Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has a brilliant plan, which is said with utmost sincerity. A broken rib stops hurting three times a day when the syringe of narcotics plunges into a vein, so even awful stuff can work out occasionally. Acknowledging that Sarah Huckabee is her own greatest supporter and admirer doesn’t mean she is incapable of a good ideas.
Huckabee Sanders wants to transform a state that is the headquarters of a shocking number of large corporations: Walmart, but also all Tyson foods, Dillards, the largest gun manufacturers in the U.S., several major banks, and the list goes on and on. But Sarah wants to transform the state such that its largest industry is tourism.
Don’t laugh. Anyone who’s been to Northwest Arkansas knows that they have the resources to do it. They want to be like Colorado. Of course, that is absurd. But they could rival Minnesota, Vermont, Maine, or even Arizona. Arkansas has done very little to promote what could be a summer-fall haven. They want to turn that around. What a great idea.
It is such a good idea that Huckabee appointed a 25-member “power committee,” with Waltons, bank CEOs, and other powerful people. So far, so good. Then she ruined the entire good idea by needlessly appointing her husband to chair the committee even though he admits he is no expert on the matter!
He has agreed to forego any salary. Who the hell cares? If Sarah wants him on the committee so he can provide pillow talk as to progress, I suppose that’s fine. But to name him chair when he admits he has no expertise in the matter? If they are serious about this idea, they need to look beyond Arkansas (No rule that the chairperson must be from Colorado) and find someone who is an expert. Go talk to people in Oregon, Montana, Vermont; people who are experts.
So even when Sarah has a good idea, she chooses nepotism over competence (Sound familiar?), which jeopardizes the entire good idea.
He can resign, and tell his wife to apologize to the state for appointing someone who has no expertise in the field.
“Arkansas Law prohibits the hiring of relatives by public officials and prohibits a state agency and institution employee from supervising a relative”
https://www.dfa.arkansas.gov/images/uploads/personalManagementOffice/30_15HiringRelatives.pdf
This is not a state agency, institution or anything like it. I’m not sure you could even say the governor is even supervising this board–I seriously doubt any bank CEO or poobah from crawlmart would take marching orders from her dumb ass.
Thing is, when I think of people to brainstorm ideas for attracting tourists, I don’t think bankers, crawlmart, or the head of chicken manufacturing. A great deal can go wrong in attracting tourism–ask CO, ID, MT, hell ask any state that pumped in money to attract the shit and actually succeeded. Tourism is very destructive unless done right and thus far, no one knows how to do it right—anywhere.
There are beautiful areas in the Ozarks but it would not take much to fuck it all up–dollywood comes immediately to mind when I think about how easy it is to fuck up pristine areas. Ditto Disneyland/world.
If there were a salary, he would be an employee, and I think the law would apply. So maybe he is smart enough to have saved her bacon by refusing a salary.
He admits he is no expert on the matter!
The nearly perfect republican qualification for anything.
The perfect republican qualification being no knowledge of the matter at all.
Nope! Not a perfect Republican… A perfect Republican would just lie about it and use his position to pocket a fortune in taxpayer’s bucks!