Lawmakers want to spend on a secret Capitol tunnel while thousands dropped from Medicaid
Arkansas legislators want a secret tunnel between two very close buildings on Capitol grounds. Secretary of State John Thurston is also pushing for a new air handling system in the Capitol.
Combined, these two projects will cost 4.4 million dollars.
Money is an Arkansas Republican’s favorite topic, but the record shows they have no room to talk on the issue of fiscal responsibility.
Let’s start with policy:
Our conservative legislature and the Governor who commands them love to brag about cutting taxes, with a goal of eliminating income taxes in our state altogether. This aim comes alongside an overhaul in state education, which includes unfunded mandates to raise teacher pay while funneling tax dollars into private pockets. And then there’s the thousands of new prison beds that won’t make Arkansans safer, but will cost additional millions.
Then there are the money-related scandals:
Recall when Senator Mark Johnson pushed for taxpayer dollars to be directed to an agency where his wife apparently worked for a salary of $327,000 annually. And who could forget the per diem scandal of 2022? Senator Alan Clark instructed Senator Mark Johnson to sign him in to receive his per diem amount for the day, when he actually was absent from the Capitol grounds. He became incensed, wore a red “E” on his chest to mock the process, and filed a frivolous complaint against a democratic Senator in an effort to burn it all down.
The ARGOP are talking out of both sides of their mouths when it comes to spending, and now they want to build a multi-million dollar secret tunnel to make them feel like the big boys in Washington. Maybe it’s also that they’re afraid of walking outside after stripping more rights away from voters, and they think a tunnel will protect them from public scrutiny.
In the last several weeks, thousands of Arkansans have been dropped from Medicaid and are without coverage.
Elections are coming, and a tunnel won’t save you, boys.
