http://www.MikeHuckabee.com/ (Not what you think - totally truthful)
Gov. Mike Huckabee's office just sent a press release announcing that his race number in the upcoming Little Rock Marathon will be "2008."
Race Director Geneva Hampton came up with the idea to surprise Gov. Huckabee with the race number 2008.
"We thought it would be fun to give him 2008 in case he decides to run for president," said Hampton. "We were hoping that might get us a few tickets to his inauguration."
Sure, it was a big surprise to Huckabee?
According to U.S. News and World Report, a Huckabee staffer requested the number!
"Here's the latest indication that Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is running for president. A fatty turned jogger, he's planning a repeat in this year's Little Rock Marathon. Because he's the governor, he can request a number, and last year he chose No.1. Not too subtle there. This year, we're told, a staffer requested 2008."
It's pretty impressive that Huckabee can manage to manipulate a marathon to his own personal political purposes.
*****
MEANWHILE :
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Ethics Commission delayed hearing a complaint against Gov. Mike Huckabee on Friday but did not give a reason for the postponement.
Drew Pritt, a Democrat running for lieutenant governor, received a letter early Friday saying the hearing was delayed until March. The letter was dated Monday.
In December, Drew Pritt alleged that Huckabee used state computers to send e-mail messages urging voters to support issuing bonds for roads and schools. The bond issues failed in a Dec. 13 statewide election.
The Ethics Commission has penalized Huckabee in one way or another five times since he started his political career in the early 1990s. Pritt's is the 14th complaint against the governor.
The commission had been expected to hear the complaint against Huckabee, a Republican who is term-limited and leaves office in January 2007. The panel met in confidential session Friday, but its executive director said he could not discuss the specifics of Huckabee's case.
Huckabee lawyer O. Milton Fine II attended the beginning of Friday's meeting, but referred all questions on the complaint to the governor's spokesmen.
Pritt said Friday he hoped Huckabee would attend the March meeting and said he would ask the commission to subpoena the governor to the hearing.
"I think it's grossly irreverent and irresponsible for him to not be at the meeting," Pritt said.
Huckabee has called Pritt's complaint "utterly frivolous" and said the ethics complaint system should be revised to weed out what he calls frivolous complaints against elected officials.
"The way the system is now, for a 39-cent stamp you can, in essence, put in motion a complaint that causes an investigation ... and ultimately invoke thousands of dollars in expenses for nothing more than to get a newspaper headline," Huckabee said Thursday.
The governor said the system should be modeled after the criminal justice system because he taxpayer money is wasted on complaints that turn out to be untrue.
"Now, anybody who comes out with some frivolous complaint gets a full-scale investigation," Huckabee said. "Those of us who are accused have to sit through depositions and go through getting attorneys all so somebody can get a newspaper story because he didn't have the money to buy an ad."
Huckabee spokeswoman Alice Stewart said the governor was too busy preparing for an expected winter storm to comment on Pritt's complaint.
"He says he's got too many important things to do than to assist an ambitious candidate to continue to milk the press for free publicity," Stewart said.
Previously, Huckabee was issued letters of warning and reprimand and drew a pair of $500 fines after the commission found that he failed to report on his state financial disclosure form for 1994 a $43,150 payment.
And in January 2003, the commission ruled that Huckabee violated two state ethics laws on accepting and reporting gifts in 2001. The governor was fined $250 and issued him a letter of warning for accepting a $500 canoe from Coca-Cola in 2001.
The governor also received a letter of caution for not initially reporting acceptance of a $200 stadium blanket in 2001.
Huckabee appealed the sanctions to Pulaski County Circuit Court. The stadium blanket finding was upheld and the $250 fine was thrown out.
Pritt has said he received a copy of the bond message from employees who forwarded it to him. He said he filed the grievance because he believes Huckabee shouldn't use public property to partisanly campaign for issues on the ballot.
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