I’m off to UALR early, so a quick roundup before I go:
* MAKE A PLEDGE TO KUAR/GET A MATCH: Rosi Smith and I will be raising money on KUALR/KLRE this morning. Call 569-8485 or 1-800-952-2528 or go to kuar.org and make a pledge. The blog pledge is in effect. $10 match toward everyone who mentions the Arkansas Blog. $25 for Republicans.
* THE TRANSPARENT SCHOOL DISTRICT: The Walton-financed lobby group, Arkansas Learns, which is working to create a white flight middle school (“charter”) in West Little Rock is a useful source of information on the Little Rock School Board, generally critical. Last night its Twitter feed mentioned that Superintendent Dexter Suggs, new in town, had mentioned he’d received a contract buyout offer to go to another school district, but had refused it because of his commitment here. (Arkansas Learns is also promoting an anti-union teachers’ union.)
Good for Dr. Suggs.
Bad for Dr. Suggs. I got a tip on this and asked the newly transparent school district’s information office for a comment on it and got zip. No return call. Transparency and accountability this isn’t. My tip said the job offer was from Florida.
*MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL: The Bryant City Council last night suspended Police Chief Mark Kizer for five days for eating a meal while on a convention trip at a steakhouse, Rachel’s, that includes performances by scantily clothed women. Stripper steaks, in other words. A Grand Teton has been made of this molehill. It was bad judgment by a police chief not known for the other variety. But if he met the statutory expense limit rules, I’m not sure the setting in which he chooses to eat his meals is cause for much more than the embarrassment that ensued. Will we punish conventioneers for eating in other disapproved settings — say a bean pie supper at a Black Muslim restaurant?
Anyway, if we’re to talk about action for wasting money, rather than just spending it at stupid places, what about:
* Mayor Jill “Republican” Dabbs’ upgrade to first class for her trip to Boston?
* Lt. Gov. Mark Darr’s use of State Police to commute to the Capitol?
* Paying $100,000 to a deputy of the secretary of state, A.J. Kelly, who manages, according to records he’s not yet chosen to explain, to find time to work during conventional work hours to provide paid service as a part-time city attorney in Fairfield Bay?
Legal doesn’t mean right. That’s what Bryant decided. Others should follow that lead.
Local TV couldn’t get enough of the strip steak story. But there are other slabs of meat to grill.