Huckabee's exit revisited
Well, Beebe got his $500,000 supplemental this morning in the Joint Budget Committee to replenish the emergency fund that Huckabee doled out to non-emergency pet projects on his way out of office. Kim Hendren, excitable senator from Gravette, wanted to know what was different from the other day when the same request got tabled. Nobody could or would tell him the truth, which was that it had been deferred the other day to call negative attention to Huckabee's borish, tacky exit behavior. Plenty of negative attention was duly directed, so it was time to give Beebe his money. Jimmy Jeffress, senator from Crossett most outspoken over the years in anti-Huckabeeness, wanted an investigation of Huckabee. Jim Luker, Democratic senator from Wynne with a quieter manner, said the Joint Budget Committee didn't need to get bogged down during the session investigating the former governor, and that Joint Performance Review could delve into this later. Senators Shane Broadway of Bryant and Paul Miller of Melbourne made the point that, by operative case law regarding the separation and balance of powers, the legislature can merely review, not presume to approve or disapprove, executive expenditures duly authorized. If money was flat-out stolen by misappropriation, then you'd need your prosecuting attorney to look into that. Few people want to go that far. Huckabee's gone. Maybe he won't come back. We hope. We hope. The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival got a new car and some kids got some used musical instruments and the Mexican consulate got some help on affordable quarters and Huckabee's hard drives got crushed. Is it time, as they say, to move on?