Tim Griffin’s Week of Fumbles, Flops, and Facepalms

From a botched utility deal to blocking early voting and a misleading ballot title debacle, it’s been one political mess after another for the AG

Attorney General Tim Griffin is living out a Greek tragedy. We call it “The Follies of Tim,” in which our AG finds himself embroiled in not one, not two, but three political headaches that just won’t quit. Let’s break down Griffin’s week from hell.

First up, we have Griffin vs. Summit Utilities: Just days after signing off on an $87.7 million rate increase with Summit Utilities, Griffin had a change of heart. Realizing a 23% rate jump didn’t exactly scream “public interest,” Griffin raced to the Arkansas Public Service Commission, begging them to either nix the hike or let him wriggle out of his own agreement. Summit and a host of business customers, however, are standing by the deal, basically telling Griffin, “Sorry, pal, you signed it, so live with it.” The commission, meanwhile, is set to deliberate soon, and odds are Griffin’s reputation with ratepayers might be permanently dinged—especially if they have to cough up an extra $15.43 a month to keep the heat on.

Then there’s Griffin’s curious adventure in Crittenden County, where he aligned himself with the Board of Election Commissioners in their crusade against opening early voting sites in West Memphis. Crittenden County’s commissioners blocked the early voting site, which would have served the majority-Black community of West Memphis, under some legally creative pretext. Griffin’s stance seemed to favor an interpretation of Arkansas voting laws that left one part of Crittenden County high and dry. But the state Supreme Court had other plans, siding with a local judge’s ruling that reinstated early voting in West Memphis. Not exactly a “win” for Griffin, who’s now left on the wrong side of what looks an awful lot like a voting access dispute.

And the cherry on top of Griffin’s week? The Arkansas Supreme Court tossed out a proposed medical marijuana amendment that would’ve appeared on the November ballot, all because the title was deemed misleading—a title Griffin’s office reviewed and approved. The court ruled that the title made it sound like a purely medical marijuana initiative, despite provisions for full legalization in the fine print if federal laws were to change. So now, Griffin gets the blame for not only overseeing a misleading ballot title but for inadvertently crushing the hopes of 150,000 Arkansans who signed a petition supporting it. Whoops!

All in all, a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad week for Tim Griffin. Consequently, we bet Leslie Rutledge had a perfectly dandy week knowing it was so rough for Tim.