Arkansas Politics and Government, Second Edition

Acknowledgments

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 [-15], (9) Lines: 163 to ——— 1.0pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [-15], (9) Acknowledgments Most fundamentally, of course, I acknowledge the mentoring in analyzing and in livingArkansas politics that Diane D. Blair gave me during the years in which we were friends and colleagues. I will forever value the conversations about this work that Diane and I had in the last months of her life. It was a collaborative occasion that allowed me to interact with Diane in a manner that was much closer to the way we interacted before her illness than most of her friends were able to enjoy during those months. The opportunity to complete this project has given me one of the best learning experiences of my life but, more importantly, the chance to work with Diane for months after she was no longer with us in body. (The numerous notes from Diane— some of which forced me to learn at least the basics of the shorthand she often wrote with—I found buried in files as my work on this book continued often brought a smile to my face.) I thank Jim Blair, Bill Kincaid, and the rest of Diane’s family for supporting me in completing this project. Diane was not the only mentor whom I lost during the time I worked on this project. During the 2000–2001 academic year, the American Political Science Association’s Steiger Congressional Fellowship gave me the opportunity to work in the U.S. Senate for Senator Paul David Wellstone. Paul taught me much about public service, the way that legislative actions improve or worsen the lives of those living far away from Washington (or Little Rock), and the study of politics. I miss Paul and Sheila Wellstone’s friendship tremendously. Paul was not my only teacher during my time in Washington. The Wellstone staff members with whom I worked, particularly Jill Morningstar, taught me much about the skills needed to analyze public policy, which helped shape portions of this work, as well as about the importance of xvi Acknowledgments 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 [-16], (10) Lines: 175 ——— 0.0pt PgV ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TE [-16], (10) maintaining passion and commitment in one’s work in politics and government . I thank all of the Wellstone staffers—as well as the many staff members in other offices with whom I worked on education and civil rights policy—for the kindness they showed me during that year, and I thank the AmericanPoliticalScienceAssociationforprovidingmewiththatwonderful opportunity. Grant Cox, my research assistant throughout the completion of this second edition, proved himself to be a wonderful young scholar to work with. His steadiness and diligence in his work, his attention to detail, and his grand sense of humor combined to make him a perfect research assistant. This task would have been immeasurably more difficult without Grant’s work and support. I wish to thank the Committee on Faculty Grants at Hendrix College whose funding helped to support Grant’s work during the summer of 2002. Heather Miles was Diane’s research assistant on the first edition of this book; her hard work continues to reveal itself here. Several individuals with expertise in areas covered by this work showed their generosity by taking the time to read and critique portions of the manuscript during its formative stages. I am deeply indebted to Roby Brock, Arthur Burris, Chuck Cliett, Ernie Dumas, Art English, Margie Ferguson, Brian Greer, Janine Parry, Bill Schreckise, Baxter Sharp, Jeff Smith, and Robert Wright for the feedback that improved this work. Of course, any errors of fact or interpretation herein are those of this author. A number of librarians provided tremendous assistance in this research. I want to thank in particular Dr. Elizabeth Danley and Ola Fluces at the Arkansas State Library andAmanda Moore, Peggy Morrison, and BrittAnne Murphy at Bailey Library at Hendrix College for their help in tracking down information that greatly shaped these pages. Also of major assistance in certain sections of the work were Roger Potts at Arkansas Legislative Digest; Ed Tucker...