Anyone who thinks politics is dry and boring needs to come to more committee meetings at the Arkansas Capitol Building.
After yesterday, the idea that some elected officials won’t be content until they have “the shirt off your back,” has a whole new meaning—all thanks to Senator Terry Smith of Hot Springs.
Senator Smith is on the Legislative Oversight Committee for the Arkansas Lottery, and made quite a scene at yesterday’s meeting when he actually demanded that a young man who came to testify before the committee remove his shirt.
Now I’ve heard lawmakers make a lot of weird demands in the 20 plus years I’ve been going out to the State Capitol, but I have to say this one took the cake. A young man—not a paid lobbyist or representative of some special interest group, mind you, just a regular citizen—came to yesterday’s oversight committee meeting, and asked to address the committee about concerns he had over lottery ticket vending machines.
When it was his turn to speak, however, Sen. Smith demanded a point of order, citing the fact that the man was wearing a “Jim Keet for Governor” t-shirt, and insisted very bluntly that the man take his shirt off.
I guess the man must have a lot of respect for State Senators, because he immediately began removing his shirt, right there in the middle of the committee room. I can only imagine the heyday reporters would have had taking pictures and shooting video of a shirtless man seated at the end of a long conference table, respectfully asking the committee to disapprove of lottery ticket vending machines. Unfortunately for them, however, Committee Chairman David Johnson and Rep. Rick Green quickly intervened.
Representative Green offered the man his jacket to cover the shirt, which the man accepted, saying, “It’s a little loose, but I think it’ll do.”
Representative Green just smiled, and replied, “Yeah, it was a little loose on me, too.” You can see a video of the whole exchange on Jason Tolbert’s blog.
All joking aside, I’ve rarely seen a legislator speak quite so disrespectfully to a voter as Senator Smith did yesterday. There’s no rule I’m aware of that addresses the kinds of t-shirts citizens can wear when they come to committee meetings—and I have to wonder at least a little bit if Senator Smith would have made as big a deal had the shirt said “Mike Beebe for Governor” instead of “Jim Keet”, but we’ll probably never know.
In the meantime, though, I’m thinking of lobbying the legislature this January to hang a sign on the Capitol doors: “No shirt. No shoes. No problem.”
Brian White