In a wide-ranging interview with the Arkansas Advocate, Senate leader Bart Hester (R-Cave Springs) discussed the upcoming fiscal session, a likely special session to cut taxes (again, which our budget cannot afford), and, what else, the Franklin County prison.
Two things really stood out to us. Again, credit to the Arkansas Advocate’s Antoinette Grajeda for the interview, linked above.
First, Hester says this: “Prison funding has to be top of mind because the people of Arkansas are not as safe as they should be without a new prison.” Hester is being incredibly disingenuous here, given that the legislature did appropriate money for new prison beds – the Calico Rock expansion! There was a lot of willpower for a 1000 bed expansion on top of that.
Furthermore, Gov. Sanders’ much-touted PROTECT Act worsened the problem by drastically limiting parole options for incarcerated folks. At the end of the day, the solution to prison overcrowding really is a simple two-step plan: throw fewer people into prison and let people in prison out from behind bars. So it’s a bit rich to hear Hester trying to pin Arkansas’ crime issues on Democrats and Republicans who won’t support bad policies.
Second, Hester goes on to say this: “It’s easy for someone that’s opposed to say, “pick somewhere else,” but there’s nowhere else in Arkansas, zero places that you see the local mayor, the local county judge, the sheriff, the JPs, the city council, they’ve all signed a resolution saying, “bring the prison to us.” If you move it from Franklin County to Benton County or Pulaski County or anywhere, the fight is the same.”
Okay, pointing out Bart Hester’s lies and hypocrisy doesn’t really get you anywhere, because the man has no shame. But it’s wild how baldfaced a lie this is. The inimitable folks at Gravel and Grit turned up not one, not two, not three, but four other locations that all bid for the prison (unsurprisingly, Franklin wasn’t one of them): Hempstead, Searcy, Nevada, and Crawford counties all contacted the Department of Corrections offering up viable locations. The Hempstead bid had support from local economic development organizations, nearby cities, and county officials. Uh oh, Bart! We thought you said there were no other locations that were supported by locals?
If you’re going to lie, Bart, try harder. We’d obviously prefer you don’t lie at all, but that feels like it’s a foregone conclusion.
