Talk Business reported yesterday:
Today, Sen. Robert Thompson (D-Paragould) advanced SB 871, a map that would reconfigure Arkansas’ 4 Congressional boundaries, through the Senate State Agencies Committee on a voice vote. There were no audible dissenting votes.
The plan would split Pope and Searcy counties with Russellville moving to the Fourth District. Yell County moves from the Second to the Fourth. The eastern side of the map makes the Mississippi Delta counties fairly contiguous through the First District, with Ashley County added to the First, too.
Madison, Franklin and Johnson counties move from the Third to the Fourth, still leaving a “thick finger,” jutting through the heart of northwest Arkansas. That has been a major argument against a plan known as the “Fayetteville Finger,” or “Fayetteville to the Fourth,” which has passed the House but failed to make its way past the Senate panel, so far.
It is unclear if the Thompson plan has 18 votes to pass the Senate, but it does have some Democratic and Republican support – neither party unanimously. State Sen. Jimmy Jeffress (D-Crossett) is against Ashley County moving from the Fourth to the First District under the plan.
If it does, it’s passage in the House is cloudy. First District Democrats in the House object to Baxter and Lonoke counties both remaining in the First District. House Speaker Robert Moore has expressed dissatisfaction with the Senate plan.
The Senate convenes at 9 am on Wednesday to consider the bill. Also, the possibility remains that the “Fayetteville to the Fourth” map could also be drawn out of its Senate committee onto the Senate floor for debate.
Finally, at this juncture the two plans in the Senate end seem to be the only options on the table. Does a third path to resolving this issue through the legislative body exist? “Who knows?” says one Democratic confidante.
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Yesterday I posted about John Brummett’s praise concerning Gred Leding’s courage to vote in the house for the Fayetteville Finger even though 81% of the people he represented opposed his actions. I said that it was foolish of Leding to do that. Notice what the liberal Max Brantley said on his Arkansas Times Blog yesterday:
You have to feel sorry for Rep. Greg Leding of Fayetteville. He stood with his Democratic House colleagues for a plan many voters in his district opposed more on sentiment than reason. The plan has fallen, but his vote won’t be forgotten.
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Is the Fayetteville Finger back on the table. I hope not, but there is always a chance. Max Brantley noted yesterday:
Nothing will surprise me. Including the House sending back its original bill to the Senate for concurrence.
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I have started a new series on famous Arkansans and today is Lefty Frizzell.
ONE OF THE GIANT OF REAL COUNTRY MUSIC IN A RARE TELEVISION SHOW I GUESS IN 1970
Lefty Frizzell
Inducted in 2005
(1928-1975) – William Orville “Lefty” Frizzell was born on March 31, 1928 in Corsicana, Texas. His family moved shortly after his birth to El Dorado, Arkansas where they remained until the early 1940s. He was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s and a leading exponent of the “honky tonk” style of country music. His relaxed style of singing was a major influence on such later stars as Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. His song “Saginaw, Michigan,” which was released in 1964, earned him a Grammy Award nomination. In 1972, Lefty Frizzell was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. He was also the first country star to have his name enshrined on Hollywood’s “Walkway of the Stars.” His song “If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time” earned him a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. www.rockabillyhall.com/LeftyFrizzell
The Daily Hatch 