Much wringing of hands about annual sessions for the Arkansas legislature among the chattering classes, who can’t believe that this is actually gonna happen. But it’s true: Voters approved the constitutional amendment for annual sessions last Tuesday. This Arkansas News Bureau story from crack reporter Rob Moritz rounds up reaction from various legislators who were for and against.
It’s worth noting that the “This Is a Bad Idea Caucus” crosses ideological lines: From the left, the inimitable Max Brantley at the Arkansas Times blog has been disapproving of what he terms “the permanent legislature,” while over here on the right, the Arkansas Project’s own Rep. Dan Greenberg was a vocal critic of the proposal in the weeks leading up to the election.
But I have decided that The Arkansas Project will not be joining this short-sighted chorus of negativity. With annual sessions, there will be twice as many opportunities for scandal, corruption, foolishness, baseless rumors, scurrilous gossip, frivolity and, in general, all those things that are the lifeblood of blogs like this. So I say, let’s embrace this brave new world of annual sessions and the many, many opportunities it will no doubt present to us. Forward ho!