So I was wondering this week just where Senator John Boozman of Rogers stands on the IRS matter involving two years of "lost" emails related to that agency's alleged targeting of conservatives under former Director Lois Lerner. In departing her position under fire, you may recall Lerner (who's been held in contempt of Congress) was publicly praised by President Barack Obama.
The agency's latest director disclosed in his testimony during the ongoing congressional investigation that even the hard drives containing the emails had been shredded because that multibillion-dollar agency supposedly couldn't afford to keep them around.
Then I heard that some constituents in other states had been unable to get responses from their own D.C. representatives and senators about what they felt should be done as a result of the stunning disclosures thus far.
No reticence with the conservative Boozman, however: "The story the IRS is telling is less believable than the fairy tales I read to my granddaughter," he said. Boozman's also among others in Congress who want a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the IRS and its misconduct. GOP Senatorial candidate Tom Cotton already called for a special prosecutor in early May.
Nice to see Boozman neither dodging a firm position or mincing words in this latest of many scandals roiling in the D.C. cesspool.
NWA near top
The latest findings of a credible, 114-page study say the economy generated by commerce in Northwest Arkansas in the coming six years will be America's third best among metropolitan regions. Only Austin, Texas, and Raleigh, N.C., are expected to surpass what's being created by businesses amid the Ozarks.
The energetic Northwest Arkansas Council was celebrating last week after hearing such news that validates the power and influence of companies in this corner of Arkansas and what likely lies ahead economically for our state.
Mississippi's first!
It's equally nice to see our state didn't make the dubious list of the 10 most corrupt states as determined by researchers from Indiana and Hong Kong universities. Nope, finally Mississippi topped a national list rather than chronically bringing up the bottom.
The study on public corruption covered the period from 1976 through 2008 and evaluated the effect of convictions on state spending. The researchers said data after 2008 was too incomplete to properly evaluate.
The study found the states considered the most corrupt "could have reduced per capita spending by an average of $1,308 if they had average corruption levels." The primary corruption among public agencies and officials focused on "bribe-generating spending" and items that directly benefited public officials.
As a younger man and investigative reporter in places like Little Rock, Phoenix, Chicago and New Jersey, I learned early on that reporters who consider themselves such (rather than stenographers) can always find relevant stories amid the contracts awarded by public officials and agencies. And usually you didn't have to scratch far beneath the surface to strike the vein of graft.
The nine states behind Mississippi were: Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Alaska, South Dakota, Kentucky and Florida. Not sure just where our beloved Arkansas fell.
EPA's snapshot
Well, I don't know about you, but I feel all better now that two EPA inspectors from Dallas spent a few days examining the controversial C&H Hog Farms at Mount Judea back in April and took what amounted to a snapshot that didn't reveal serious problems there. Glad a variety of folks are watching carefully.
The beleaguered factory owners finally got some news they could smile about after a year of sustained public outrage over the terrible location for their facility. Lots of Arkansans and across the nation still can't fathom how Cargill Inc. would support placing such a potential environmental threat near the country's first national river, which flows six miles downstream from this factory for as many as 6,500 swine.
And, believe it or not, I'm pleased these factory operators could smile for a change. They clearly aren't bad folks in any way. And they are good, experienced hog farmers from all I know.
But I also know they are spraying raw hog waste from lagoons containing up to three million gallons of the waste onto fields around the community and Big Creek, a major tributary of the Buffalo.
And I do know they are applying the God-awful stuff on top of fractured limestone subsurface honeycombed by caves and springs. And I do know that water flows to its lowest point, which in this case likely is into Big Creek.
And I do know that hydrologists are doing dye studies that confirm how the geography beneath these fields transports water from the surface and that it is flowing even faster and wider than initially expected.
Most of all, I know the problem here from the beginning hasn't been with the ability of the factory farmers or a hog farm, but in Cargill's decision to support and endorse their hog factory such an ultra-sensitive, sacred National Park location that really could have been created in any number of far more suitable areas.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected]. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.
Editorial on 06/24/2014