OPINION - Editorial

Good-government stuff

What that means in Arkansas

The state senator represented a large portion of northern Louisiana for a large portion of his life. Back then, all you needed was to be elected once, have a D next to your name on the ballot, and you were in office until you (or the feds) decided otherwise. And the quote that's followed him around for several decades is this gem, reportedly made back in the 1990s when the papers down there were still keeping an eye on corruption: "I've had just about all of this good-government stuff I can stand."

We want that embroidered on a pillow.

We'll note that all of that good-government stuff, including federal prosecutors, asked our politician-for-life to be a guest of the state for a few years. But that's almost a résumé enhancer down south in our nation's only Mediterranean state. Call it tradition! in Louisiana. No getting around federal law, no matter how hard you try. Or as Earl Long once told Leander Perez, boss of Plaquemines Parish: "Whatcha gonna do, Leander, now that da feds got da bomb?"

Cross the state line from Louisiana into Arkansas, and you'll notice big changes immediately. First, the payday loan signs disappear. The road signs get better. And folks in these latitudes tend to take good government seriously. Here in Arkansas, good politicians are promoted, corrupt politicians are shunned. It's not the other way around.

There's yet another good-government type occupying the Governor's Mansion in Little Rock these days, and that makes it about three in a row. It's becoming an Arkansas tradition, happily. The latest from Asa Hutchinson is this plan to cut down the number of state agency directors. And in the process, streamline government in the short term and perhaps save We the People some money in the long.

The governor said he'll propose cutting the number of agency heads reporting to him from 42 to about half that come the regular session next year. The papers say that would be the most sweeping reorg of state government since 1972.

Considering that the president of the United States only has 15 cabinet-level officials knocking on his door, Gov. Hutchinson's plan would seem to be a good idea from this one laboratory of democracy. Also consider that the federal government employs about 2 million civilians. The state of Arkansas, about 25,000. The governor doesn't need three times the number of cabinet officials.

So . . . What are the details? Answer: Nobody knows yet.

The governor, being the careful and experienced type, has formed something called the Transformation Advisory Board, which he wants to "take the lead in developing the specifics of the plan" that the Ledge will see come 2019. We suspicion this board will take some of the heat if/when somebody's ox gets gored in this reorg. It's doubtful there are a whole lot of cabinet-level people in state government who don't think they should be right there at the adult table, even if that table is 42 seats long.

Speaking of tables, the governor has declared everything to be on it, almost:

"I think you have to start with a white sheet of paper as you look at the government reorganization," he told the press. "Now, everybody starts with your own opinions on this and, for example, [the Department of Human Services] I don't believe needs to be merged with the Department of Health. In my mind, that's not something that I would be considering. Gov. Huckabee visited that, but that's not the direction that I would like to see it go. So beyond that small illustration, it is a white sheet of paper."

And it will scarcely make sense to have the surgeon general report to the adjutant general, or the bank department report to the DEQ. But surely there is overlap. After 46 years of government buildup, surely.

The last time the governor of Arkansas proposed such a reorg, his name was Mike Huckabee. His plan to reorganize the state's executive branch in 2003 failed to get out of the state House of Representatives. But a different political party controlled the legislative branch back then. And it wasn't Mike Huckabee's party. Now the Republicans are in charge in the Arkansas Legislature, and they have an ally in the Governor's Mansion.

This seems like an opportune time to get this done. Although most Arkansans would still like to see the details. You-know-who still lives there. And he's expert at making a mess of all good things.

Editorial on 03/21/2018

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