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King Henry and his enablers Wednesday, Apr 9, 2008 By David Sanders Fawning praise and accolades began pouring in for Gov. Mike Beebe before the ink had dried on the bill he signed, which increases the state's severance tax on natural gas. In terms of a legislative accomplishment it was significant, but it is premature to ascribe greatness to a governor who has merely governed during budget surpluses. My colleague John Brummett compared the governor to President John Adams, the exceptional founding father whose wisdom and resolute conviction regarding national independence convinced a loose confederation of British colonies to sever ties with the crown. I don't see it. Adams, as Brummett pointed out, is the subject of a wonderfully entertaining HBO mini-series based on David McCullough's biography of the second president. If I might make my own cable television comparison: Beebe is less Adams and more King Henry VIII - the former English monarch who also is the primary character in Showtime's acclaimed series The Tudors, which, like HBO's John Adams, airs Sundays at 8 p.m. (I record and watch both programs.) Like Beebe, Henry was both arrogant and a sore winner. He usually got what he wanted by twisting the arms of those who he thought needed it. His temper would occasionally get the best of him and would lead him to blow up at his opponents. He relied on his confidants to get things done and, of course, Henry worshipped in the Anglican tradition. Sheffield Nelson, the Republican who sped up action on the severance tax by threatening to launch his own initiated act, was the subject of a fascinating piece in Sunday's statewide daily in which Kane Webb managed to get him to open up a little. Nelson said he would support Beebe for re-election in 2010 and his friend Lu Hardin, UCA president, for governor in 2014. He claimed, rather absurdly, that the severance tax really wasn't "true tax" at all, but instead was a royalty payment to the state for pulling gas out of the ground. He said he wasn't liberal on the issue and I could not agree more. In fact, his reasoning smacks of something a little more leftward. The former GOP official claimed that the local party of Lincoln has problems because it is "anti-tax everything." Apparently Nelson has forgotten that our former Republican governor couldn't get anyone, save a few folks from the Religious Right, to get on board with his presidential campaign because his longtime propensity for increasing taxes. Republicans who voted to increase the severance tax were Beebe's enablers. It was never expected to be easy, but surely no one could have predicted that less than two years after the state Democrats swept the 2006 elections, a handful of Republicans would make the task of building a two-party system more difficult. What they either didn't realize or realized and didn't care, was that with the severance tax, the GOP had been given a chance to take a principled stand while handing Beebe a devastating legislative defeat. Had that happened, Beebe would have pursued an initiated act, which would have given Republicans an opportunity to beat him at the polls - two years before he would stand for re-election. But, by siding with Beebe, these Republicans took a walk and effectively strengthened him. Note to Republicans running for the Legislature this year or in 2010: If, during your race, you should discover that Beebe is campaigning and raising money for your opponent, you might want to remind state Sens. Gilbert Baker, Dave Bisbee, Kim Hendren, Bill Pritchard, Sharon Trusty, Ruth Whitaker and Shawn Womack, along with state Reps. Stan Berry, Frank Glidewell, Horace Hardwick, Mike Kenny, Michael Lamoureux, James Norton, Daryl Pace, Sid Rosenbaum and Bill Sample how their votes helped Beebe come after you. ------- David Sanders writes twice weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock and is a host of the Arkansas Education Television Network's "Unconventional Wisdom." His e-mail address is DavidJSanders@aol.com. |
