Bill Halter's fantasy of being a progressive belongs on Fantasy Island along with Ricardo Montabaln. In fact, when it's all said and done, Bill Halter will be Ann Coulter's new favorite Democrat now that Harold Ford, Jr. is not running for the Senate.
This is not the post of some blogger who is passionate. I am an Arkansan, a liberal, and a former candidate for Lt. Governor against Bill Halter. I have watched ever since 2006, when this millionaire moved back to my state after 25 years and enacted an essential corporate takeover of the Lt. Governor's office. He bought "credibility" and bought the office after four Democrats, including myself, had spent 9 months criss-crossing the state, talking to the voters, earning voter support. The difference in that election is Halter had $1 million and the rest of us, even though three were legislators, had not raised nearly a third of that amount. He dominated the airwaves and won a low-voter primary runoff against a less-than-stellar conservative Democrat.
In the General Election in 2006, Bill Halter supported a gay parent foster ban and opposed marriage equality. Oh, but you know about the speech right, in 2008? One speech, an activist does not make. If Bill Halter is such a supporter of GLBT Rights, why has he ignored numerous calls of assistance to speak out against anti-equality bills in the State Senate or has supported cuts in HIV-AIDs Funding for the Arkansas AIDs Foundation?
In an interview with John McCardle, Bill Halter has back-tracked on EFCA as well as a Public Option.
Come on seriously.
Look, I considered a primary challenge to Blanche Lincoln. All the oxygen in my bid was sucked up by Halter and his ability to buy a command presence. If he was a true progressive, I would support him, but Bill Halter is the single most self-serving individual in American politics today. He's bad news and will become part of the problem in Washington, D.C., not the solution.
When he moved back and ran for office, 50% of his contributions were from out of state. And what about that business sense he claimed when he ran that he had? That was a myth. In addition, four out of five business ventures that Bill Halter took part in were failures, losing over half a billion dollars of investors money. His one major business success was with Akami Technologies, one whose board that Halter serves. This company is a huge server of porn and gambling sites and they purposely infiltrate into public school servers.
The sad truth is, Halter didn’t start promoting the lottery till others like myself had proposed and worked hard on the plan. The final version he touted gives a significant, over half, of the revenue to an out of state company. In short, another corporate tax break for Halter’s corporate buddies.
Bill Halter is not what you think he really makes himself out to be. He is a phony and speaking on behalf of many Arkansas Democrats, he has endangered our state’s U.S. Senate seat to the point that we will lose this seat to the Republicans.
Yes, the fact is I considered a primary challenge against Blanche Lincoln. I disagree with her on issues, but her opposition to what I strongly believe in, is genuine. And she IS a Democrat who will listen and work towards a resolution. Blanche Lincoln may not be the best Democrat in some liberal eyes, but I rather have a Senator who votes 75% of the time with our party than a Republican who will not vote with our party, or a Democrat who says one thing to get your money and votes another way in Washington, D.C.
Bill Halter represents all that is wrong with politics.
I fully expect he and some of his supporters, most likely staff, will trash and belittle my post. They will try to spin, but ask yourself, why it is that so many Arkansas Democrats do not like Bill Halter. Why is it that there are too many cases and written evidence to show where Halter says one thing and does another. Most of all, why has it been till now that Bill Halter suddenly discovered being a liberal? The answer is, Bill Halter and his "progressive views" are a myth.
Don't Drink the KOOL-AID, Progressives. Research, vet, and talk to people in the home states about these progressive wunderkids before you donate your money and our community's support.
One last thing....why is it Bill Clinton and Wesley Clark, whom Halter claims are his strongest benefactors, not supporting Halter and not even speaking out in his defense? I think thats rather telling, don't you think?
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Some Sources To Consider :
Bill Halter supported the ban and did not fight against it when running for Lt. Governor. In fact, HE EMBRACED A MARRIAGE EQUALITY BAN & A GAY FOSTER BAN. The source, which is the ArkTimes blog clearly states Halter’s position. In fact what he said was : "I would support this type of legislation if, after thorough research and deliberation, it is found to be constitutional and in the best interests of Arkansas’ foster children," Halter said:
(Source : http://www.arktimes.com/...
The other day, Halter repudiated both Public Option & Card Check in an interview with ROLL CALL : "If you ask 100 Arkansans what the "public option" means they are going to give you 100 different answers. People don’t understand what that truly means," Halter said. "I would be supportive of giving the public the option to voluntarily buy into a medical program like medicare. ... People are going to understand what that means more than just the two word phrase, public option." As for the union organizing bill, Halter said it wouldn’t be productive to discuss the version of the legislation that caused so much tension between Lincoln and labor unions last year. "As you know, the the previous legislation that was labeled as ‘card check,’ it’s no longer on the table," he said.
(Source : http://www.cqpolitics.com/...
Some who are part of Halter's staff say Arkansas is a poor state. The reality is Arkansans know Bill Halter and we are not so poor. Campaign Contributions and the lie there isn’t much money in Arkansas is just that a lie to get out of state money. Really now, you think we are a bunch of poor, backward hillbillies huh? This year alone, Arkansans have donated almost $14 million dollars to candidates. (Source :
http://www.followthemoney.org/...
Not to mention we are home of Dillards, Wal-Mart, Tysons, and many, many more Fortune 500 Companies.
The porn site information originated with Mike Hathorn’s campaign and Mike is not right wing, but a loyal Democrat in Arkansas.
(Source : http://www.whoisbillhalter.com/...