EDITORIALS We like his style

LITTLE ROCK — IF THERE is a single instance, a single quote, a single reasonable response to the kind of unreasonable attitudes that crop up in government from time to time, it is Mike Beebe’s reaction to the state Game and Fish Commission’s beyond-outrageous power play the other day. Note not just what he said, which was pretty much what he or any other responsible chief executive would have said to our little commissars’ power grab, but how he said it:

We start the easy way by saying, “You all made a mistake.

I’m sure you’re sorry.

I’m sure you want to change it.

Let’s see if you’re going to do that.”

And then if you don’t do that, you take further steps.

We particularly liked that oh-sofriendly you all, which always sounds down-home friendly, don’t you think? But not chummy. Firm but not mean, yet more than hinting, like a good teacher, at what’s sure to follow if the class doesn’t straighten up and fly right: I’m sure you’re sorry. I’m sure you want to change it . . . .

Heck, Clint Eastwood could use that line in his next movie. The G&FC was about to make Mike Beebe’s day, and he let ’em know it-in the politest but most definite way. And sure enough these little clerks with delusions of grandeur got the message. By the next morning. We like this governor’s style:

Soft at first. Butter would have stayed refrigerated in his mouth. But then, one concise sentence after another, his words got progressively steelier. With no need to say just what he would do if these tin pot caesars kept playing games with the law. He did it in the most concise way, yet left no doubt, no doubt at all, that The Law Would Be Enforced in this state, and he was just the man to enforce it-as a governor should.

No, the Guv didn’t have to spell out what all he could, would, and should do to such commissioners; he gave their imaginations free rein. After only a few words from him, the light dawned for Emon Mahony and misguided company, including their lawheads. They completely reversed position, tucked tail, and ran off yelping about their deepest respect for the Guv, if not for the people and laws of the state of Arkansas. Watching that show, something told us Mike Beebe must have had considerable experience as the father of teenagers. Yes, we like the man’s style.

SURE, THERE are other styles in governors. Mike Huckabee’s was quite the opposite as he fired off reform proposals every which way, some of which resulted in welcome progress all over the map, from better highways to finally simplifying the byzantine system of renewing your car tags in Arkansas. (He made it as simple as it should have been all along, forever earning the gratitude of the state’s drivers.)

Then again, some of the Huck’s ideas were real duds. Like letting the highway commission issue bonds without a vote of the people. Come to think,this Other Man From Hope never did reduce Arkansas’ awful grocery tax-not by a penny. While it was Mike Beebe who actually did something about it-dramatically in his own, undramatic way.

No, this state’s present, understated governor didn’t kill the grocery tax monster entirely; it still writhes, but it’s no longer collecting 6 cents on every dollar the poor must spend on their bread and milk. Now it collects only 2 percent. Which is 2 percent too much, but it’s still quite an improvement. Just give Mike Beebe another term and maybe he’ll eliminate the abomination entirely. That’ll be a day to celebrate, and to keep pushing for.

Mike Huckabee had a plan to eliminate the grocery tax, too, but it was so Rube Goldberg complicated, it might not have worked even if the Huck had somehow managed (a) to get people to understand it, and (b) get the Ledge to pass it. In short, it was a lot like this cockamamie 23-percent national sales tax that’s got Mr. Huckabee all het up these days. Even though the lasttrustworthy study of it we saw-by a bipartisan panel appointed during the Bush administration-said the tax would really need to be 34 percent on everything bought in this country if it was going to take in as much as all the taxes it would replace. What’s more, the study commission found that the burden of a national sales tax would fall disproportionately on the already stressed middle class, benefitting only the very rich and very poor. And that’s even if the thing proved practical, which it might not. Since it invites tax evasion. This proposal is the Hadacol of tax legislation-a patent medicine disguised as a serious remedy for an Internal Revenue Code that’s seriously sick.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Mike Beebe has quietly slashed the state’s worst, most regressive tax by two-thirds. Not bad for a soft-spoken, more-reasonable-than-thou kind of fella. He’s made a good start and deserves a chance to finish the job in his next term. And finally kill this awful grocery tax dead, dead, dead.

YOU KNOW the difference between Mike Beebe and the flashier kind of political types? Huey Long once explained it: It’s the difference between a hoot owl and a scrootch owl: “A hoot owl bangs into the nest and knocks the hen clean off and catches her while she’s falling. But a scrootch owl slips into the roost and scrootches up to the hen and talks softly to her. And the hen just falls in love with him, and the next thing you know there ain’t no hen.”

We do like the style of this scrootch owl of a governor. Granted, it may take a maddening amount of time before Mike Beebe finally scrootches up to his target before shooting a bulls-eye. Or something close enough to it for government work. Look how long it took for him to realize he had to do something about the long-running and on-going car scandals at constitutional offices, the Game and Fish Commission (does it still have more cars then employees?), the Highway Commission and throughout state government. But he’s finally working on it, and, as long as the rest of us keep after Governor Scrootch, he may yet correct that scandalous state of affairs throughout state government.

We’re not claiming that this governor doesn’t need to be watched. Every public official needs to be watched. That’s the press’ job and the public’s, too. His appointments, for example, may not always be the best. (Wasn’t he the governor who appointed Emon Mahony to the state Game and Fish Commission?) And he could do a lot more for education, too, like pushing even harder for higher standards and more charter schools instead of just higher budgets.

Meanwhile, the best his Republican opponent in this election has been able to do is showboat: File a lawsuit that doesn’t measure up to an ordinary citizen’s. His welcome comments on the gosh-awful grocery tax and other such burdens have alternated with embarrassed explanations of his own confused and confusing tax filings.We’ve noticed it before: There’s just something about running for governor that seems to have an unfortunate effect on otherwise perfectly nice guys like Jim Keet. We’d much rather trust the governor’s office to Mike Beebe.

Slowly but steadily, Arkansas has made progress under this governor. Naturally enough, some of us would prefer quickly but steadily, and have said as much-with some vigor-over the past four years. During which time the temptation to shake The Hon. Mike Beebe by the shoulders and tell him to Do Something! has been nigh-about irresistible. As when the subject is all those state-supplied cars and not nearly enough charter schools. But eventually, smoothly, and in long, long due course, he’s come around. He may even pick up some speed his next term. Surely he will. He’s been on the right track, just going much too slowly. Let’s hurry him along by giving Mike Beebe a vote of confidence and a second gubernatorial term.