KATV’s Jason Pederson reports on past activities of state Rep. Dan Sullivan of Jonesboro, CEO of Ascent, a child care organization whose units included a West Memphis facility where a child died this week after being left all day in a van. The center also was closed for an outbreak of shigella , a bacteria that causes diarrhea and can spread through groups of children.

KATV recounts how Sullivan fought a proposal before the Arkansas Early Childhood Commission to require that half of daycare employees be certified in CPR and first aid.

When they refused, four commissioners tell KATV that they heard Representative Sullivan while leaving vow to address the need for the commission during the next legislative session. Act 576…the only bill sponsored by Sullivan that became law during the 91st General Assembly…stripped the commission of its authority to regulate child care centers.

Sullivan’s bullying apparently can be productive. I’m still waiting a response from the Health Department on when it learned about the shigella outbreak at his West Memphis Ascent facility and whether it moved quickly to close the facility so it could be sanitized.

Noted KATV:


Sullivan told a house committee in February that the child care industry is vastly overregulated and that somebody has to take a stand.

Sullivan has refused to answer any of my questions this week. It occurs to me, too, that other legislators who went along with his de-regulation bill should answer some questions as well.

UPDATE: The state Health Department provided this timeline on the shigella outbreak, a problem that dated back to April at Sullivan’s facility.

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