This is part 1 of the Best and Worst in our state legislature.
Those session-ending lists of the "Best & Worst" in the Arkansas Legislature have always caused major trouble in the majority political party of the state.
This go-around, of course, that axiom translates to the Republican Party of Arkansas.
Now at the outset, the official line of the Republican Party of Arkansas, any and all of its' elected leadership, including our sitting governor, Asa Hutchinson, who is, by virtue of his elected office, the titular head of the GOP of Arkansas, is to deny these rankings matter.
But we all look at these rankings.
We all dispute the accuracy of these rankings.
And we all know that these lists will enter into the upcoming 2018 election cycle as sure as the hot, humid Arkansas weather enters our weather in July and August.
So who is this group making the latest list in 2017 and getting the grumbling started over best and worst?
It is the "Conduit for Commerce" an Arkansas 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization educating the public and legislators on the benefits of economic freedom, limited government, and individual liberty with an emphasis on small Arkansas business, according to their website.
They started the rankings, so here we go.
It is just natural to see a list composed by a nicely worded pretext and wonder if these legislators (all 100 of them) are indeed, some of the best or the worst of the bunch.
One of the best lists was once from the state's newspaper, always showcasing the legislative stars of the session, those individuals who have led the others for groundbreaking legislation in the lawmaking process. We felt like most of these "stars" have been included in the daily regurgitation of the goings-on of the press. Both the pencil press (print) and the electronic (radio and TV) media, seem to always tag a quote or sound-bite from these well-spoken best of the rest for our consumption to help their stories resonate back in the hinterlands far from Little Rock.
And the worst of those bottom feeders on the list of 135 legislators, commonly called the "furniture of the session," those who rarely offered up any substantial legislation, enacted few bills and were often on the "No" side of legislation -- be it good or bad legislation.
But let's see how this recent group -- the Conduit for Commerce's own website -- describes the rankings it made.
"Legislators receiving the highest scores were determined to be the most fiscally conservative legislators and those with lower scores represent the state's more fiscally progressive legislators," states the website.
And from that statement one is supposed to be able to determine the best from the worst?
Not such an easy discernment for the average taxpayer, I would imagine, especially if you knew little about the Conduit for Commerce or its backstory.
The top-ranked state senators, all Republicans, according to the website, were, in order, and with scores (out of a possible 100, some scored above and below that threshold): 1. Bryan King of Green Forest (196); 2. Linda Collins-Smith of Pocahontas (189); 3. Gary Stubblefield of Fort Smith (153); 4. Scott Flippo of Bull Shoals (148) and 5. Terry Rice of Waldron, (118).
Those at the bottom of the senate rankings (out of 35 senators) were: 31. Lance Eads, R-Springdale, (-103); 31. Jeremey Hutchinson, R-Benton, (-105); 33. Eddie Cheatham, D-Crossett, (-106); 34. Will Bond, D-Little Rock (-108) and 35. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville, (-118).
If you take into account the Conduit for Commerce's self-described definition of its rankings, then Bryan King is the most conservative state senator while Uvalde Lindsey is the state's most fiscally progressive legislator.
That, I can ascribe to as being correct. The rankings in between, however, do sour on the tongue.
I'll have more to say about these rankings, and how the scores given the House were even worse than totals ascribed to the senate, next week.
Stay tuned.
-- Maylon Rice is a former journalist who worked for several northwest Arkansas publications. He can be reached via email at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 07/19/2017