Speaker Black on Art Pope...and other stuff
House Speaker Jim Black had a sit-down with us scrubby media types today. The conversation was pretty wide ranging, mainly focused on the upcoming session.
For those who are interested, I've broken out some audio files so you can listen to the Speaker chat about your favorite topic.
There is a good deal of discussion throughout of Art Pope, the millionaire conservative Republican who leads one faction of the Republican Party. Pope faction defeated their arch-nemesis, Richard Morgan, on primary night. Morgan is a Republican but has worked with Black and his allies, helping in 2003 to form an historic if weird co-speakership. (For more on all that click here.
Now for the audio:
- Click here for file A; covering the highlights of what Black thinks will be important this session. “This is going to be a good session, maybe the best one we’ve had in a long time, because we’re not dealing so much with a shortfall this time…”
- Click here for file B; covering the first of many times Black T-s off on Art Pope. “Last night or yesterday was the culmination of a problem that has been brewing in this state for some time now. Art Pope with his millions and millions and millions of dollars made a great splash yesterday. He eliminated a great statesman in Richard Morgan…”
- Click here for file C; covering another riff on Art Pope as well as a little on the Democratic agenda for the upcoming session. “I think what we do in this session improving education, jobs and health care is going to have more to do with what happens in November than any of those other things . . . you can take enough money and make a wart hog look good.”
- Click here for file D; covering why Black thinks there might be an anti-incumbent sentiment this year. Hint: it's all the fault of us scrubby media types. “There are all kinds of reasons for an anti-incumbency mentality out there, and some of it is around this table here...”
- Click here for file E; which is a long one, covering ethics legislations, Black's own ethics problems, video poker, keeping special provisions out of the budget, House rules and tax cuts.
- Click here for file F; covering funding for mental health, the county share of Medicaid and possible state bond issues for education and water projects. “Yes, there’s a lot of interest in the House about mental health reform and better funding mental health care...”
- Click here for file G; covering more on handling lottery proceeds and the minimum wage bill. “I never did like advertising to start with . . . when I see that TV ad, I think that’s the silliest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a waste of money....”
As always, the comment lines are open.