The New York Times focused on our state last month due to the ongoing disaster known as the Arkansas Legislature. It published a major story about Bitcoin operations popping up across the state, the problems they're causing and the fact that Arkansas residents have little recourse thanks to dupes in the Legislature.
The story illuminated the biggest problem facing the state right now--a Legislature that's willing to pass bills designed by out-of-state organizations with no regard for their effect on Arkansans. That problem is exacerbated by MAGA carpetbaggers who have no stake in Arkansas or its future.
The New York Times story pointed out that the Arkansas Data Centers Act, which was approved last spring, offers Bitcoin miners legal protections even if Arkansans who live near the facilities don't want them there.
According to the story: "Passed just eight days after it was introduced, the law was written in part by the Satoshi Action Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Mississippi whose co-founder worked in the Trump administration rolling back Obama-era climate policies."
Arkansas became the first state in the country to pass such a bill last April. We shouldn't be surprised. In the worst legislative session of my lifetime, legislators swallowed whole pieces of legislation that were written by out-of-state special-interest groups. Questions rarely were asked about what these bills might mean for Arkansans. That would have taken research and critical thinking. There's not a lot of thinking going on at the state Capitol these days.
Even Gov. Sarah Sanders' highly touted education reform act was a template from groups that push vouchers across the country. There's no responsibility more important than public education. But there was almost no input from Arkansas teachers and administrators. A majority of legislators didn't seem to care. Having worked at the state Capitol for a decade, I never thought I would see the day when voices of teachers, principals, superintendents and parents would cease to matter.
The madness of 2023 is coming home to roost in many ways, including this Bitcoin crisis that's receiving national attention due to a Legislature that won't do its homework.
Ary Yu, executive director of the U.S. Blockchain Coalition, told The Times that Arkansas residents were "taken advantage of. We need to take a humble approach, work with the communities; don't hijack their journeys and their lives. And if they move slowly, too slow for you, too bad."
That's an industry group talking, mind you. That's how bad this bill was.
The Times noted: "Concerns about the Arkansas mines have expanded beyond the initial noise complaints to include their connections to Chinese nationals. The operations are connected to a larger influx of Chinese ownership across the United States, some of which has drawn national security scrutiny. A web of shell companies connects the Arkansas operators to a multibillion-dollar business partially owned by the Chinese government, according to public records obtained by residents opposed to the operations."
Of course the lawmaker who carried the bill for the Trump-worshiping outside organization that wrote it--state Rep. Rick McClure of Malvern--refused to respond to requests for comment from The Times. Our current crop of legislators, I've found, don't like having to explain themselves to taxpayers.
With so much happening on the economic development front--a coming lithium boom in southwest Arkansas, a defense industry boom in the Camden area, a steel boom in northeast Arkansas, a logistics and distribution surge in central Arkansas, a new fighter mission in Fort Smith, continued growth in northwest Arkansas--we could be on the verge of a golden era.
In a state with a history of man-made disasters, however, it could all come undone due to the poor quality of legislators, a governor who doesn't care much about actually governing Arkansas, and a state government being run by carpetbaggers who aren't from here, won't stay here and don't really care what Arkansas will look like a decade from now.
There's Joe Profiri, the MAGA man Sanders imported to run the corrections system. Sanders insisted on paying him more than $200,000 a year to work in the governor's office after he was rightly fired by the state Board of Corrections for saying he would willingly violate our Arkansas Constitution.
There's Jacob Oliva, the man Sanders had shipped in from Florida to put a MAGA stamp on public education. He listens to outside organizations, not Arkansas educators, as he attempts to burnish his MAGA credentials for the next rung on the ladder. He will do his damage, exit the state and leave us holding the bag.
There's Gretchen Conger, Sanders' chief of staff. There's Alexa Henning, Sanders' mouthpiece. We'll grant that Henning stays busy since Sanders, with her lack of interest in all things Arkansas, generally declines to speak to in-state reporters. She prefers dog-and-pony shows like the one last month in Eagle Pass, Texas; events that might earn her a spot on Fox News.
The sad thing is that there are qualified Arkansans out there who would love to serve their state in areas such as education and corrections; people with a vested interest in this place; people who want Arkansas to be the best it can be for their children and grandchildren.
We brought this on ourselves by electing these legislators and this governor. We voted our way into this mess. Now, we'll have to vote our way out.
Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.