A good description of the Perry County Political Machine

From the Arkansas Gazette Byline:JOHN BRUMMET

You see, Perry County had its fill of a political boss. Van Dalsem was Old Guard and an ally of former Governor Orval E. Faubus. For three decades, Van Dalsem ran much of the state and all of Perry County. At a time when the population of the county was little more than 2,000, it was said that 400 to 500 residents owed their jobs to Van Dalsem. Now they owe most of their jobs to industries in Conway County 15 miles from Perryville. That aside, Branscum is a major political influence in the town, through his statewide reputation and the force of his personality. Who does he favor? " The guy I liked was Simon," he said, but Simon had dropped out of serious contention in the South that very day. " Now I guess Dukakis," he said, though he had found the Massachusetts governor a tad abrupt in a recent face-to-face meeting, one Branscum had paid $500 to have. In a race such as the one for the Democratic presidential nomination, with little-known candidates on the ballot at an unusual time of year, endorsements at all levels could make a major difference. You might call it the trickle-down theory of political influence.

If you live in Little Rock and wish to visit a different culture in a faraway land, get on Cantrell Road and go 40 miles west. Welcome to the unmolested hills and woods of Perryville, seat of Perry County, the third smallest county in Arkansas and the home of one industrial plant a mobile home manufacturer, appropriately. The pace is slow and the hunting and fishing good, except that everyone is mad at the Game and Fish Commission right now because of restrictions on hunting lands and increases in fees and licenses. If you go to Perryville, you will have several chances to sign a petition for a constitutional amendment to provide that we elect the Game and Fish members. This town of 1,058 is anchored on the south by Crowder's Cafe and on the north by the Brooks Cafe. If you want to get the news, you need to be at one or the other by 6:30 a.m. To be safe, you need to hit the other before 9. You will need an introduction, and the best man for that is Herby Branscum Jr. He is the lawyer in town. He also was chairman of the state Democratic Party for several years. His friends statewide would be interested to know that up here they call him Boss Hogg, with pure affection. A newspaperman from Little Rock set up camp at Crowder's Wednesday before dawn honestly and soon was amid a dozen or so friendly regulars chewing tobacco and wearing hunting vests, which rival the plaid flannel shirt as the predominant male attire on a cool day. The newspaperman wanted to talk politics presidential, mainly and how it was playing in Perry County. After all, it was only 13 days until the Super Tuesday primary March 8. But March 8 in Perry County means the hotly contested Democratic sheriff's race, which is tantamount to election. And while those planning to vote in that race need to be making up their minds about their Democratic choice for president, few have. Most are disinterested. Some are disgusted with the choices. Some are waiting for the chance to vote Republican in November. Not one person in Perry County signed up to be a delegate for any presidential candidate in either party. Not one. Not even Branscum, a state Party leader. He said he looked at the process and decided it was so "arcane" it was not worth his trouble. He would rather stay around Perryville hunt, fish, grow watermelons, tend to his horses, drive his four-wheel-drive over his acreage and occasionally settle a lawsuit for $ 100,000 or so. The reporter wanting to talk presidential politics had to wait. They had had a bit of a police incident the day before. Somebody got the idea that an Oklahoma murderer was holed up in one of Perryville's many trailer homes. This Oklahoma murderer had shot his father-in-law 18 times, then vowed never to be taken alive. The State Police sent in a SWAT team. C Street was evacuated.Sheriff Jim Hester, the embattled and indicted one, bailed out of a court hearing at Little Rock, where he was being sued, to speed back home, his blue light flashing all the way. It turned out that the man inside this mobile home was watching television, unaware that he was the target of most of Central Arkansas's law enforcement community. He had the same name as an Oklahoma murderer, and had lived in Oklahoma, but was not the fugitive he was thought to be. The speculation was that the girl friend of the real Oklahoma murderer had put authorities on the trail of the Perryville man of the same name to divert attention from the real thing. The speculation further was that it was a good thing this innocent man was unaware of his precarious predicament. Had he seen himself surrounded by armed men in fatigues, he might have run from instinct.Lord knows what might have happened. Fortunately, his wife came home from work at Morrilton and straightened it all out. Several folks used the incident as an excuse to criticize Hester, with whom the citizenry seems frustrated, mainly because Perry County, which gave us the late state Representative Paul Van Dalsem and his theory of keeping women barefoot and pregnant, is tired of being laughed at by the rest of the state. Perry County is to Arkansas what Arkansas is to the United States, a slow-paced, friendly, underdeveloped and unfairly maligned spot on the map. But this particular incident wasn't Hester's fault. The State Police had received the tip and mounted the full-scale invasion. Hester, a former Little Rock Police Department foot patrol officer, Hester was indicted in December on charges of violating the state code of ethics and improperly using public property. He was acquitted on the ethics charge. The other is pending. He fired the jailer who had testified to a Grand Jury, Pam Edwards, the girl friend-now-wife of former Sheriff Ray Byrd, and now she is suing him in federal court for violating her rights. Hester is the man whose signs two years ago promoted him for the office of "sheruff," who said his indictment was merely an attempt "to discolor me," and asserted once that he had "impounded the car and all its ingredients." Hester is seeking renomination in the Democratic primary March 8, and has three opponents. Needless to say, there is some political interest in Perry County, although the talk seems to be less about the sheriff's race than the sheriff himself. Unlike many other areas of the state, where the presidential race is about all that will be on the ballot, they expect a heavy turnout 3,000 to 3,500 voters on Super Tuesday. They also expect the usual turnout for the Republican primary, about 25 votes. When Perry Countians were pressed for choices among the Democrats, the names of Tennessee Senator Albert Gore Jr. and Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis were predominant. New York Governor Mario Cuomo, who is not running, but might be drafted at a brokered convention, was on the minds of some. A sampling: Herbert Thedford, over morning coffee at Crowder's Cafe: " I like Gore or Dukakis, but I can't decide." Roy Fowler, a retired television repairman, at Brooks Cafe: " Dukakis made a good governor for Massachusetts. I saw pictures of five of 'em and Dukakis had a nice smile." W. R. Johnson, retired from the Army Engineers, also at Brooks: " I expect Cuomo to get the nomination, and I'm waiting on him. We need a take-charge type of guy." Rob Hill, chairman of the County Democratic Central Committee, at his office: " Gore or Dukakis." Hill's mother, Elise Hill, over lunch at BP's Deli on the town square: " I guess I would go with either Gephardt or Dukakis. I like Dukakis because he would pick a Southern running mate. I like Gore, but I am afraid he started running too late. I still would rather have seen Dale Bumpers run." Loyd House, longtime resident and county Democratic regular, also during lunch at BP's Deli: " Cuomo will be the eventual nominee and Dole is the only man who can beat him." Marvin Rainey, outside a general store at Casa, a small community 18 miles west of Perryville that may be about ready to lose its school because of the phase-out of a weighting factor in the distribution of