The article comes from AFP's VP for Policy Phil Kerpen. You may follow Phil on twitter by clicking @kerpen. The article in its entirety may be found here.

On January 4, President Obama took the unprecedented step of declaring the Senate to be in recess — although the Senate considered itself to be in session — so that he could install several appointees in key positions at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). While a lot of attention has been focused on the procedural defect of these appointments (correctly, as I’ve explained), there has been far too little attention paid to the most radical of these appointees: Richard Griffin.

"Trust that American spirit. It's still there."

This guest blog post by State Senator Missy Irvin gives an overview of the happenings in regards to the Arkansas Forestry Commission, accountability, and what's being done by our elected officials to get to the bottom of it all.

In early December, something extremely rare in state government occurred...a lay-off of state employees in mid-fiscal year. Nearly unprecedented, this deserved an extra look. More importantly, my constituents came to me in early February of 2011 with their concerns over rumors of financial distress. They were worried about losing their jobs and asked if I would help them. As an elected representative, this is one of my primary responsibilities – to assist my constituents and represent them through providing legislative oversight.