Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. praised the senior U.S. senator from Arkansas during an appearance on Tuesday.
Speaking to an audience of Little Rock Rotary Club members, Scott said “thank God” for Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.
“Why? ‘Cause he gets us all the money,” Scott added.
His remark came as Scott was describing efforts by Summer DeProw, the chancellor of the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College, to focus on workforce development in partnership with the city and the local chamber of commerce.
As part of recent congressional spending legislation, Boozman secured $20 million for a new workforce training center the technical college plans to build at the Port of Little Rock.
The center is going to “change the game as it relates to getting our youth and our young adults ready for the new workforce,” Scott predicted.
In a statement earlier this month, Boozman said, “This investment will equip the University of Arkansas – Pulaski Technical College with the resources needed to train the next generation of Arkansans to step into skilled careers and support the success of existing companies at the Port of Little Rock.”
Boozman and three other members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation obtained around $446.6 million for state projects through the recent spending legislation, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported earlier this month.
Scott, 42, occupies a nonpartisan office but is aligned with the Democratic Party in terms of his own politics, unlike Boozman, a 75-year-old Republican.
During the Rotary Club’s lunch meeting at the Clinton Presidential Center, Scott hit many of the same points he touched on in his 2026 State of the City speech, which he delivered on Jan. 22.
Officials frequently get questions about War Memorial Park, Scott said on Tuesday. The centrally located park was the site of a municipal golf course that closed in 2019. Sales-tax initiatives that would have provided funding for significant improvements to the park and other projects across the city failed in 2021 and 2024.
The city has “grand plans for War Memorial. It also costs money,” Scott said. “But in the meantime, what we’re gonna do is take care of War Memorial. It’s one of our widely used parks — 150 acres here in the city of Little Rock right now.”
He referred to the coming addition of disc golf in two different areas of the park.
