That was a fine circular firing squad at the legislature yesterday as various took turns blaming others for the county elected officials’ double-dipping scandal.

The Association of Arkansas Counties revealed its true colors. The taxpayer-financed lobby does not work for taxpayers. It works for elected officials. Thus its taxpayer-financed leader pleaded  yesterday for forgiveness for illegal retirement benefits paid to public officials who did not terminate their employment as the law required before taking both retirement and regular paychecks.

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Don’t believe the obfuscation. It’s very simple. For an elected official to terminate employment, the office must be declared vacant and an appointment made to fill that job for the remainder of a term. The official may not quietly forego a paycheck for a required period and then resume his or her regular pay and cadge a retirement check, too. The county lobby’s plea for forgiveness of ill-gotten gains tells you everything you need to know about their respect for the law and whom they represent.

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