Bill Clinton, Like Gray Davis, Suffered Electoral Defeat Due to Automobile License Fees

Encyclopedia Americana ^ | December 3, 2003 | nwrep

[nwrep]

THE Year was 1979. The place was Arkansas, teeming with big hair bimbos, corrupt prison guards, and Brubaker. A young, rising liberal Governor was determined to remold the state in his image. But his eagerness to pursue his activist agenda would lead him to bite off more than he could chew, and imbibe in him a bitter political lesson.

William Jefferson Blythe Clinton III angered state leaders when he increased automobile license plate fees and challenged powerful timber and utilities interests. His heavy-handed leadership style led to his biggest political defeat in 1980, when Arkansas voters did not reelect him to a second two-year term as chief executive.

Fast forward two decades. Clinton is a disgraced, impeached former president, the life of the Democratic party, and star attraction at a political rally to save the career of another Governor foolish enough to burden the citizens of his state with unreasonable automobile fees. He faced the same outcome that Clinton did a quarter century ago, albeit in an even more dramatic fashion, as he was booted out of his office in a recall election, less than a year into his second term.

Did someone say history repeats itself?

[nwrep]

PING

[JRandomFreeper]

Did someone say history repeats itself?

Nope, but it often rhymes.

/john

[Alberta's Child]

I'd like to shake the hand of the person who described Bill Clinton as "a huckster with a disco haircut and a personality disorder" -- that description really nails it, doesn't it?

[CobraJet]

Yep, I had just moved to Arkansas in Sept. of 1980. I registered to vote and happily voted AGAINST Bill Clinton. The car license fee increase was indeed the hot election issue that year.

[RJayneJ]

Something like a license fee can't be passed on or evaded. For a young couple making a little over minimum wage, that runs out of money before the next paycheck that gets a $300.00 license fee each are just screwed. When a legislature loses sight of that just shows how out of touch they get from the voters. They have to have a car to work. You could tell that Davis didn't have a clue as to how bad he had messed up.

[ex-Texan]

Why does Clinton nose look kinda like a "d*ck head" ? I mean duck head. "Quaaak, Quaaak ! Odd duck, as they say up in Canada, eh?"