Panel OKs having agency report flights

A North Little Rock legislator who is a pilot and owns aircraft hangars was accused Wednesday of acting in a "punitive" way against a state agency that refused to give a grant to an airport he uses.

In a wide-ranging legislative subcommittee meeting in Little Rock, spirited discussion followed a proposal by Rep. Barry Hyde, D-North Little Rock, to put a reporting requirement on the state Department of Aeronautics.

Hyde became agitated when Sen. Ruth Whitaker, R-Cedarville, asked whether Hyde was flying candidates around the state without filing proper reports.

His motion in the Special Language Subcommittee would require the Aeronautics Department to file monthly reports with the Legislative Council giving detailed information on each of the flights on the department's airplane.

Department Director John Knight objected.

"This suggests misuse of our airplane," he said. "This seems strange to me that we are being singled out by Rep. Hyde. We only have one airplane. Some agencies have [more]."

Rep. Chris Thyer, D-Jonesboro, said Hyde's request wouldn't cause Knight hardship.

"I understand you think you are being picked on, but if you've already got that information anyway, I don't see the real problem here," Thyer said.

Knight reminded Thyer that Hyde previously tried to "get rid of" the agency's airplane.

The subcommittee on Dec. 3 denied Hyde's request to ban the agency from spending money to operate its airplane.

Thyer also disputed that there was anything in Hyde's latest proposal accusing Knight of "misuse" of aircraft.

But Rep. Mike Patterson, DPiggott, and Sen. Randy Laverty, D-Jasper, said they opposed Hyde's request for more reporting and complimented the work done by Knight.

Laverty told Thyer that Hyde's motive was obvious.

"You tell me you can't see how this is punitive, but I definitely can, and I'm not [comic strip detective] Dick Tracy," Laverty said. "We've got lots of stuff to review, and I'm not looking for more stuff to review unless we have a problem. I have to agree with Mr. Knight. This suggests to me someone thinks there is a problem."

Whitaker then asked Hyde, "When you during the last campaign were flying people around running for office did you report those expenses on your campaign-expense reports?"

Hyde responded, "In the last campaign, I don't think I flew anyone. If the senator has details, I'll be happy to answer any question you've got."

"Maybe I need to ask a House member. I've been told on numerous occasions that's what happened," Whitaker said.

Hyde said he objected to Whitaker's questions.

"If you've got accusations to make, I would suggest you bring it forth, but please don't tell me innuendo," Hyde told her. "I think you owe me an explanation."

Whitaker said she was "only trying to get to the root of the problem. You are accusing me of the very same thing that Mr. Knight thinks you are doing to him."

Rep. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, said all Hyde wanted was "transparency in government."

Laverty said that's a laudable goal but should be applied consistently.

"I mean, let's get real," he said.

The subcommittee approved Hyde's motion as part of the Aeronautics Department budget. It next goes to the Legislative Council, which will make a recommendation on all agency budgets for the 2009 general session, which starts Jan. 12.

Knight said after the meeting that Hyde houses his airplane at the North Little Rock airport. He said the North Little Rock airport commission approached the department about a grant to fix a hangar damaged by a tornado in April. The department rejected the request in September, he said.

"They had insurance money to cover it," Knight explained. "They didn't need our money."

Knight said he thought that rejection prompted Hyde's actions in the subcommittee.

Hyde said "certainly I'm upset about" the department denying the grant request but that his actions have nothing to do with it.

"This stems from a legitimate concern about aeronautics," he said.

Hyde said the North Little Rock airport is repairing the hangar with insurance money. He said the airport wanted about $300,000 from the department to make the airport better than it was before the storm.

He said the grant wouldn't have affected the hangars he owns at the airport.

During the race for House speaker, which is decided by the 100 House members, there was talk that Rep. Robbie Wills, DConway, was using Hyde's plane to campaign for the post.

Wills, who won the race, in April said he used personal funds to pay for a flight on Hyde's plane for a ski trip in Colorado in December 2007.

The Aeronautics Commission owns a 1991 Beechcraft A36 Bonanza, which is a single-engine propeller plane that commissioners use to travel around the state to inspect airports, Knight said.

In other business, the subcommittee:

Adopted a request to extend a deadline to give the three Pulaski County school districts incentive to end the desegregation court cases against them. The proposal by Hyde would extend the deadline from Dec. 31 of this year to June 30, 2011.

A law passed in 2007 allows as much as $250,000 to defer districts' legal costs if they obtain "unitary status," meaning they are desegregated. State officials see that as a first step toward ending state desegregation payments to the Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Pulaski County Special school districts. Those payments have totaled more than $800 million since 1989.

Adopted a request by Sen. Terry Smith, D-Hot Springs, to pay mileage to Court of Appeals judges living outside of Pulaski County for no more than three trips to Little Rock a week for court business. The current state mileage rate is 45 cents.

Adopted a request by Rep. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, to require prior review and approval by the Legislative Council before the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences can buy Ray Winder Field baseball stadium in Little Rock.


Source: nwanews.com