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| "Thompson’s story topped the front page the next morning. That was just four days after he blew my mind by reporting that the FBI believed Wilkins’ briber, lobbyist and mental health care executive Rusty Cranford, had tried to hire a hit man to kill a co-defendant in the embezzlement case that has him in custody in Springfield." |
What Would Jesus Rationalize? (Gwen Moritz Editor's Note) | Arkansas Business News | ArkansasBusiness.com:
"Micah Neal, the former state representative from Springdale, pleaded guilty to taking kickbacks in return for steering grants from the state General Improvement Fund to Cranford’s company and to Ecclesia College. Jon Woods, the former state senator from Springdale, is accused of the same and will be tried next month, along with Ecclesia President Oren Paris III and a mutual friend, Randell Shelton Jr. of Alma.
According to the indictment, Paris suggested in a text message that “a good selling point” when encouraging “conservative legislators” to route GIF money to Ecclesia was it “produces graduates that are conservative voters.”
Imagine the righteous outrage if Democratic legislators argued that taxpayers should support Hendrix College — an affiliate of the United Methodist Church — because it produces a lot of liberal voters. But Woods was not outraged. His texted response to Paris: “Agreed.”
I will note that Wilkins resigned as soon as his corruption became public, even though he has not yet been charged with a crime. And he even expressed regret in his letter of resignation: “I am profoundly sorry that my own actions make this resignation necessary.”
Now, I know that seems like the least a corrupt elected official could do upon being found out, but Neal did not resign upon pleading guilty. (His term as state representative expired days later.) And Jake Files continued to draw a salary as a state senator for almost a year after he admitted to the Democrat-Gazette that he had submitted fake bids for a construction job that was being paid for with GIF money he directed."
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