Doesn't Fit the Media Template

...That's probably why you haven't heard the real news. But first, the fake template and my best guess as to what is behind it: Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin's administration is supposed to be incompetent, and corrupt, with low morale. If those lies are repeated often enough, you are supposed to accept them as true regardless of the lack of merit of the accusations.

As I have noted, the unceasing attacks against the Secretary of State have kept people's attention partially distracted from the political crime of the decade in this state. That would be the way Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel have run a secertive redistricting processs in violation of the state constitution. Martin is the third member of the trioka who is supposed to direct redistricting. Only his office has produced proposed maps available to the public. Only Martin's office has shown their maps in an effort to seek true feedback at the forums on redistricting. Unfortunately, with Beebe and McDaniel keeping secret their maps- that they can impose with a 2-1 vote, the public forums are little more than an illusion of public input.

The unrelenting media attacks have kept Martin's office covered up so that they can't engage as strongly as they would like on redistricting- which I think is what the good-ole-boys had in mind when they launched them. All they need to do is keep Martin dodging their mud another month or two and they will rush through their secret maps and it will all be over for another ten years.

But Martin has been doing his job, and doing it well. You are not going to hear about that in the media, because it does not fit their template. Take for example, their collection of corporate franchise taxes. This is the fee all corporations in the state pay each year. In the past, it has taken through the end of the Summer to complete these collections. This year, with fewer employees, the office has collected a record amount, most of which by statute goes to the education adequacy fund.

Read the full release here. Martin is proud of his office and its personnel, and he should be.