So, Politics is just not your thing? ~ Part One

Growing up in the 80’s one of the mantra’s I’ve heard most of my life is:“Don’t discuss politics and religion.” in polite company.

(As an aside I found this “starter piece” on The Etiquette of Talking Politics, I don’t agree fully but she makes some excellent points, especially for newbies)

I always wondered why that was especially since those pretty much define the belief system of every living person on this spinning planet. Even if a person is an atheist and apolitical, those beliefs still define what they do and how they engage in everyday life. So in effect, what we have done is perpetuate the ignorance of millions of Americans, justifying why they don’t need to be informed and engaged citizens, in the name of politeness or more accurately political correctness.

Politics

Politics defined is the science and art of running a government. Most
of us, however, tend to think of politics as people who are
opportunistic or scheming. It is my belief that this is why most
Folks want nothing to do with it, perhaps for fear of being tarnished. So
why bother? Especially given today’s climate of partisanship and
vitriol, who needs the additional stress?

Well, I would contend that, by default, each and every one of us is

political by our very existence. Our homes are political, our jobs,
our churches even our friendships are political.
Think not? If you are married and you want to purchase something that perhaps your spouse wouldn’t be overly elated about do you think of how to frame the item so it seems more appealing? Have ever embellished a story to impress another? Ever told a friend that you were doing something else because you didn’t want to hurt their feelings? The examples of politics in everyday life are endless.

So why is it when it comes to what affects our lives on a daily
basis - with regard to the laws that regulate our lives and those of our children - do we shy away? It’s been said that people may think they can ignore politics, but politics will not ignore you. Taxes and regulations invade our lives whether we vote or not.

The laws that govern our cities, state and nation dictate things as
simple as where we live, what and where we drive, where our
children go to school, what they learn in school. Our churches are restricted by what they can say. There are laws awaiting approval as I type this that will determine what we eat, how much gas we can use, how much rain run-off we can have and even the size of our lawn mowers and even the types of light bulbs we use.

I’ve also heard it said that no answer is an answer in itself. I guess this is the stance of those who choose not to get involved in politics.

If this is your choice, my question is why? Do you not care about the future of your children (an ADOST (attention deficit Oh Shiney Thing) moment~ little Whitney just for fun), your community your faith? As you “stand idly by” and allow laws and regulations to be passed without your input? After all, your life is being altered and you are choosing to be a victim through your chosen inaction.

So if you are a political junkie like me, a teacher in the Bronx or just ahousewife in Minnesota you are needed by your community to get informed and engaged. I’ll repeat from posts of yonder days: If not you, who? If not now, when?

Who's Watching the Store?

While city officials in Fayetteville, Arkansas are constantly striving to
“Keep Fayetteville Funky”, I believe they are keeping it more flunky than funky.
In recent months our officials have revamped Block Street, the connector street between the historic square and the entertainment district along Dickson Street with back-in, angled parking spots (no, seriously), odd, jutting concrete islands and a maze of other fun and sundry driving obstacles only to discover mid-project that there might be a serious issue with the clearance of some emergency vehicles.

So now they go back to the drawing board to “re-revamp” the street project.
Even with remarkable Googling skills I have yet to locate a finite
number of what this has - and will - cost we the taxpayers.

Then we turn to the dreaded paid parking issue in the entertainment district. The powers that be decided in their wisdom to install parking kiosks downtown to increase city revenues. Or, in the words of Alderman Matthew Petty who
represents Ward 2, “We need to do this; it’s the only way to keep Dickson Street growing.” Oh really?? Take an already tax laden community and further tax the down time where folks go to relax.

However, many residents of the majestic town have said “Good bye Dickson Street” because they don’t feel it is worth the extra money and hassle to deal with these new parking restrictions, especially when there are so many other choices with free parking.

In an effort to raise revenues, the City Fathers have actually helped curb potential commerce for local business owners, in effect lowering tax revenues. They have spent taxpayer money implementing a plan to take more of that money from said taxpayers. Then, as a kicker, a few days ago we learn Fayettevillians will be hit yet again with an additional $15,000 in repair bills to the parking machines from vandalism in the initial weeks. Arggggg!


It is important to note before we proceed that Fayetteville is
running in a budget deficit situation of an estimated $1.2 million in the General Fund. In light of that Mayor Jordan and his crew developed a plan “to reduce target expenditures, freeze wages, forego the
replacement of certain open positions, and extend the replacement plan
for General Fund vehicles,” all of which I applaud. But to re-revamp a road that actually did not need revamping in the first place then further tax citizens with the hassle of parking fees so that potential customers may head elsewhere with free parking and easy access doesn’t seem like good city planning to me.

Now the Coup de grace; the $93 million high school I continue to shudder over. That’s NINTY THREE MILLION DOLLARS! The rapidly growing Springdale School District is seeking less than $70 million to build a new junior high and a middle school holding 2,000 students, new athletic fields and stadium for Har-ber High School and refurbish the existing Springdale High School stadium. The interesting fact of this matter is not only has Fayetteville school not grown, but according to a former school board member, the population at FHS continues to dwindle.

Now I understand the city management does not make decisions for the school district, which might even play more into one of my points, that the
right hand and the left hand of the public’s business never know what the other is doing.

Beware friends. Government on every level is spending and taxing to the point of non-recognition, in my opinion, to get all they can before
the heavy hand of the federal government comes down and lands a mighty and crippling final blow to families across the nation.

Has anyone else noticed how many unemployed there are in our corner of the state? How many foreclosures are published in the paper each day? How many empty storefronts have appeared?

So one little town (less than 70 thousand residents) in one little state is spending millions of dollars on superfluous stuff and we just keep going along living our clearly unsustainable “Life of Riley.”

American Apologetics

The answer to our dilemma really seems fairly simple, at least it does to me on its face. If we are going to make a real difference as conservative voices in this nation, a lot of us are going to have to change our approach and significantly elevate the level of conversations we have to include facts and reason.

More and more on facebook and other social media outlets, I see people who engage in heated emotional arguments sometimes degrading dialogue filled with name- calling, swearing and outright hostility.

Why all the animosity and smearing toward others? Why does anyone believe harsh language and deep resentments aimed at anyone else can change anything about the way they believe? Hasn’t anyone ever heard of the children’s story of the wind and the sun arguing about getting who could get the trench coat off the man first? The cold wind blows hard and the man only tightens his coat. The sun heats up just a bit and the man takes the coat off willingly. Lotsa truth in that folks.

I’ve observed that most people have loosely formed ideas of why they believe as they do. Yet what is it that causes anyone to believe - or disbelieve – anything in their life? Seems to me it all boils down to the way we’ve been taught by others since birth, blended with our personal experiences. In short, most of us are simply products of our surroundings, what we’ve been told, and the environments that continually envelope our lives. If we are told falsehoods, then chances are we will come to believe falsehoods, right?

The ole adage; birds of a feather flocking together, has proven itself true time and time again. As a parent this Truth has some very real personal meaning and potential consequences. If my teenage daughters were allowed to hang out with drug-addicted gang members what do you think the chances would be they would soon become drug users? And worse.

Many groups have realized this piece of reality and taken advantage of it. For instance, Moveon.org. since 1998 has been “reaching out” to people who like-mindedly consider themselves “disenfranchised,” offering to “help” and get them involved in the system so they can take advantage of all their rights.

Statistics show that liberal messaging beats conservative message by a whopping 85 to 15. Although I do believe we are gaining ground, I can’t help but
wonder what is our message?

Our message should be focused solely on: Limited government, fiscal responsibility and free markets related to our communities as opposed to national stories inflated to draw our attention away from where our true power and influence lie.

So how do we change the all-critical message? For once, GET THE FACTS on any issue or debate. If we are going to unite to keep our country free and filled with opportunity for all, there naturally will be work involved. We can’t only send continuous e-mails and post rantings and unformed opinions about the BP Oil spill on facebook, call President Obama a Marxist, and believe with any intellectual honesty that we are doing any real good and our work is done. I wish that preserving our precious Republic were that easy. Unfortunately, it’s not anywhere near what is needed.

Those of us, who truly believe our nation finds itself at a tipping point, will have to do pretty much the same things our Founders did. What say we agree to educate ourselves on historical FACTS. How, you might ask? We can begin by reading and understanding theConstitution (yep the whole thing), and the Declaration of Independence written a decade beforehand. Next, let’s all read and understand The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen; Why America is Great. Now we need to visit David Barton’s site at Wall Buildersfor a plethora of resources.

Then learn the names and biographies of our local representatives. Discover the pattern of their votes and how they relate to the issues facing our communities. Then let’s encourage others to come along side us, not by making our present situation about Barack Obama or Democrats or Republicans or those dratted incumbents, but rather about making our own community a more prosperous, community-minded place to live.

If you’d like to learn more about how to do this and how to utilize the social media to your best advantage contact us at American Majority. We will gladly come to your community and work alongside you toward our common goals of preserving American freedoms on every level.

BARBIE SHATTERS THE GLASS CEILING

I just returned from Toy Story 3 and I have to tell you that in our day to day battle of politics, spin and outright manipulation of facts and truth it was a refreshing story.

As a mom who’s first born is college bound this fall the story hit close to home as well. As I sat there in the movie with my family I was happily entertained. Isn’t that why we go to the movies, to be entertained?

The story follows along the live toy theme of the previous two episodes but now the toys are facing Andy, their boy, leaving for college. Andy’s mom, evidently a conservative parent, let’s Andy know that he has until Friday (his departure day) to store, pack or trash all the belongings in his room. Given that he has to decide the fate of the Toys.

**Spoiler Alert**

Andy decides to take Woody, his favorite childhood toy, along with him to college while storing the rest of his toys in the attic. Through a series of mishaps the toys for storage end up in a “Stalag 13” type day care that has been commandeered by a dictatorial stuffed bear, who had an rough childhood and is destined to take it out on the rest of toy humanity.

As Andy’s toys are remanded to custody and forced to do time in a room full of abusive toddlers, they plan their escape. As fate would have it they are caught by the Hitler Bear and his army who threaten them with an awaiting trash pick-up if they don’t return to their appointed duty.

The best line in the whole movie comes from Barbie at this point who sternly pronounces “Leadership comes from the consent of the governed not from the threat of force!” BAM! I have never loved Barbie so much in my life~ how exciting that a children’s movie is not full of anthropomorphic rhetoric on top of tree hugging liberal drivel. FINALLY a new family flick that I don’t leave with the need to deprogram.

The entire story was filled with great life lessons of personal responsibility, charity, friendship and loyalty. Not to mention the unwavering pursuit of one’s own happiness derived from the journey of life through heartache, tribulation and overcoming.

Who knew all these years Barbie was a closet conservative and just needed to suffer under the oppression of an overstuffed tyrant to take a stand. Watch out Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman and Ann Coulter; Barbie has shattered the glass ceiling!!

Finally, Facts Over Fiction

I recently attended an event where David Barton of Wall Builders was the guest speaker. I can tell you that I came away from that meeting both encouraged and greatly annoyed. Encouraged because I finally had acquired some much-needed facts and annoyed because I had not done my own due diligence in educating myself on some of our nation’s fundamental truths.

I encourage you to head for this website and read for yourself the information that Dr. Barton has amassed fully documented facts of how our history has been “deconstructed.” His compelling presentation was chock-full of amazing information. One fact I found most interesting is one I can see repeating itself today. It is the way our Civil War actually began. Barton starts his page on this issue: Confronting Civil War Revisionism: Why the South Went To War:

The rewriting of history in any area is possible only if: (1) the public does not know enough about specific events to object when a wrong view is introduced; or (2) the discovery of previously unknown historical material brings to light new facts that require a correction of the previous view. However, historical revisionism – the rewriting “of an accepted, usually long-standing view… especially a revision of historical events and movements” ¹ – is successful only through the first means.

This is why I get annoyed, because even in my desire and passion to make real change, I have not done all that’s needed to truly know what I fight for today. His message and facts have convicted me, once again, to read and study even more.

Bartons’ research and documentation shows a much different picture than what I was taught in school and what, as an adult, I had read and considered (and assumed) to be truth. I was under the impression that the Civil War was between the North and the South over state’s rights and that the south was acting in an honorable way to preserve Stateism. I had read books, obviously with an agenda, that had presented this as fact in words (of course without proper documentation). As a Southerner, this helped ease my conscious that my forefathers had not been the bigoted slave owners perpetuated by a different history.

What I found out last week is that really neither account is true. Barton explains (and shows) how the war was actually initiated by the Southern Democrat states who wanted slavery to continue as it had. Congressional representatives from southern states bent on maintaining slavery just walked out of congress, packed their bags and went home to start the confederate states. The northern counterparts who also wanted to preserve slavery, decided to remain in the Congress and deal with a Republican majority who wanted slavery abolished. I’ll not go into the whole story here because I would love for you to take the prompting seriously to step up and begin to sincerely take responsibility for your own knowledge by checking it out at the above website.

Today, in one way, we are going through much the same battle, the ultra-liberal progressive arm of the Democrat party is twisting history, facts and events to lead people to believe that we are not who we all know we are: God fearing, freedom loving, free enterprise Americans who want government to get out of our lives rather than continuing to encroach on our liberties. Other Democrats aren’t extreme enough to suit their tastes.

Again we are at a cross roads in America will we sit idly by and watch as our heritage, our foundations and our futures are mangled by the “deconstruction” of those who will do whatever is required to gain and maintain power and control. Or will we once again rise to the call of our Maker and stand for Truth, Justice and Honor by knowing and understanding without equivocation who we are and how we got here?

Knowledge is power and readers are leaders. Please get accurately INFORMED, get actively ENGAGED and thereby actually EMPOWERED! I urge everyone to read what the Texan, Mr. Barton, has spent years documenting for all of us.

Those Pesky Numbers~

Throughout the 3^rd Congressional District race Mayor Steve Womack has touted his fiscally disciplined ways with the Roger’s city budget.

So it seemed fair to look at Rogers’ budget, available on line, and actually see if his words matched his actions. How has he handled the hard earned money of Rogers’ taxpayers?

Just a little bit of ciphering led me to believe that perhaps the Mayor embellished his record a tad.

For example, the Rogers’ Museum takes in about $6150 in revenue but operates on a budget of over $501,000? Salaries and benefits tally over $371,000 alone. In fact, museum employee’s salaries have increased over 75% since 2005.

If that were just one city budget I might overlook it. But there is more.

The recycling center, which I was sure would turn a small profit or perhaps operate more revenue neutral has projected sales of $150,000 for FY2010. However, the Recycling Center pays over $212,000 in salaries and benefits and has a total budget of $281,854 in FY2010 costing taxpayers $131,854.

Roger’s has an impressive Parks system which is projected to bring in $209,661 this year. Wow, that’s great. But hold on to your pocketbooks, the Park system pays out over $1.3 million dollars in salaries and benefits. The citizens of Rogers’ will spend $2.5 million dollars on their parks system in FY2010.

Surely, the program Mayor Womack would like to expand to other cities across the country, the Adult Wellness Center, at least breaks even. The AWC takes in an impressive $358,000. The gym pays out salaries and benefits of just over $335,000, but goes on to spend over $758,000. If memory serves me Roger’s Mayor promised that this program wouldn’t cost tax payers a dime because it would be paid with membership dues and run by volunteers. Maybe it will work differently on a national level because that is certainly not the case for taxpayers in the city of Rogers.

Mayor Womack boasted in a congressional debate that he has $19 million in taxpayer dollars held in reserves. Wouldn’t a true fiscal conservative set aside a reasonable amount in a rainy day fund and then think about how to return the excess taxes to tax payers?

And last but certainly not the least of worries is the hefty pay raise Rogers’ Mayor Womack has received during his tenure. It went from $43,216 when he took office to currently $115,003. It was reported by the Tolbert Report that a “normal inflationary increase during this time period would put it around $56,000.”

It seems Mayor Steve Womack’s budgeting principles are the same budgeting strategies fiscal conservatives are trying to alleviate in Washington D.C.

Tales of Two "Servants"

Here in the 3rd District on June 8th we will join together once again to choose who we will to send to Washington from this region to represent our interests and to a larger degree, the state of Arkansas. The two candidates vying in a run-off are Cecile Bledsoe and Steve Womack, both of Rogers. In vetting each candidate, I discovered distinct differences. I hope my findings in fact will aid in your decision making process.

After several personal conversations with each candidates and researching of their records, here’s what I discovered.

When speaking with State Senator Bledsoe on issues where we disagreed, she listened to my views. She understood my position and even admitted that she had learned some lessons. She seemed sincerely interested in building relationships and bringing people to the table. She also even asked if I’d be willing to put her in contact with others who shared my concerns.

On the other hand in a conversation with Roger Mayor Steve Womack, hoping to clarify his position on taxes and his pet project of Adult Wellness Centers, he seemed to me to be unwilling to listen. He actually became defensive, at one point saying: "I don't hear you coming up with any answers"

In this same conversation which occurred a week before he agreed to sign the “Americans for Tax Reform Pledge” from ATR, Mayor Womack told me and another person that he would not sign the pledge because he felt that “taxes needed to be on the table.” It was the same statement he had made in a public forum not long before this conversation. So it seemed clear this was his position. But then, about a week later, he signed the pledge saying, it had been his intention “all along to sign it on April 15th." But that also was the day when Dick Morris called him on the carpet at a Tea Party rally on the Fayetteville square for being the only candidate of eight in the race not to have already signed the no tax pledge. You can decide for yourself, considering the timing of all this and his previous denials of the pledge, how sincere his explanation was.

Additionally, in our discussion when asked why private sector business was not included in his concept of these wellness centers he said he did not include them because in his view government: “needed to have full control, to do the best job"
In conclusion Mayor Womack said to me and my companion, “I am sure I will not get your vote but that is okay I am comfortable with the supporters I already have.” So much for constituent service.

These conversations for me, reveal two very different people with vastly different approaches to the job as a congressman. One was willing – even eager - to listen and ask for even more critiques, to take personal responsibility for her own actions and all without being publicly shamed. She also made a solemn pledge to Arkansans to not make the mistakes again.

The other appeared to be border-line hostile to questions, unwilling to hold an open and objective dialogue and clearly not genuinely committed to hold the line on increasing taxes even higher than they are.

I believe more than at any other juncture, we need and expect servant leaders not leaders who expect to be served. Arrogance in any public servant is not a pretty or endearing sight. I’ll be doing a follow-up posting on their records.

Just food for thought based in personal observations and experiences~

Masterson Predictions Arkansas Primary

These are just our predictions- nothing more, nothing less~

Senate
Lincoln Halter D.C. Morrison 10%...........runoff
Boozman - Holt runoff

Lt Gov
Darr wins

SOS
O’brien

Congress
1st Dist- Crawford squeaks by Smith
Have no idea on the Dem ticket
2nd Dist- Griffin wins
Elliot- Wills ...... runoff
3rd Dist-Womack and Moore in runoff

4th Dist- Gallas wins by small margin 51%


Supreme Court Seats
Baker wins....
Fogelman wins

Circuit Court Seats
Gary Carson wins…
Beth Bryan wins

Laurie's (first) Most Excellent Exit Poll~

I awoke this morning feeling supercharged for the events of the day. After doing my usual do-de-do’s like checking emails, updating twitter and Facebook, Mike and I piled in the car and headed off to vote at a fire station not far from the house.

I was immediately energized by the dealings. Being an “introvert” I only knew 50 percent of the people at the polls. Right after making our penciled little circles on paper ballots we decided to find some breakfast and write down our predictions about the candidates on our ballots, which I’ll share in the next post. Then I got the bright idea to do my own unscientific exit poll! Why not? I wanted to be out amongst the action and the people. I wanted to share in the spirit of the process after waiting for so many months.

I got home and quickly formulated the questions for my poll~ The fundamental idea was to see how many people I might find who wanted to become more informed and engaged. And I was really surprised by what I found.

I visited 5 voting locations within a 25 mile radius over 3.5 hours, wanting to get the largest random pool of people for Laurie’s first Most Excellent Exit Poll. The individual questions and results are posted below. But here’s what I found. Forty percent were at least 51 years old. The next largest age group at 25 percent was between 30 and 40. Over 45 percent of those I surveyed said they spent “several hours” gathering and researching information before voting while 30 percent said they spent just over an hour. Then 68 percent said they shared the information they had gathered with others (primarily a spouse or relative).

And here was a bit of a shocker, One hundred percent of the people who voted ( I believe that means EVERY single one of them) answered “No” to the question: “Are you happy with the current state of politics in America?” (Perhaps not much of a shocking surprise there). BUT, asked if they would want to become more involved to help change things 60 percent said NO! That was discouraging.

As a matter of fact, at the first two places I stopped to question folks, that number was also 100 percent. I was, ummmm, I have no words. Friends, it strikes me that our biggest problem is one of apathy. For those of us who understand how crucial it is that we all become engaged in the process of electing our leaders, it falls incumbent on us to make sure we are attracting others, and sharing with them, the absolute urgency in 2010 of becoming an engaged citizen, rather than an endangered servant~

Age	Percentage
18-29	18.00%
30-40	25.00%
41-50	18.00%
51>	40.00%
Time Spent Vetting
<>	25.00%
> 1 hr	30.00%
Several hrs	45.00%
Source of Info
Friends/Family	3.00%
Web	15.00%
ADS	5.00%
Organizations	0.00%
All Above	77.00%
Discuss Info with others
Yes	68.00%
No	32.00%
Happy with current state of politics in America
Yes	0.00%
No	100.00%
Voting Record
Always	80.00%
Sometimes	18.00%
1st time	2.00%
Want to be more involved
Yes	40.00%
No	60.00%

The Morning After?

Well, here we are just a little over 24 hours from the results of tons of primaries across the nation as they close the polls and report the results.

Wonder what will happen to all the candidates that have been expounding around the nation on their credentials, patriotism and how hard they want to work for us once the primary vote is counted?

The way I understand it there’s only one “winner” per party, unless of course there’s a run-off election. That having been said there are around 30 candidates who will not be moving toward the November general election just from the U.S Senate and Congressional races in Arkansas alone. When we begin counting non-winners in the other races such as Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, Arkansas Representative seats, etc. we should be well over 100 concerned Arkansans that have said they recognize our many serious problems and have ideas for fixing them.

Taking this a step further to include all the staff and volunteers in each of these campaigns, folks who have been so intently focused on these important issues over the past few months I’d daresay we might be up to almost 1000 Arkansans.

On Wednesday, May 19^th I challenge all those who have been so passionately involved in wanting to set things straight within our systems by being a public servant to become a servant leader. Will you still be interested in helping make Arkansas and its citizens a better place with your time, money and energy even after the whoopla and excitement of a campaign has died?

I would say that with 1000 fully engaged, committed citizens, Arkansas is poised to make epic change to affect the nation!

Supreme Court Justice Race~

Here is more info I found on the Arkansas Supreme Court Justices

On May 18th Arkansans will be asked to elect two Judges to the Arkansas Supreme Court. While some would have you believe that the Supreme Court race is one based mostly on personalities and endorsements, it can be argued that if someone takes seriously their right to vote they would feel the need to dig a little deeper especially where Supreme Court Justices are concerned.

Position 3 ~Race between Circuit Court Judge John Fogleman and Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Courtney Henry.

John Fogleman http://fogleman.edelta.net/

His website says: “He’s tried and heard thousands of cases” over the past nearly three decades. In all those cases the only blemish on Fogleman’s record is the controversial West Memphis Three case- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_3. The case revolved around the horrific murder of three boys and the life altering sentencing of three other young men. The Google hits on this case are astronomical. Emotions and conspiracy theories are abundant. A law library full of assertions have been made that Judge Fogleman “botched” the case but there has been NO proof of any wrong doing or judicial negligence on his part - in any way. In his 30 year career this is the only case I could find that was deemed “negative” or controversial.

Endorsing Forgleman are 3 former Supreme Court Justices, 19 former presidents of the Ark Bar Association and a former president of the American Bar Assn.

Courtney Hudson Henry http://www.henryforjustice.com/

As you can see, compared to her opponent, Henry has little experience as a Judge, but comes with a stack of endorsements. Supporters of Henry would include a politically diverse and influential group of people as former Republican Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt to Democrats like Jimmie Lou Fisher and Senator Mary Anne Salmon and President Bill Clinton.

Position 6 : State Court of Appeals Judge Karen Baker, Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Tim Fox and Little Rock lawyer Evelyn Moorehead.

Karen Baker:http://www.judgebaker.com/

Mrs. Baker has tried and presided over thousands of cases so there is plenty to examine. I found that her most controversial case involved SWEPCO. The powers that be want to make her ruling in this case about everything she says it is not, which is that SWEPCO simply did not follow the law. http://bit.ly/dkalDL

Tim Fox: http://timfoxforsupremecourt.com/wp/

Fox has also tried myriad cases and in researching his record I found several cases that gave me pause.

One of the most heated and controversial cases involves a well known attorney in Little Rock Sam Perroni http://bit.ly/dcOq3a . From what I was able to understand Mr. Perroni missed a court date in Judge Fox’s court because he had a federal court case the same day. Mr. Fox held Mr. Perroni in contempt and things only went downhill from there. My challenge with this is that Judge Fox appears to have made the issue personal, spending time and money to “prosecute” something that could just as easily have been a judicial “reprimand”.

Another one that is concerning- Robinson v. Villines http://bit.ly/axYm00 where Judge Fox retroactively applied an increase in the library millage rates for the 2007 tax year. The decision was appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court and a unanimous decision was made that Judge Fox clearly erred, stipulating no statutory or constitutional authority to retroactively apply the millage-rate increase.

In this overturned cases Judge Fox certainly appears to have usurped the law to make his case. There are more cases where Judge Fox was overturned because of the supposed “un-constitutionality” of his findings.

Evelyn Moorehead http://evelynmoorehead.com/

Being that Ms. Moorehead is not a judge there is no case law to “vet” however there is a news article on her website if found quite interesting- http://bit.ly/aPnUrD

This admittedly limited information hopefully will inspire voters to carefully explore all the candidates for which they will be pulling the lever on May 18th~ GET OUT AND VOTE!

Questions for Tim Fox

I visited with Tim Fox a few weeks ago & asked these and a few more questions. For the most part Mr. Fox did not have answers. I would like others to have the benefit of my research so that they to may ask pertinent questions. Those chosen to sit on the Arkansas Supreme Court should be sound constitutionalist that will protect the citizens of Arkansas, comply with and fairly enforce the law.

**I am not a lawyer so there may be details I do not have or understand but suffice to say these questions were not answered

JUDGE TIM FOX

ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT, POSITION 6

STATEWIDE RACE

PRIMARY MAY 18, 2010

BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND

LEGAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Juris Doctor, University of Arkansas School of Law, 1981

• Private Practice, 1981-1991

• Chief Assistant City Attorney, City of North Little Rock, 1991-1996

• Prosecutor, North Little Rock District Court, 1996-1999

• Private Practice, 1996-2002

• Circuit Court Judge, Sixth Judicial Circuit, 2003 – Present

• Master of Judicial Studies, University of Nevada at Reno and National Judicial College, 2007

• Certificate in Judicial Development, National Judicial College, 2007

• Faculty, National Judicial College

• President, William R. Overton American Inn of Court, 2009 – 2010

PERSONAL

• Married to Cathy Cothran Fox for 27 years

• Father of two children, Caitlin and Andrew

• Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church

• Former Board Chairperson, United Methodist Children’s Home

• Former Board President, Friends of Arkansas Educational Television Network

CONSTITUTION – TAXES

1. The first case is one where, as I understand it, the Supreme Court of the United States said you made a mistake interpreting the Constitution, and that your interpretation violated due process that resulted in the unconstitutional taking of property. Can you explain?

Jones v. Flowers, 547 U.S. 220, 126 S. Ct. 1708 (U.S.Ark.,2006).

In this tax case, a taxpayer brought suit in Arkansas state court for determination that the notice provided by the state in connection with the tax sale of his property was insufficient to satisfy constitutional requirements and resulted in the taking of his property without due process. Judge Fox, entered summary judgment (without a trial) in favor of defendants, and the taxpayer appealed. The Arkansas Supreme Court, 359 Ark. 443, 198 S.W.3d 520, affirmed, but the United States Supreme granted certiorari (that means that they agreed to look at the case).

The United States Supreme Court held that Judge Fox and the Arkansas Supreme Court were wrong saying: (1) when mailed notice of tax sale is returned unclaimed, state, as matter of due process, must take additional reasonable steps to attempt to provide notice to property owner before selling property, if it is practicable to do so; and(2) steps which state took after being alerted to fact that notice had not been delivered, in proceeding with sale after simply publishing notice in newspaper a few weeks prior thereto, without ever posting notice at address to which notice was sent or taking other measures reasonably available to alert taxpayer of sale, were insufficient to satisfy taxpayer's Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. They reversed and remanded.

2. Have you been reversed by the United States Supreme Court finding that your interpretation of a law or case violated the constitution?

3. Have you been reversed by the United States Supreme Court as a judge? As an attorney urging a particular position?

4. A few years later, the Arkansas Supreme Court, in another case involving taxes, said that you were wrong in retroactively applying a millage-rate increase regarding library taxes. As I understand it, they said you had retroactively applied the taxes even though there was no statutory or constitutional authority to do so. Can you explain that?

Robinson v. Villines, 2009 Ark. 632. (December 17, 2009).

In this case, Judge Fox retroactively applied an increase in the library millage rates for the 2007 tax year. Taxpayers challenged Judge Fox’s decision to make them pay a retroactively applied tax. Fortunately, the supreme court found that Judge Fox clearly erred and reversed the decision saying there was no statutory or constitutional authority to retroactively apply the millage-rate increase to 2007 library taxes after the special election. Every judge voting said that Judge Fox was wrong.

5. So explain why citizens, should trust you to interpret and apply the law regarding taxation in ways that are consistent with constitutional principles.

ELECTION/BALLOT ISSUES

6. In this next case, you refused to hear a voter’s challenge to Tim Hutchinson being placed on the ballot based upon Hutchinson’s failure to meet the residency requirements as set out in the Arkansas Constitution. When I read the section 7-5-207(b) statute, that the Arkansas Supreme Court relied upon when it said you were wrong, it seems clear that the statute specifically authorized a voter to challenge a candidate’s failure to meet the constitutionally required residency requirement. In fact, the statute was designed to make sure that voters could have a candidate removed from the ballot if the candidate was not qualified. Can you explain why you refused to hear the case?

Tumey v. Daniels, 359 Ark. 256, 196 S.W.3d 479 (2004).

A citizen and voter filed a complaint in a pre-election challenge to a candidate’s (Tim Hutchinson’s) failure to meet the residency requirement of Article 5, § 4 . The Arkansas Supreme Court reversed Judge Fox’s refusal to hear the case saying that he erred in dismissing the complaint based on certain provisions under section 7-5-801. That section is only available to a competing candidate who claims to be the rightful nominee or victor. The voter who was challenging Hutchinson’s name on the ballot was not a competing candidate and that section did not apply at all to a voter’s challenge. In addition, a voter’s challenge of a candidate on this constitutional issue is the type specifically authorized by section 7-5-207(b). They reversed Judge Fox’s dismissal of the complaint and remanded for a determination of the merits of the suit.

7. When you sent out an order that took the names of Ralph Nader and his vice-presidential candidate off of the ballots, the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed your decision and said that your interpretation of state law was unconstitutional. Actually, they went even further and said that your interpretation led to an absurd result. Again, why should we as citizens, trust your judgment when it comes to interpreting the Constitution?

Populist Party of Arkansas v. Chesterfield, 359 Ark. 58, 195 S.W.3d 354 (2004).

Quote from case:

Our own court has recognized that the right to become a candidate for public office is, under our form of government, a fundamental right, which should not be in any manner curtailed without good cause. Fisher v. Taylor, 210 Ark. 380, 196 S.W.2d 217 (1946). Any law or party rule, by which this inherent right of the citizen is diminished or impaired ought always to receive a liberal construction in favor of the citizen desiring to exercise the right. Id.

Statutes are not only presumed to be constitutional, but a court must construe a statute as constitutional if at all possible. Bunch v. State, 344 Ark. 730, 43 S.W.3d 132 (2001). As the Supreme Court has recognized, trial courts cannot impose a restriction that denies a group their right to associate or denies them access to the ballot unless narrowly tailored to meet a compelling state interest. Lubin v. Panish, 415 U.S. 709, 94 S. Ct. 1315, 39 L.Ed.2d 702 (1974).

Here, the manner in which the trial court's interpretation of Ark. Code Ann. § 7-8-302(5)(B) leads not only to an absurd result, but also renders the provision unconstitutional. This unconstitutional reading of the petitioning provision at issue infringes upon one of the fundamental civil liberties of our democracy, that of the secret ballot. Anderson, 664 F.2d 600. In sum, section Ark. Code Ann. § 7-8-302(5)(B) does not state that an electorate name “their” candidate for President or Vice President. The statute only requires that the signer of the petition state their desire that the named candidates appear on the ballot.

Populist Party of Arkansas v. Chesterfield, 359 Ark. 58, 66, 195 S.W.3d 354, 359 (2004).

Your website also says that you have a Master of Judicial Studies. I understand that the Judicial Studies Degree provides a formal academic setting in which trial judges or juvenile and family court judges can integrate technical studies of the judiciary with more academic ones in an effort to provide an intellectual assessment of the role of the American judiciary. But I did not see a statement on your page that describes your judicial philosophy. Can you explain your judicial philosophy to me?