The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Stephen Simpson had the most revealing rundown on Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s headline-grabbing announcement yesterday that she would direct $140 million in settlements of class action lawsuits over opioid abuse to general revenue for the legislature to allocate.

His account shows some of the behind-the-scenes tension among incoming state elected officials.

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And it also hints at the obvious: Rutledge effectively had no choice about sending the money to the state legislature to allocate. Was she going to dictate unilaterally how it was spent?  The attorney general’s propensity for excessive spending of a public relations fund (noted yesterday by the incoming attorney general, Tim Griffin) has long rankled the legislature. As early as 2013, because of then-Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s free-spending of lawsuit settlement money, it put a $1 million cap on how much of lawsuit money could be retained by the attorney general for her so-called consumer education fund stocked with lawsuit settlement money, though she found a rolling way to restock and spend much more, sometimes in grants to self-aggrandizing purposes.

Only the legislature can appropriate money, or so the Constitution says. There was no way the attorney general could solely divvy up the hundreds of millions of dollars eventually to reach the state through multiple lawsuit settlements. This money must be directed to responding to the opioid abuse crisis, as even Rutledge acknowledges. The governor and the legislature will want to have a say. Rutledge was just trying to claim more credit than due as she shuffles off to a nothing burger office, lieutenant governor.

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Did she talk to incoming Governor Sanders about spending the money? No, Rutledge talked only to lame-duck incumbent Asa Hutchinson, who’ll be gone before the legislature meets. And how much will Rutledge herself send to the legislature? Apparently only about $20 million is on hand currently.

Remember that Sanders’ Trumpian megadollar campaign upended plans by both Rutledge and Lt. Gov. Griffin to run for the governor’s office. Consequently, they are not a mutual admiration society, though Griffin and Sanders have made nice with  endorsements of each other. Griffin has not been particularly secretive about his low opinion of the work of the current attorney general, as indicated by a recently announced staff house cleaning.

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Republicans are running the show in Arkansas. And though party discipline is rigorous on such matters as tax cuts, school vouchers and discrimination against sexual minorities and women’s medical rights, personal egos DO enter the picture. Rutledge is making a little hay while she still has a platform. Griffin is asserting his coming power. His telling statement to the D-G:

“Upon taking office, I will conduct a comprehensive review and assessment of the use of settlement funds, including spending on television commercials and public service announcements that have far exceeded historic norms,” Griffin, the state’s current lieutenant governor, said in a statement.

“This review is essential to ensure transparency and restore the public trust in the use of settlement funds. Second, I will act in accordance with the law and the relevant settlement agreement. Finally, I will allocate the settlement proceeds in a way that best accomplishes the goal of opioid abatement. Thousands of Arkansans have struggled with opioid addiction, including in my family, and we must do everything in our power to address this public health crisis: That may or may not involve the transfer of funds to general revenue.”

 

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The incoming governor? Not heard from specifically on this particular issue just yet, but she indicates she intends to have a say. From the D-G:

Judd Deere, deputy chief of staff for Sanders, said Sanders is committed to working with leaders across state government and her partners in the Legislature, as well as through executive action, to address opioid abuse.

Dark days are coming for progressive people, but they won’t be without popcorn-worthy political intrigue.

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