Editor,
I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the Eureka Springs Independent opinion piece of May 9 that came out in support of my primary opponent. It appears that there is a swell of support for King in multiple liberal media outlets. Conservatives should ask themselves why liberals are singing his praises and repeating the same discredited innuendos disparaging my character.
Bryan King has missed 75% of his Senate votes but accepted 100% of his per diem and salary. Ours is a Constitutional Republic with a Representative Democracy. We the People cannot vote in the halls of Congress or the State Legislatures. We elect people who swear an oath to vote on our behalf. Bryan King believes that he has the right to ignore his oath and has failed to vote 75% of the time.
Like Mr. Ellis, I object to the [$18 waste district] fee placed on us by a court in Pulaski County, but he is wrong on several points. First, the legislation was contingent upon whether or not there was a court settlement. There was a settlement and it was the court that ordered the fee. Consequently, the legislation had zero impact. Bryan King did not vote against the bill. This was another instance of King’s failure to vote on 75% of the Senate bills! By not voting, King can maintain plausible deniability. This is not heroic.
I addressed the Ecclesia issue repeatedly but here is a recap: The government investigation into the Ecclesia scandal was thorough and went on for months. It is obvious that there are no ethical or legal complaints against me except from my opponent and his allies. This is not convenient for those who are disappointed that I am innocent of any compromise of principle. All grants are reviewed, must be approved, and are public knowledge.
Secondly, because I undercharged the school as a part of my ministry, I lost income as a result of my work for Ecclesia College. I am restricted from sharing details by the Attorney/Client privilege. If there was any controversy about this, the government had the authority to examine the college’s financial records.
I stand on my record of voting for my constituents even when it’s tough and the result will be criticism. Buyer Beware: King votes when he feels like it.
Bob Ballinger
I need to correct one thing from the comment above. Mr. Ballinger did not direct all $700,000 of tax money to Ecclesia. Only a part of it. 9 other “conservative” legislators also directed tax money to this “college.” Ecclesia, with less than 100 resident students and plenty of land already, bought two additional pieces of property, ostensibly for student housing. No student housing has been built. However, two days before Oren Paris, President of Ecclesia and Mr. Ballinger’s longtime client, was indicted and within a month of Ecclesia being sued for failing to respond to FOIA requests regarding the money, the college borrowed $1,000,000, using the land the taxpayers paid for as collateral. Shortly thereafter Mr. Ballinger’s firm began its defense of Mr. Paris in both the FOIA case and the criminal charges. Neither the college nor Mr. Ballinger has explained where the $1,000,000 secured with the fruits of our tax dollars went, though Mr. Ballinger promised us documents would be released almost a month ago.
Mr. Ballinger is correct that Mr. King missed a lot of votes. One bill that he did propose, however, was a bill requiring legislators to disclose their relationships with recipients of government money. That bill did not make it out of the committee Mr. Ballinger chaired, and Mr. Ballinger did not support it.
Again, all of the above is verifiable via the public record. People should let their own ethical standards guide them regarding the type of government they want.
Bob Ballinger seems unable to stop making false statements. Regarding the $18 fee, the legislation he voted for absolutely enabled the $18 fee. It changed the previous law to allow the Arkansas Dept of Environmental Quality to file suit against the Solid Waste District to reimburse the Landfill Post-Closure Cleanup Fund IF it did not reach a settlement. This gave leverage to the bondholders over the Solid Waste District, for their consent was required to the settlement in the legislation. ADEQ had no power to recover from the District other than the then existing assets of the District prior to this legislation. This was special legislation created to serve the interest of corporate lenders who evidently failed to do their due diligence.
Mr. Ballinger may well have been ignorant of what the meaning of this legislation was because he failed to do his own due diligence, a common theme with him when his own clients or corporate donors have something to gain from government. He may still be willfully ignorant of it even. Yet still he cannot even bring himself to admit he made a mistake. However, for him to continue to claim his vote had nothing to do with the burden Carroll County taxpayers now face is absolutely, unequivocally false. Half of the $18 vote is now earmarked to ADEQ, when previously ADEQ had to rely on the budget already allotted to it by the legislature using our tax dollars or from the Post-Closure Trust Fund. This is the kind of special interest legislation at the expense of ordinary citizens all too often enjoyed by those with lobbyists in Little Rock to make donations and take care of legislators, and the kind of legislation Mr. Ballinger all too often champioons.
Speaking of taking care of those who take care of you, Mr. Ballinger again brings up his long time client Ecclesia. Mr. Ballinger’s false statements regarding Ecclesia are legion. From “Oren Paris is innocent” to “I just learned what my long time client was doing a few weeks ago,” to “Ecclesia will release everything as soon as the trial is over,” Mr. Ballinger has been at best willfully ignorant about his relationship with this college led by his client, admitted felon Oren Paris. A man Mr. Ballinger still claims was a mere pawn, despite his plea under oath admitting to defrauding Arkansas taxpayers. And of course, Mr. Ballinger has no word to offer about how we taxpayers get the $700,000 he directed to Ecclesia back. He did find time in the 2017 legislative session though to run a bill on behalf of his client that would shrink our Freedom of Information Act while Ecclesia was being sued for violating it. A bill which he said on video there was no opposition to before the video surfaced of him in committee recognizing the opposition was there to speak against the bill. None of the foregoing is “liberal” or “conservative”, they are simply facts which are part of the public record. If anyone would like to verify my statements above, I am happy to send the documents and links to the videos confirming them. I can be reached at matt@bishoplawfirm.org.
Obviously ethics is in the eye of the beholder, and if Mr. Ballinger feels that as a public servant it is right to direct taxpayer money to his business clients, then work both in the legislature and as a private attorney to keep the details of how that money was spent from the taxpayers, then claim that no one opposed his legislative efforts when it is clear they did, then that is good to know about his standards. Others may have different ethical standards for public servants and they should let their own good judgment guide their vote.
Mr. Ballinger is right about one thing: he should be judged on his record, and not how often he says the word “conservative.” I long since gave up trying to figure out how this or that person defines “conservative,” but if protecting the taxpayer and being careful with their money isn’t part of it, and attempting to shield the workings of our government from us is part of it, then it’s certainly not the definition I grew up with. Political labels are also in the eye of the beholder it seems.