Gentle Reader might not have noticed it, but this state had a different governor for a few peaceful days while other Republican bigwigs were off to attend the party's national convention in Cleveland, where the air was full of commotion. But thanks to Acting Governor Jonathan Dismang, who's ordinarily president pro tem of the state Senate, nobody missed them a bit. Thanks to him, it was an ordinary day at a time when events across the country were extraordinary in terms of violence, protests, and all the other effluvia of a country in turmoil. There are times when no news is the best news--and the best sign of real leadership. What a wonder: a politician who doesn't run to the television cameras but away from them.
What a blessing ordinariness can be when the world seems to have gone mad. Ah, normalcy instead of nostrums. Peace instead of war abroad and divisiveness at home. It was all wonderful. Thank you, Governor pro tem Dismang.
Instead of being caught up in the vortex of these troubling times, Arkansas' governor for a day or three seemed as unimpressed by his new title as he is by himself, that is, not at all. That's not to say he didn't have plans: "I'm going to go home this afternoon and mow my yard."
Peace, it's wonderful. And unlike political stars like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the presumptuous and presumptive presidential candidates of their national parties, Jonathan Dismang didn't have anything to explain away, having done nothing. Mr. Trump and Ms. Clinton keep having to stop and explain themselves at a time when many Americans must wish they would just stop, period. Both might benefit by following Jonathan Dismang's refreshing policy, to wit: "I'm trying to do as little as possible." And doing it exceptionally well.
Arkansas hasn't always been so fortunate in our pretend governors:
Mark Darr, a former lieutenant governor now charitably forgotten, chose to use his brief but troubling time in the governor's office to sign a bill exempting all concealed carriers of weapons from the state's Freedom of Information Act, a decision that did nothing to further safety in the state or the people's right to know.
A couple of decades ago, a state senator named Jerry Jewell took advantage of a vacancy in the real governor's office to hand out pardons and commutations to friends and/or followers. It took a brief while to clean up all the wreckage he'd left strewn about after his brief hour upon the stage.
Back in 1987, a since-convicted state senator from Pocahontas, Ark., took advantage of Governor Bill Clinton's absence to fire that governor's chief of staff and veto a couple of pending bills. Not until Governor Clinton returned was a semblance of order restored.
And so it goes--unevenly. One sign of a good public servant is that he never makes the headlines. But just does doing his duty unobtrusively. The way Jonathan Dismang did this week.
Editorial on 07/23/2016