Well, a story in today’s Searcy paper is raising some eyebrows:  Governor Beebe now says he “won’t push” for the Searcy bypass project.

This comes after Judge Lincoln told voters last week that Beebe played a role in crafting his failed tax plan to fund White County’s portion of the project.  According to Lincoln, “Governor Beebe wanted us to form a strategic plan, and the tax/bypass was part of our strategic plan.”

So what gives?

From the story:

“I’m obviously for the Searcy bypass project, but I’m not going to ask the highway department to spend money they don’t have.  If they don’t have the money, they’ll have to make adjustments.”

He went on to say, he really should stay out of it because it’s not really any of his business, but he’s involving himself anyway:

“I’m not in any position to rank all the highways in the state of Arkansas.  That’s what the highway commission is for. Obviously, I have a little prejudice in favor of Searcy because that’s where I’m from, but I still have to govern the whole state.”

And while staying out of it, Governor Beebe added:

“It’s really sad. It’s sad for Searcy. It’s sad for any projects around the state.”

So, to summarize:  He’s going to stay out of it because he’s not really in any position to rank the projects, but he fully supports the project, but he’s not going to add any pressure to the commission to do the project, but he does have prejudice in favor of Searcy, and he’s going to stay out of it, but it’s really sad for Searcy.

And believe it or not, this is all those evil Republicans’ fault because they blocked the trucker tax exemption repeal!  Specifically, the governor says it was Searcy’s Senator Jonathan Dismang’s fault.  How convenient, seeing as how one of Beebe’s friends is running against Dismang this year.

Two entities deserve to be scolded for this joke of a political move.  First of all, the governor.  What the heck, dude?  Jerking your hometown around like this?  You’re using a local hot potato issue and holding it over the heads of Searcy citizens to bully votes out of Senator Dismang and/or to punish him.  Of course this is nothing new–politicians have playing these games for years.  But this is a reach, even for you and besides, I thought you were against DC politics?

Governor Beebe admits himself he has no control over this issue, and he should probably stay out of it, so he should do it.  All indications from the state–except from the governor himself, of course–are that the project will go forward.  He is beating a dead horse, and a controversial one at that.  This is politics at its worst.

Secondly, shame on our beloved Searcy paper.  They continue to sing right along with the Democrats’ narrative.  They are accepting Governor Beebe’s premise that the project remains in peril because of conservative efforts to stabilize the state budget and framing these issues in such a manner that reflect poorly on Senator Dismang.  They want to continue the work that they started against me and other local conservatives last fall:  ”Evil, heartless conservatives are the ones who are holding this bypass project back.  Conservatives are the ones holding back ‘progress.’”

What the paper is doing is shameless.  They’re giving Governor Beebe a pass on provably false statements so they can continue to advance the narrative that conservatism hurts progress.

If I had made the same types of false statements that the governor made, I would be ridiculed and mocked, disparaged as a ‘local conspiracy theorist.’  But the paper doesn’t question the governor because his comments advance their agenda of silencing conservative voices & distorting the truth.

I’m not sure who is singing the lead, but there’s no disputing that the paper and Governor Beebe are singing the same song.

I have contacted Senator Dismang for comment, as well as Searcy city officials.  We’ll keep you posted.