Capitol Christmas Tree to be Delivered Tomorrow

The State Capitol rotunda Christmas tree will be delivered tomorrow 10:00 a.m. by Bemis Tree Farm. Donated by Mrs. and Dr. Robert Cole, the 22 foot tall, 15 foot wide Leyland Cypress hails from Tom’s Christmas Tree Farm in St. Francis County.

The tree will be stationed in the northwest corner of the second floor rotunda through New Year’s Day, and it will be trimmed with 75 hand-painted ornaments depicting unique scenes representing each of the state’s counties. The individual ornaments can be viewed on the Secretary of State’s website here.

Tough game on the bayou

I hurried down to Baton Rouge to watch the Razorbacks lose a heartbreaker Saturday night to LSU. It made for a long drive home after the game, but we listened to the LSU post-game show until we lost it in Natchitoches. It's looking like the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, and I'm not complaining. Here's a iPhone pic from our section, where we were surrounded by the LSU faithful:

Honoring Judge Jim Hudson

Friends and family gathered at the Miller County Courthouse on Friday morning to honor the late Jim Hudson, former circuit judge. As part of the ceremony, a bench donated by the Miller County Democratic Central Committee was unveiled. The bench, which will be permanently placed on the west lawn of the courthouse, is surrounded by rose bushes and American and Arkansas flags, and reads "Honoring the Memory, James S. Hudson 1954-2009 Judge, Scholar, Protector of Children, Friend to All." I was surprised by the turnout, especially for the Friday morning of a holiday weekend. Speakers included former Senator Wayne Dowd, Miller County Clerk Ann Nicholas, Deputy Prosecutor Carlton Jones, Prosecutor Brent Haltom, Miller County Democratic Chair Larry Dowd, and me. Here's a picture of his family unveiling the bench:

Thanksgiving Day

The Annual Team Texarkana Runners/Triathletes Thanksgiving run and breakfast was held this morning over on the Texas-side. We gather for a 5-miler each year, followed by a pretty hefty breakfast as seen in the picture. Pictured is Todd Payne, who just completed the Ironman Arizona three days ago. It's an ambitious and motley group. I'm now off to Nashville, Arkansas, where I'll spend the day with family and friends.

Slacking/short week

I'm taking advantage of the short week to try and get caught up on a few things. I'll finish out the week in Baton Rouge watching the Hogs play LSU. Here's a pic of yesterday's event honoring fallen firefighters here in Texarkana:

The Annual Turkey Smoke

I'm running low on fuel after watching over the smoke pit overnight at our church's annual Turkey Smoke at the Henry Farm here in Texarkana. I clocked out at 6:20 am and made it up here to the Capitol for the monthly Legislative Council meeting by 9:00. Good: I got to smell 110 seasoned turkeys smoking all night. Bad: I didn't get to eat any of them and had to sit in a fireside plastic chair and got rained on -- but I had good company. Here's the 2:45 am check of the turkeys:

Governor Wills

Yesterday, Robbie was honored with the governorship for a day since Governor Beebe, Lt. Governor Halter, and Senate Pro-Tem Johnson were all out of the state. He's governor today, too.

Double duty breakfast

I spoke to the Sunrise Rotary yesterday on health care reform legislation and its potential effect on states before speaking at the Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Breakfast sponsored by Harvest Texarkana and Randy Sams. Both events were at Williams Memorial. Here's a pretty scary red eye pic from the second breakfast:

Politics and barbecue

Big Jake's Barbecue is in the process of opening an Ashdown location, and we persuaded them to open a few weeks early for a campaign meet and greet there Tuesday night. The talk of the town this week is the Panther football team, which travels to Osceola this Friday for the second round of the playoffs. If they make it through Friday, they'll likely be in War Memorial Stadium in a few weeks playing either Shiloh or conference foe Nashville.

Stephen King, product infringer

I better tread lightly here, cause King will probably cast some spell over me if I take this too far. I've seen a bump in traffic since his latest book titled "Under the Dome" hit the shelves, so all is not lost. Still, I oughta file suit (or at least send a strongly worded letter to his publicist) just to give us some amusement during the political offseason.

Arkansas Fallen Firefighters' Memorial

I'm honored to host the Arkansas Fallen Firefighters' Memorial on the grounds of my downtown building. About 30 fire and ladder trucks from both sides of the state line paraded down State Line Avenue with the crane and statue this afternoon here in Texarkana. We had firefighters from both sides of Texarkana, Genoa/Pleasant Hill, Trinity, Nash, Liberty Eylau, Wake Village, and Nash. The 6,000 pound statue will eventually be placed permanently on the grounds of the state Capitol. Here are some pictures:

Judge Richard Arnold

I started Texarkana-native Richard Arnold's biography on the flight here to DC yesterday. Great book, and included is a flyer from his failed '66 campaign for U.S Congress against David Pryor (pictured below). I note that the return address on the flyer is 300 State Line Avenue in Texarkana, which is my current law/campaign office. The Arnolds practiced law in our building for decades. Arnold was appointed to the federal bench by Carter and served as chief judge of the 8th Circuit from 1992-1998. During his last twelve years on the court, he served with his younger brother, Judge Morris S. "Buzz" Arnold, a Republican appointed by President George Herbert Walker Bush.

DLC Fellowship Program -- Washington, DC

I'm here in DC for 24 more hours for a whirlwind DLC fellowship program. I'm part of the inaugural class of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council fellows, and this is the last session in the three year program (posts from 2007 in Little Rock, 2008 in New Orleans). DLC CEO Bruce Reed is now calling us to order, and we're about to hear from Ron Klain, Biden's Chief of Staff. Since the president is in Asia, his boss is running the country today.

Most of this class of 26 is made up of state legislators and county executives/mayors, although we have a couple who are running for higher office, including former Colorado Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who's running for the U.S. Senate.

Veterans Day

Thank you dad , and all other veterans, for the sacrifices you made for this country.

Dad in Vietnam

Paternal Grandfather

Maternal Grandfather

The Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Day ceremony will take place at 11:00 a.m. this morning in the 2nd floor rotunda of the State Capitol.

Super Lawyers of the Mid-South

I am proud to be named in the 2009 issue of the Mid-South Super Lawyers for Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It's my first appearance in the publication, and I'm listed alongside my brother Jeff, who's making his second appearance.

Clocked out for today

I'm in court in southern Louisiana today and am about to tackle a dish of fried eggs over jambalaya to get ready for this trial. Gotta love Louisiana. The Tiger fans down here are really giving the SEC refs the business over a couple of calls during Saturday's game against Bama.

Back home, I have a couple of trusty surrogates covering for me at today's monthly meeting of local educators since we couldn't resolve this scheduling conflict. If you haven't seen them, read Governor Beebe's statements on the potential impact ($200M) to the state budget resulting from H.R. 3962. This ought to generate some discussion at the state level. I'll post a link when I'm able.

-- Post From My iPhone

Veterans Parade

We kicked off activities for Veterans Day with our annual parade here in Texarkana over the weekend. As they always do, the Veterans Council put on a well organized event. Here I am with Stacey Binning and her son Thomas.



-- Post From My iPhone

Health care bill passes House in rare Saturday evening vote 220-215

H.R. 3962 passed by a two-vote margin last night in the U.S. House. If the Senate gathers enough votes for a similar but not identical bill (most definitely not a given, but recent talks in that chamber do indicate a different bill with an opt out provision for states), the legislation will go to a conference committee made up of congressional leaders and key committee chairmen from both chambers. There, with plenty of input from the White House, the most powerful members of Congress would fight it out in private before a new bill is drafted. The New York Times has an interactive map showing how the House voted. Here in Arkansas, Berry and Snyder voted yes, Boozman and Ross voted no.

Overall, 39 Democrats voted against the measure and one Republican supported it. The bill provides coverage for 36 million uninsured, provides subsidies for those who can't afford it, prevents individuals who receive insurance subsidies from purchasing any plan that pays for elective abortions, and it prohibits insurers from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.

33-16

Arkansas needs one more win to become bowl eligible after beating South Carolina 33-16 in Fayetteville today.

Down it comes

A September fire that occurred in downtown Texarkana resulted in the razing of Barry’s Jewelers. Here's the pic of the remains of the 100 block of East Broad just a few feet from the state line:



That block is among the oldest in the town's 136 year history.

House convenes to consider rule changes

The Arkansas House will convene at noon today to consider and adopt the Rules of the House for the upcoming session. There will apparently be a few proposals that arise from the floor. I'll post an update later.

Update (much later): The House considered several proposals to modify the House Rules, and one was adopted. The new change prevents legislators from being able to accept contributions during the fiscal session. Fine by me.

"Just Us" Law Enforcement Fish Fry

There was another good crowd at Monday night's fish fry in honor of area law enforcement agencies at the Lafayette County Fairgrounds. What started out as a small get together down at Walker's Creek has turned into a event that draws the governor and hundreds others annually.

Back to standard time

And I like the early daylight, although today's 6 miler felt like 50. My calves are still screaming (or as someone in Miller County might say, "my dogs are barking"). If it were up to federal Judge Bill Wilson (or my grandfather, who spoke against Daylight Savings on the floor of the U.S. House), we'd never change from standard time.

3:44:35 in the New York Marathon- UPDATE

I ran a new personal best 3:44:35 in yesterday's New York Marathon, and with apologies to Boston, it was the best marathon I've run. The time qualifies me for entry into the Pike's Peak Marathon next August. I elbowed my way to the front of the wave for yesterday's start just so I could be able to run with the lead pack over the Verrazano Bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn.



Here's a picture from my iPhone showing a few officials who made a human ropeline to keep anyone from taking off before the gun. Once the gun went off, the speakers going across the start and the bridge blared Frank Sinatra's New York, New York.

The crowd support was constant throughout the race, and once I hit Central Park around mile 23, it was all people -- really helped carry me in to the finish. It'll be tough to top this one. I'm en route back to Arkansas now.

Update: Finished 2nd out of 30 from Arkansas.