Friday, October 14, 2005
The Lakeview Decision Revisitd by Huckabee
Huckabee et Al Coming to Holt's View on Lakeview
By Mark Moore
I have often noticed that a man who sees too far ahead of his fellow men is often misunderstood. He sees farther ahead than they do, but at the time they think he is hallucinating.
What makes it worse is that when events later unfold as the insightful man predicted, his fellow men often forget that the far-sighted man was right. They forget his early warnings, which they wrote off as trouble-making at the time. They forget he was right and only remember that they regard him as a trouble-maker who interferes with their "consensus".
Such is the case with State Senator Jim Holt and the Lakeview case. Let's review. The courts took it upon themselves to rule that Arkansas' public schools were "inadequate" and "unconstitutional". They told the other two branches of government to fix it. The Governor and most of the Ledge assured the people of Arkansas that they had "no choice" but to comply with the state courts and raise your taxes. They joined together in using the ruling as an excuse to foist an expensive plan that gave us even more centralized control of schools. They shut down dozens of districts. They moved power and authority away from local parents and school boards and concentrated it at the capitol.
Only a few men, like State Senator Jim Holt of Springdale, challenged the view that the courts and the courts alone had the power to determine what an "adequate" education was. Holt warned that to yield to the courts would violate the separation of powers that is the foundation of our government. It would turn the courts into a super-legislature.
Holt proposed that the legislature specifically spell out what a suitable education was. The legislature would define what an adequate facility consisted of, what an adequate pay scale would be, and the like. Then the courts would be bound only to interpret what the legislature codified , not make it up as they went along. Holt's idea would have given them no vacuum to fill. History has shown us in Little Rock, and across America, that courts do not run schools well- they just waste money well when they try.
To give his common-sense idea even more teeth, during the special session on schools in 2003 Holt proposed referring an amendment to the state constitution which said the legislature, along with parents and communities, would define what an adequate education was. Senator Dave Bisbee of Rogers like the idea so much that he proposed a very similar amendment. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette pummeled both proposals mercilessly. The ledge did not rally around either one. They instead pushed the spending and consolidation bills through in the hopes that the courts would be placated. They aren't.
I know that some are trying to make political hay out of the fact that Mike Bebee told the ledge that the court would be satisfied with the $750 million that the ledge already spent on education. That is a red herring. Gov. Huckabee thought the same. The problem is not Bebee. It is not Huckabee. The problem is once a legislature cedes its authority over to the courts it becomes like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. The people never know what they are going to get.
That brings us to the present. Governor Huckabee was recently on the radio sounding like- well, like Jim Holt back in 2003. He said "I'm confident there will be a united effort in the two branches of government to say to the third that there are three equal branches of government and one does not supersede the other."
Huckabee made several other comments as well about the separation of powers-points Holt was making in the '03 special session.
We at Arkansas Watch are glad that the Governor has seen the light on this important issue. Still, it will be a harder fight now than it would have been in the beginning, before the other two branches assured us that they had "no choice" but to obey the courts. The court rulings were an excuse then to do what they wanted to do anyway. Now that the courts have turned on them, they are discovering that being a check and a balance to the courts is a constitutional duty. One that Holt has been preaching about for years.
It will not be easy, especially with the Democrat-Gazette backing an elitist court and hurling ugly abuse at anyone who stands up to them. Should the Executive and Legislative branches find it in themselves to do their duty, we at Arkansas Watch will do what we can in our small power to honor the courageous who stand up to both the elitest press and those who dare to call themselves our "Special Masters".
By Mark Moore
I have often noticed that a man who sees too far ahead of his fellow men is often misunderstood. He sees farther ahead than they do, but at the time they think he is hallucinating.
What makes it worse is that when events later unfold as the insightful man predicted, his fellow men often forget that the far-sighted man was right. They forget his early warnings, which they wrote off as trouble-making at the time. They forget he was right and only remember that they regard him as a trouble-maker who interferes with their "consensus".
Such is the case with State Senator Jim Holt and the Lakeview case. Let's review. The courts took it upon themselves to rule that Arkansas' public schools were "inadequate" and "unconstitutional". They told the other two branches of government to fix it. The Governor and most of the Ledge assured the people of Arkansas that they had "no choice" but to comply with the state courts and raise your taxes. They joined together in using the ruling as an excuse to foist an expensive plan that gave us even more centralized control of schools. They shut down dozens of districts. They moved power and authority away from local parents and school boards and concentrated it at the capitol.
Only a few men, like State Senator Jim Holt of Springdale, challenged the view that the courts and the courts alone had the power to determine what an "adequate" education was. Holt warned that to yield to the courts would violate the separation of powers that is the foundation of our government. It would turn the courts into a super-legislature.
Holt proposed that the legislature specifically spell out what a suitable education was. The legislature would define what an adequate facility consisted of, what an adequate pay scale would be, and the like. Then the courts would be bound only to interpret what the legislature codified , not make it up as they went along. Holt's idea would have given them no vacuum to fill. History has shown us in Little Rock, and across America, that courts do not run schools well- they just waste money well when they try.
To give his common-sense idea even more teeth, during the special session on schools in 2003 Holt proposed referring an amendment to the state constitution which said the legislature, along with parents and communities, would define what an adequate education was. Senator Dave Bisbee of Rogers like the idea so much that he proposed a very similar amendment. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette pummeled both proposals mercilessly. The ledge did not rally around either one. They instead pushed the spending and consolidation bills through in the hopes that the courts would be placated. They aren't.
I know that some are trying to make political hay out of the fact that Mike Bebee told the ledge that the court would be satisfied with the $750 million that the ledge already spent on education. That is a red herring. Gov. Huckabee thought the same. The problem is not Bebee. It is not Huckabee. The problem is once a legislature cedes its authority over to the courts it becomes like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. The people never know what they are going to get.
That brings us to the present. Governor Huckabee was recently on the radio sounding like- well, like Jim Holt back in 2003. He said "I'm confident there will be a united effort in the two branches of government to say to the third that there are three equal branches of government and one does not supersede the other."
Huckabee made several other comments as well about the separation of powers-points Holt was making in the '03 special session.
We at Arkansas Watch are glad that the Governor has seen the light on this important issue. Still, it will be a harder fight now than it would have been in the beginning, before the other two branches assured us that they had "no choice" but to obey the courts. The court rulings were an excuse then to do what they wanted to do anyway. Now that the courts have turned on them, they are discovering that being a check and a balance to the courts is a constitutional duty. One that Holt has been preaching about for years.
It will not be easy, especially with the Democrat-Gazette backing an elitist court and hurling ugly abuse at anyone who stands up to them. Should the Executive and Legislative branches find it in themselves to do their duty, we at Arkansas Watch will do what we can in our small power to honor the courageous who stand up to both the elitest press and those who dare to call themselves our "Special Masters".
