Arkansas Republicans start 'em young....

Arkansas College Republicans probably think they were being cute and clever by taking a picture of Governor Beebe out of context and using it to score cheap social media points.

TalkBusiness.net called it "Vile Attacks and Lies by Some Arkansas Republicans" and I couldn't agree more.

@ArkCr @GovBeebeMedia thinks Obamacare is best for Arkansas. Is that him or the booze talking? twitpic.com/7o23s4 #crnc #arleg

@ArkCR @GovBeebeMedia expects Arkansans to follow his lead, yet he is so drunk he cant even stand! #arleg twitpic.com/7o23s4 #crnc

@ArkCR: While thousands of Arkansans can’t find work, @GovBeebeMedia gets hammered drunk. PICTURE: http://t.co/JnAm58kf #arleg

These College Republicans could have still used this picture to go after Gov. Beebe. "Gov. Beebe pours the wine and entertains the upper class while thousands of Arkansans can't even afford Bud Light." Or "Gov. Beebe has champagne taste on Arkansas' beer budget."

Perhaps Young Democrats of Arkansas should seize on the poor taste of their Arkansas counterparts. "Governor Beebe: Servant of the People." "Governor Beebe: Serving up good times."

As for his effort in serving a white wine, it leaves something to be desired:

Map of the Day - April 5th

This is my proposed redistricting map for Arkansas. I did this to illustrate that you can basically do anything you want with redistricting as long as the districts have equal population and don't dilute minority voting rights (not much of a concern in Arkansas). I started this map with two ideas: give each district an equal length of state border and have them all meet in the middle of the state. This map would be a big change for many cities, but gives each district a share of urban and rural areas.

(Bentonville, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Hot Springs together in a district. Rogers, Springdale, Russellville and Conway in another. Jonesboro, West Memphis, North Little Rock, and Pine Bluff in another. Little Rock, Saline County, Texarkana in the last one)

There has been much hullabaloo about the congressional redistricting that is happening in Arkansas this spring. The main controversy is about moving Fayetteville out of the 3rd CD and into the 4th CD. "Fayetteville to the Fourth" one of the plans has been called. I oppose moving Fayetteville to the 4th CD if there is another way of creating equal population districts that are more compact. This opinion is not very popular with many Democratic party leaders, officials, elites, and activists. Some have said that moving Fayetteville is best because it gives Democrats more opportunities to win Congressional seats....I support compact districts over partisan success. Some have accused a few Fayetteville Democrats of this plan because those elected officials want to run for Congress in a district that is much more likely to elect a Democrat....again, I support compact districts over the success of any individual politician.

There have been many maps from many people. I hope someone creates a website to archive all the possible maps created by legislators and by citizens during this session. I think far too many people during this session simply said "the 3rd has to lose voters" then accepted whatever was put in front of them. There are plenty more than one way to skin that cat. High schoolers with access to the internet can create all kinds of maps that are equal population that satisfy legal challenges. UPDATE: The most recent map to pass the AR Senate!

Make your own redistricting map with this online tool. It maps and counts the voters in districts that you create yourself!

http://gardow.com/davebradlee/redistricting/launchapp.html

Graph of the Day - February 17th

Long time away from writing, but I certainly have been thinking a lot. More garden related blogs to come in the next few days, but today's is political.

Arkansas Republicans (and a few turncoat Democrats) want to give a massive tax break to wealthy Arkansans while looking into a budget that cuts education and services to children and the poor.

Here is their plan to cut state capital gains taxes. I say if they are looking to cut 55-65 million dollars in taxes this year they should go ahead and completely eliminate the food tax.

For more on this read the press release from Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families. It has a link to their entire report on this issue and how it hands money to the wealthiest Arkansans.