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.Paid largely from federal funds,22he does not find it strange to attend meetings of the city council to give expert23[253], (4)advice on matters ranging from rotten apples to rabies control.He is even24deputized as a member of both the city and county police forces.525Grodzins s study, published in 1966, documented other extensive evidence26of cooperative federalism in Benton.For example, the aluminum companies27that provided the major source of employment were built under authority28of the War Production Board and financed by the Reconstruction Finance29Corporation.Similarly, the city s only high school was largely paid for30by $506,000 of federal funds, and all the local schools participated in the31school lunch and milk programs and received federal aid for vocational and32agricultural education.The city s dam and reservoir, used for both water33supply and recreational purposes, were constructed with federal funds from34the Community Facilities Program, utilizing data gathered by the Corps of35Engineers.Finally, special censuses contracted for with the U.S.Census3637 Bureau had gained Benton additional state income under a state-aid formula38 based on a city s population, and the county welfare program that serviced39 Benton s needy residents distributed U.S.Department of Agriculture surpluscommodities to those deemed eligible by the State Welfare Department. 254 Arkansas in the Federal System1 Interviews conducted for Grodzins by Daniel J.Elazar with more than2 forty Benton officials and civic leaders revealed a unanimous sentiment3 that federal officers were fine, friendly and cooperative ; that federal rules4were considered onerous; and that the federal-state-local relationship had5been and would be a necessity for community development.66Although many of the specific types and amounts of aid have changed over7the decades, the essence of what Grodzins discovered and demonstrated in8the hard case of one small town in one small county in Arkansas is still true9today.No official is absolutely autonomous, and no government is an island.10Extensive intergovernmental relationships have become commonplace.1112contemporary intergovernmentalism[254], (5)1314One way of illustrating the extent to which contemporary Arkansas politics15is in fact intergovernmental politics is simply to note some of the majorLines: 10516political stories featured by the press in the Huckabee era: 17" Early in his tenure, Governor Huckabee denied state payment for an abortion6.5pt Pg18 for a mentally impaired teenager who was impregnated as the result of19Normal Paan alleged rape.In justification, he cited amendment 68 to the Arkansas20PgEnds: TEconstitution, which states that no public funds may be used for abortion21except to save the life of the mother.The conflict between amendment2268 s language and the language of the federal Hyde Amendment requiring23[254], (5)Medicaid payment for abortion in cases of rape sent Huckabee s refusal to24federal court.One possible result was the loss of the more than $1 billion25in Medicaid funding streaming into the state.A compromise in which a26private fund was established to fund the Medicaid-covered abortions in cases27of rape and incest was eventually given the blessing of the federal court28although abortion rights advocates continued to question the legitimacy and29practicality of the plan.30" Taking advantage of the opportunity created by the federal government s31passage of the state Children s Health Insurance Program (chip) to provide32health care to children not traditionally eligible for Medicaid (those at33or below poverty), Huckabee worked with legislators and key children s34advocates to develop a program he named the arkids First program in35the 1997 legislative session.Like all chip programs, arkids benefits are3637 less generous than general Medicaid and require a copayment.Arkansas38 was given approval by the federal government (which matches the state39 dollars three to one, as in Medicaid) to make enrollment available to children Arkansas in the Federal System 2551 whose families incomes are up to twice the poverty level.The state began2 spending $500,000 a year on advertising for the program.This included3 tv spots that featured the governor and children benefited by the program4 as well as appearances by Razorback football coach Houston Nutt to raise5 awareness of the program.Enrollments shot up to by fifty-five thousand6 by 1999.Problems arose, however, when it became clear that half of the7 children enrolled in arkids were actually eligible for the more generous8 Medicaid program.Community groups came forward to contend that the9 Medicaid application process was considerably more onerous than that for10 arkids.Huckabee defended the arrangement, citing evidence that many11 eligible families were unwilling to file for Medicaid benefits because of the12 social stigma attached to the program.In 2000, the Clinton administration s[255], (6)13 Health Care Financing Administration (hcfa) refused to allow the setup14 to continue, saying that the federal government would no longer help15 provide arkids programs to general Medicaid-eligible children
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