a year in order to give the Arkansas taxpayer a break at last. So will the governor join the fray and tell members of the Arkansas House what they should do?
Nope, says Governor Hutchinson. "I do not intend to get involved in the House committee selection process. They are a separate body of government, and I believe in the separation of powers and the checks and balances system that serve our country so well. I will continue to advocate for bipartisan support for both my balanced budget and the tax cuts that spur economic growth." But he's not telling the Arkansas House how to pick and choose its members, or which propositions to support or not.
The same goes for the Republican speaker of the Arkansas House, Jeremy Gillam of Judsonia. Says he: "I think it's way too early to just automatically make those kind of assertions as to what the [House] committee will do or won't do. To this point, they have seen no legislation. I think we have to be fair and give the members a chance to actually see the bills and go from there."
What's this--a legislative leader opposed to a source of instant commentary that may make a fleeting news bulletin but nothing more in the day's muddy mix of news that really isn't?
Charlie Collins, a state representative from Fayetteville, remains a good man to tie into overblown disputes like this one. He kept his seat on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, and had only good things to say about the loyal opposition. And he spoke with confidence on this occasion, buoyed by the impressive vote his party got election day:
"For some, like me, who believe we need a really, really large tax cut, it could complicate how that process unfolds. But at the end of the day, because we've got such a super-majority, when we get clarity on what we align to, we're obviously going to be able to go ahead and do that." Spoken like a man holding four aces in a not-so-friendly game of Arkansas Bluff--even if there's no need to bluff. For he can safely afford to leave the huffery-and-puffery of politics to the Tim Griffins of the ever-intrusive Internet.
As for the Democrats in Arkansas' Legislature, they have their own problems, and Republicans should be happy to leave those problems to them, rather than get all het up over the Democrats' all-too-transient majority on the House Tax and Revenue Committee.
The tables will have turned soon enough in this game of musical chairs, and when the music stops, there's no telling who'll be left without a place to sit. So why not be gracious about it, congratulate the winners in this mini-power struggle, and commiserate with the losers? Good sportsmanship never goes out of style and neither do truth, justice and the American way.
All of which is why Republicans should simmer down instead of mounting their horses and riding off in all directions at once. To cite the wisest of ever-applicable counsels, this too will pass.
And when it does pass, those who kept their heads while others all about them lost theirs will be seen as the true Confucian thinkers and doers they are. More power to them, and to good sports everywhere.
Editorial on 11/16/2016