Ballinger’s real record

Bob Ballinger will tell you, if you’ll listen and not ask any pesky questions, that the focus on his candidacy for the District 28 seat in the Arkansas State Senate should be on his “record.”

He’ll also tell you that he’s finally paid his debt for three years of advertising in the Ag Days program, and that he doesn’t owe any state taxes.

The truth about the Ag Days bill depends on whether you’re asking Ballinger or someone who’s involved with Ag Days and would be in a position to know.

The truth about state taxes is, maybe Ballinger doesn’t owe any right now. But he’s certainly been slow to pay them in the past, so much so that the state issued a lien against him in 2018. So much so that in four of the past five years, he’s had to list them as “Past Due Amounts Owed to Government” on his annual statements of financial interest. That includes the one he filed less than four months ago, on Jan. 31, when he listed $1,340 owed to the state.

Ballinger said in a radio interview in mid-April that he was about to make his final payment and would have zero taxes due. But he didn’t answer my questions about whether he’s filed a tax return this year and whether he owes any taxes now based on such a return.

Add in the fact that Ballinger lost a house to foreclosure in Madison County not that long ago, was late paying personal property taxes for four consecutive years in Carroll County, then moved to Johnson County and was late paying his personal property taxes there, too, and you kind of start getting the feeling that, gee, maybe this guy isn’t too fiscally responsible.

Of course, there is a reasonable explanation for Ballinger’s money troubles. As it turns out, he’s working for peanuts!

“Working in legislative, a lot of people act like you become a fat cat and get rich,” Ballinger told Harrison radio station KHOZ in the April interview. “It’s terrible for a law practice. I promise you it’s terrible. But it’s what I’m doing. I’m called to do it. I’m not complaining a bit.”

Well, no. He isn’t complaining. What he is doing, however, is collecting $42,428 a year in salary and more than $86,000 over the past three years in per diem, mileage and expense reimbursements. I’m coming up with a total of somewhere north of $213,000 in state money going into Ballinger’s pocket over the past three years. That’s an average of $71,000 a year in a state whose per capita income, according to 2020 Census data, is $27,724.

What Ballinger would love for folks like me to do is stop asking questions. What he’d like folks like you to do is go to the polls and hand him another four years in your state Senate so he can continue to travel the country at your expense, fail to pay his state income taxes on time, fail to pay his personal property taxes on time and chisel free advertising out of an event that’s meant to celebrate our agricultural heritage in Carroll County, all while helping decide how to spend your tax dollars.

That’s the record he doesn’t want to talk about.

Scott Loftis is editor for Carroll County Newspapers. His email address is SLoftis@cherryroad.com.