An oil exploration and production company, Murphy Oil recently began retailing gas through service stations it is building at Wal-Mart stores. Murphy heads the “Murphy Commission,” which was launched in ’96 by the conservative Arkansas Policy Foundation. The commission is a group of Arkansas businesspeople who want to make government “more lean, focused, affordable and accountable.” One of Gov. Mike Huckabee’s first acts upon becoming governor in ’96 was ordering state agencies to work with Murphy’s commission. The commission has urged the state to repeal its capital-gains tax, issue report cards for schools and embrace charter schools.