The mysterious $80,000 gift, or loan, or whatever characterization best fits the 2014 wire transfer from nursing home mogul David Norsworthy to former state Sen. Jake Files soon will be the focus of a special prosecutor's inquiry requested last week by Sebastian County Prosecutor Dan Shue.
To his credit, Shue has been interested in this transaction ever since enterprising reporter John Lovett of the Southwest Times Record revealed the unexplained transfer found in court records.
Neither Norsworthy nor Files have offered an explanation. I'm betting the special prosecutor to be named will find one.
Perhaps it was mere coincidence, if you believe in such, that Norsworthy transferred $80,000 to Files a week after the offering of an unsuccessful constitutional amendment intended to cap lawsuit payments, such as negligence claims against nursing homes and other instances where victims are harmed.
While that proposal fell short of making the ballot, followed by a second failed attempt, the latest resurrection (endorsed by the state's nursing home industry, hospitals and chambers of commerce) is before voters come November as Issue 1.
Readers may recall that Files has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges related to misusing a state tax-funded grant through his construction company's bogus proposal to create a recreational park in Fort Smith. He's yet to be sentenced for that scam.
But that was something entirely different. This $80,000 wire transfer is a mystery all its own that emits the familiar aroma of a trusted elected legislator inexplicably receiving tens of thousands of dollars from special interests.
I consider this wire transfer another potentially enormous and underreported news story, and I salute Shue for not letting the matter slide.
Thriving on fines?
A reader interested in my columns about the shameful speed traps across our state forwarded some public records along with his concerns about little Grady in southern Arkansas.
He said he noticed that the town of 407 residents with a least three patrol cars showed a whopping 79.2 percent (or $402,912) of the town's $508,603 in 2016 general fund receipts came from "fines, forfeitures and costs." That's according to a legislative audit.
The man said he's frequently seen Grady police units with vehicles pulled over along U.S. 65 outside the main community.
These numbers alone seem worthy to me of deeper examination into communities that potentially are violating our state's speed trap law.
Just how much of the 79.2 percent of these lucrative "fines, forfeitures and costs" that apparently comprise the bulk of a town's revenues comes specifically from traffic-related citations? And what percentage of those are for fewer than 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limit?
Since legislative auditors unfortunately do not break down and report those specific income details to more easily identify illegal speed traps, I can't answer that. But I do know there's a street in Grady near City Hall aptly named "Street of Plenty."
Perhaps the leaders of Grady have a good explanation for all those fines and forfeitures. Maybe there is an astounding overabundance of violators in that little community. But if I were the Lincoln County prosecutor or with the Arkansas State Police, I'd be politely listening while examining records.
More than 79 percent of any small town's revenues arising from fines, forfeitures and costs in itself warrants a hard look by authorities to see whether they are violating the state's speed trap law or just adept at collecting hundreds of thousands in fines and forfeitures.
Oh, and while they are looking, authorities might want to examine another intriguing item in the audit report that documents a total of $479,047 spent from the city's general fund, with $419,217 (87.5 percent) spent on "General Government."
Sustaining growth
So what can we realistically expect the economy to do in the wake of President Trump's tax cuts and eliminating many costly, job-killing regulations?
One bipartisan, nonprofit group called the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has taken a long look and released its conclusions.
The group says the best news is that the economy is doing well, but it's unlikely to become sustained growth at the same rate. Short-term improvements are largely the result of the completion of the economic recovery and the temporary stimulative effects of debt-financed tax cuts and spending increases. This also is unlikely to result in sustained improvement in growth.
"Sustained growth is still projected to average less than 2 percent annually rather than 3 percent, primarily due to the aging of the population," the group explained. "The country should adopt pro-growth policies whenever sensible, but be realistic about the structural challenges constraining growth."
So, valued readers, take that information for what it's worth and together we shall see what gains will be sustained at year's end.
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Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial on 06/05/2018