by Arkansas State Rep. Dan Greeberg: Two days ago, the House State Agencies Committee narrowly approved HB 1380, which would establish non-partisan elections of prosecutors. I voted for it: just as judges are currently elected without regard to party, partisan affiliation should play no role in prosecutorial elections.As Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Deen noted in a letter to Rep. Andrea Lea (the bill's sponsor), prosecutors are supposed to make decisions in the interests of justice, not interest groups, political parties, or partisan considerations. The Arkansas constitution says that prosecuting attorneys are members of the judicial branch of government, and requiring nonpartisan elections for prosecutors will remove any appearance of partisanship in their campaigns or their job performance.
We didn't discuss the bill much before we voted on it. Two years ago, when a similar bill appeared in committee, one legislator in favor of partisan elections noted in discussion that eliminating them would cost the state Democratic party lots of money in filing fees. Such raw political considerations are improper to rely on, let alone to discuss, in committee meetings, and I am happy to report that they were not raised again this year.
According to my sources, however, at the House Democratic Caucus just before the committee meeting, similar concerns were raised by Democratic leaders, who called HB 1380 an "incredibly partisan bill." That is a nice example of the inverted morality that is one product of impassioned political rhetoric. It reminded me of the accusations that were leveled against me at the beginning of the legislative session, when I protested the way that the House of Representatives was going to be put in recess for President Obama's inauguration, just as it had been in recess for President Clinton's inauguration -- but, oddly, we never recessed for Bush's or Reagan's inaugurations.
Naturally, when I objected to this, I was accused of being partisan. In any case, the bill will go to the full House sometime this week. If it passes, it will likely do so by the same narrow margin. And its advocates, who want to remove just a bit of party politics from government, will no doubt be accused of being partisan.
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Earlier last week, Governor Beebe signed Act 184 into law, which I originally wrote as HB 1050. This law will require a clear statement by the legislature whenever it shrinks or limits our rights under our Freedom of Information law. Its passage will save taxpayers money by requiring fewer resources to be spent on trials in court and legal research from the Attorney General; alert both lawmakers and the public whenever our FOIA rights are about to be modified; and introduce more efficiency into our legal system by reducing uncertainty about the effects of the law.
Our current system creates a great deal of legal uncertainty that leads to expense for taxpayers, and this law will create a simple, easy-to-follow rule for legislative drafters. I know that's very general, so let me explain the current set of problems this law will solve.
We've had at least six cases (each comprising three separate trials) go all the way to the state Supreme Court because it wasn't clear whether a statute would hide or reveal information, and whether the protections of the Freedom of Information Act would come into play. Similarly, the attorney general's office has had to issue numerous advisory opinions to clarify legislation whose effect on the Freedom of Information Act is unclear. Finally, there are probably hundreds of passages in our law, each of which is a lawsuit waiting to happen, where the force of the Freedom of Information Act is unclear. Act 184 will fix all these problems (or, at least in some cases, stop them from worsening). I appreciate the trust of the voters who let me write this reform into law.
Tags: Dan Greenberg, FOIA, freedom of information, non-partisan, prosecutor, Keep Arkansas Legal, Act 184 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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