Letter to the Editor

Political patronage alive and well

Friday, March 4, 2011

To the editor:

In September of last year the BGRAA Board of Directors had a tie vote to offer the position of president/director of BGRAA to outgoing Blytheville Mayor Barrett Harrison. This tie was broken by the chairman of the board, Don Houseworth, who voted in favor of the motion to hire Harrison despite financial concerns voiced by opposing members of the board. Requests for the names of the other applicants were denied until after the decision was made to hire Harrison. It took several requests under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act for the local newspaper to obtain information regarding the other applicants for this position. The names, ages and addresses, as well as other pieces of identifying information, were blacked out on the documents once released.

This leads me to ask several questions as to why Harrison was chosen in such haste. Were the other applicants over-qualified? Were the other applicants under-qualified? Were the other applicants even considered? Was Harrison chosen because of the lack of financial ability he has shown in his past endeavors make him fit the current situation best?

The most important question to the five board members: "Would you hire Harrison to manage your business?" If you answered "yes," you can feel good about the way you voted -- but if you answered "no," you made a choice based on other reasons.

I think I speak for many when I say Harrison's financial management skills leave a lot to be desired. Harrison does have political experience, has been involved with BGRAA through the position of mayor, but to appoint him as the president/director with a split decision vote in such haste only shows that his appointment was made for reasons other than his qualifications.

Political patronage is alive and well here, in my opinion. This payoff game appears to be a way of life for politicians. We must demand in this day and time that political payoffs with public funds come to a halt. We must demand that in a true democracy, appointments to any public service position must be open to the public, and must be based on merit. Fairness must be seen to prevail. The conduct of this group to give some private advantage that is contrary to the public interest is plain wrong in my book.

The integrity of our political and social system, the future of the Blytheville/Gosnell area, is more important than a system of entitlement. We cannot allow political corruption and patronage to exist in this area any longer. Because as we can now clearly see, once started, it never stops. The best interest of the public, the cities of Blytheville and Gosnell, and Mississippi County should always come first, and until this interest is made first and foremost, we will continue to decline instead of prosper. I think the most recent Census is proof of our continuing decline.

Ted Bullard
Blytheville