The Arkansas Rockefeller

VIII: The Second Term

CHAPTER VIII The Second Term fter the victory, Rockefeller began assessing the chances for passage of his tax package and some hother reforms. The general assembly was going to be hostile and difficult. WR's opposition to incumbent Democratic legislators had not been well received. The governor told the legislative council that a tax base should be provided which would make available about $15 million "over and above operating requirements" to meet certain capital needs. If no bond issue wasapproved, Rockefeller said, then there would at least be some funds available to meet critical needs in terms of capital improvements . "That Arkansas can handle this is not seriously in question," he said. "The question is with our pride in our great state. Are we willing to put our money where our mouth is? I believe we are." WR warned that if additional revenues were not produced, cutbacks would be necessary, cutbacks in welfare payments and teacher salaries. Enrollment in colleges would have to be restricted , and the outpatient program for the care of mental patients wouldbe lost. Such things as penal reformand aid to the retarded, the blind, the deaf would also come to a halt if the minimum programs he proposed were not enacted.1 Rockefeller took to television in late November to request public support for the tax proposals which he'd be presenting to the general assembly later.2 He had talked about them in rather general terms during the campaign, but now he wouldbegin to be more specific. He offered an estimate, which would later prove somewhat short, of A 132 The Arkansas Rockefeller $65 million per year that the state would need in order to "upgrade services" that were needed and to add new programs that would keep Arkansas "in step with the rest of the nation." He immediately turned then to private luncheons and conferences with business and professional leaders and some legislative friends to build a base of support for his fiscal program.3 In an appearance before the Arkansas Legislative Council on December 10, Rockefeller became quite specific, telling the lawmakers his program wouldproduce $90 million the first year in new revenue (if passed by the legislature ) and $105 million the next. He outlined some of the revenue producers he had in mind—hiking the sales tax, hikes in personal and corporate income taxes and cigarette , tobacco, and alcoholic beverage taxes, along with a reexamination of "each present source of revenue and all possible new sources of revenue."4 Next, sessions were organized for groups of guests invited by the governor, members of his staff, and state officials . A December 13 session was staged to "sell" the tax program and its benefits with speeches to organizations, group resolutions, letters to newspapers, and widespread use of stickers bearing the campaign slogan "Arkansas is Worth Paying For." Thus would he try to counteract the coolness with which his proposals were received by most legislators. There were some pretty big business types at the December 13 session, among the 225 persons attending. Among them were William E. Darby, chairman of the commission on higher education financing; State Police Director Ralph Scott; Corrections Commissioner Robert Sarver; Gerald Fox, Fayetteville city manager; A. Allen Weintraub, administrator of St. Vincent Infirmary, and Ray Widmer of the planning commission staff. All these and several others made presentations designed tohelp convince those at the meeting and the public in general ofthe critical need for more funds. The Second Term 133 The vast scope of the program was one reason it needed selling. A 1percent sales tax increase, from 3 to 4 percent, and higher income tax rates on middle- and high-income families and corporations were at the base of the program. A rebate system for families whose annual income was less than $1,020 per member was proposed to offset criticism that the sales tax would hit low-income families hardest. In late December, WR was quoted as saying he would take the "social" approach to softening up the legislators, mostly still unconvinced about his program. He would entertain them in groups of twenty at Winrock Farms, he said, prior to the start of the legislative proceedings on January 13.5 In January, the Arkansas Citizens for GoodGovernment, which included several prominent businessmen, was formed to promote the need for and value of increased state income. Herbert L. Thomas, founder of First Pyramid Life Insurance Company and...