Editor,
Our current State Rep Bob Ballinger, who is running against State Senator Bryan King for his Republican seat this month, gave $8,500 of our taxpayer dollars to an Evangelical Christian private school that was not even in our/his district, while working as a lawyer and receiving payment from said school. If this is not a direct kickback, it certainly poses a conflict of interest.
Bob continues to defend the Ecclesia College president, Oren Paris III (personally, as well as legally), who resigned last month after pleading guilty to a kickback scam involving state legislators and General Improvement Fund (GIF) grants to the college.
Even worse, Ballinger tried to sneak through legislation a bill that would restrict and impair the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The bill, that would make it easier for organizations like Ecclesia to hide financial information, passed in the House but failed in the Senate.
Meanwhile Ballinger continues stating there was no opposition to the bill even though he chaired a committee meeting where the Arkansas Press Association vehemently opposed it. (It’s caught on tape.)
The saddest part of the story is that the Ecclesia scandal has ruined the GIF program for Arkansas. Things like fire departments and community centers that would normally benefit from GIF funding will no longer receive it.
This all smells really foul for someone who is running on a platform of government transparency.
John Rankine
This is exactly the type of activity which must be exposed! Be impeccable in word and deed!! Let’s return to a time when politicians and people in positions of power were honorable, helpful, compassionate. Thank you, John, for this letter.