Holt/Halter Dueling Faxes
Holt says Halter's promises will cost us $1,000,000,000 every budget. Halter says Holt has no plan and is not qualified for Lt. Governor. Holt spokesman says Halter fired from only leadership job he ever had in Arkansas, and made his money at a company sleazy enough to deal in teenage porn! Would Amakai make Foley blush with shame?
(continued- click THURSDAY below for dueling faxes.)
(continued- click THURSDAY below for dueling faxes.)
posted by Mark Moore (Moderator) at Thursday, October 05, 2006
3 Comments:
Senator Jim Holt Press Release
From Dan Noble
Bill Halter’s Big Dreams Will Saddle Arkansans with a Billion Dollar Tab
Bill Halter has some lofty goals for this state, but he doesn’t seem all too concerned about who’s going to pay for it. Halter talks about phasing these programs in so he can hide the true costs. The table below shows the cost of running his programs on a bi annual budget once they are fully implemented.
Biannual projections of cost for Halter's proposals
1. Raising teacher salaries $5,000 when fully implemented - biannually
$400,000,000
2. Pre Kindergarten (Halter said he wanted universal Pre-K for every 3 & 4 year old whose parents wanted it – on tape)
$600,000,000
3. Need-based Scholarships (Halter said he wants financial aid for every student who wants to go to college – on tape) cost ????????????
4.529 Plus Plan ????????????
5. Teacher Scholarship Program ?????
Minimum Total = 1 billion dollars
"Halter's proposals must be analyzed in relationship to increased expenditures for K-12 education in the last few years as well as the proposed current demands backed by the Supreme Court – increases equal to revenue generated by a 3% sales tax. "If Halter had ever wrestled with the Arkansas budget and finances as other legislators have, he would know it is an impossibility to add all these things in Arkansas even with a predicted surplus of $700 million - the surplus is one-time money while tax cuts would be an ongoing obligation," asserted Senator Holt. There are other demands on our budget besides K-12 education which in 2005 was 53% of total state general and dedicated revenues, an all time high. And that was before the current allocations and demands listed in table below..
Increases in Spending in Last 3 Years for K-12
2004 (almost 1% sales tax increase)
$380,000,000
2005 $170,000,000
2006 $200,000,000
Money Currently Allocated or Demanded
2006 Allocated for Facilities (backed by Supreme Court) $277,000,000
2007 by Adequacy Experts (backed by Supreme Court) $340,000,000
2007 School Repairs (backed by Supreme Court) $250,000,000
Total (evenue equal to 3% sales tax ) $1,617,000,000
Halter is promising teachers a $5,000 pay raise. But when fully implemented his teacher proposal will cost $$400 million on a biannual budget, and his Pre- K program for both three and four year olds will cost a minimum (conservative estimate ) of $600 million on a biannual budget. Even California voters turned down just this year the universal Pre-K on a ballot (and that was for just 4 year olds) because of the exorbitant cost. Halter stated (on tape) "I have campaigned on from the very beginning is making pre kindergarten universally available to every 3 year-old and 4 year old in the state of Arkansas whose parents want them to have it."
The cost for the other programs Halter has proposed is nebulous to say the least. "I would like to make sure that every child in the state of Arkansas whose ready to go to college has financial resources and assistance so that they can do it." In the past, projections for such programs have always been underestimated by millions. As an example of Halter's estimations, he first estimated that his lottery proposal would raise $250 million and then scaled it back to $100 million. But Mike Beebe gave the range as more like $60 to $75 million in his debate.
Senator Holt wishes there was a golden egg to provide all the needs and wants we could dream up for the state too, but there is not; and someone has to pay for them. Arkansans already pay a higher percentage of their personal income in taxes than 46 other states. At this point, Halter just seems to be promising the voters anything that will give him a chance of being elected.
Dan Noble said, "Halter has a history of being on the boards of companies that have experienced significant losses. I question Halter’s convenient exit from the InterMune Inc board this past May. Halter left the company just after the organization burned through nearly $500 million dollars without turning a profit. At the time of Bill’s departure, the company was also the target of a Justice Department investigation."
"Halter is trying to convince Arkansans that he has extensive experience in business while he has been out of the state for the last 25 years. I doubt that anyone would believe that losing almost 500 million dollars without turning a profit would be something to brag about," Noble continued.
"It is obvious that Halter has not been a good steward of millions of dollars for the stockholders for the InterMune while on their board of directors. So, how can the voters believe Mr. Halter will be a good steward of the money from the taxpayers?
"Halter has a habit in politics of not telling the voters as we say “the rest of the story.” He has proposed an expansion of gambling with a state lottery but still has not given the public any kind of a proposal. Now, Halter is promising programs that will cost the state over $1 billion on a bi annual budget. Halter can promise these great programs, but can he tell the voters where he is going to find the goose that lays the golden eggs to pay for them."
Increasing taxes will only worsen the business climate in Arkansas which the non partisan Tax Foundation ranks as the 9th worst in the nation.
HALTER FOR ARKANSAS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: BUD JACKSON
October 4, 2006 501-912-1126
MICHAEL COOK
501-256-3032
ARKANSANS DERSERVE A LOOK UNDER JIM HOLT’S HOOD
Halter Campaign Questions Qualifications
and Hypocritical Conviction
(Little Rock) - Bill Halter’s campaign for Lieutenant Governor today lambasted Jim Holt for his hypocritical conviction and challenged him to prove that he has any professional work experience or record of success that he can point to as qualifications to be lieutenant governor.
“Jim Holt needs to get real and tell Arkansans that he has no past successful private sector work experience at all,” said Halter campaign spokesman Bud Jackson. “What experience will Jim Holt draw upon to build and attract higher-paying jobs to Arkansas, his failed used car salesman experience?”
“Jim Holt spends a great deal of time criticizing the government’s spending,” continued Jackson. “But for most of his life he’s earned a living from a taxpayer-funded salary. And for the past six years, taxpayers have wasted their money on Jim Holt, who has been recognized as one of Arkansas’ worst state legislators of all time.”
Conviction Lost: Holt Takes the Pay-raise
Holt, the frequent critic of wasteful government spending and leaders without conviction, on more than one occasion railed against legislative pay-raises while he was in office, but turned around and pocketed the cash, anyway.
Legislative Pay Raise Votes – Holt Voted Against them all, but took the cash anyway:
HB 1156, 2001 Legislative Session
HB 1050, 2003 Legislative Session
HB 1050, 2006 Legislative Session
“It’s funny how fast Jim Holt’s conviction flies out the window when it impacts his own wallet,” concluded Jackson.
A Record of Failure and Rhetoric
“No private sector experience and a record of failure as a public official are hardly qualifications to be lieutenant governor,” continued Jackson. “After those qualifications, what is Jim Holt left with? Nothing but rhetoric. And that’s what Jim Holt’s entire campaign has been about – heated rhetoric and no plans to move Arkansas forward.”
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette named Holt to their “Top Ten Worst Legislators” list every time he was eligible. [AR Democrat-Gazette, 5/6/01 5/25/03, 5/15/05]
After a spirited and closely scrutinized Democratic primary election, Arkansans know in great detail Bill Halter’s professional experience and public service. But voters know very little about Jim Holt.
Holt yesterday sent out a press release attacking Halter’s plan to make our schools excellent despite having no plan of his own. Halter’s plan has been available for months and requires no additional taxes to fund. In fact, Bill Halter proposes phasing out the sales tax on groceries.
6:44 PM
the response for the Halter Press release
Dan Noble spokesman for the Senator Holt Campaign stated the following:
Senator Jim Holt served in the National Security Agency under Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. With the highest security clearance the United States Government provides, Holt was in charge of other agents in various parts of the world. He finally left the N.S.A. in the top 3% of the entire military. Why? So he could come back to Arkansas and take care of his ailing Grandmother. Then, Senator Holt decided to serve the people of Arkansas in both the state House and Senate.
Sadly, now, Bill Halter, questions the integrity of the man three Presidents trusted with the very security of our nation. Halter and his campaign have chosen to launch personal attacks on Senator Holt instead of talking about the real issues that are affecting Arkansas.
Halter deceives and manipulates the voters of Arkansas about his business experience. In fact, an article in the Boston Globe on December 4, 2002 shows Bill Halter has much to hide. In the article Peter J Howe examines the business practices of a company, Akamai Technologies, the company that Halter had been on the board of directors since August of 2001. Mr. Howe writes that, “Akamai Technologies, the Cambridge Internet company, is using server computers installed on networks at university campuses to help deliver content for Teen-pornography wed sites and offshore gambling.” Apparently, Halter’s convictions don’t exclude him from being a part of a company that pursues that kind of business.
Halter also criticizes Senator Holt’s leadership, but once again Halter is just trying to hide his past. Halter, must have developed amnesia surrounding the facts that his only leadership role he ever held within this state was in October of 1992. As President of the Arkansas Institute, Halter was fired due to his “inexperience” and because his “tenure yielded no obvious progress.” Those speaking of Halter’s immaturity as a leader are the board of the directors of the company. Arkansans need a leader, a role Bill Halter cannot fulfill.
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