The median income of a household in Arkansas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 2009 and 2013 was $40,768.
So how many Arkansans could even consider an opportunity to bid $13,000 to have dinner with Gov. Asa Hutchinson?
What’s the point?
Should the governor make himself an auction item for charities? It’s for a good cause, but can send the wrong signal.
Not many.
Hutchinson recently allowed two charities to auction dinners for 10 with the governor as a way to raise money for unquestionably worthwhile causes.
At the 20th Century Club's Hope Ball, the dinner fetched the aforementioned $13,000. The club's lodge provides free rooms and food for needy cancer patients receiving treatment in central Arkansas.
In September, the same auction item earned a winning bid of $10,000 as a way to benefit the Children's Advocacy Centers of Arkansas, which help families and children facing challenges after child abuse.
Hutchinson, who took office in January, auctioning off a meal with the governor remains uncommon. His wife was on the board of the Children's Advocacy Center of Benton County for years. His daughter is a member of the 20th Century Club. He's declined such requests from other charities, ostensibly the ones without family connections.
None of this involves the use of taxpayer dollars. The charities that auctioned the dinners off must pay the real costs associated with the dinners, somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 or $1,500.
Hutchinson deflected any concern about putting access to the governor up for bid.
"I think the priority was giving money to charity rather than having dinner with me," he said.
Maybe.
Former Democratic state Sen. Percy Malone of Arkadelphia purchased the $13,000 dinner. He told an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter he was looking forward to talking to the governor and first lady over a meal.
Who wouldn't? For a five-figure sum, one would certainly expect to have the governor's undivided attention for an evening. To Malone's credit, he's looking at it as an opportunity to advocate for children.
"These kids -- they're not Republicans. They're not Democrats. They're not communists. They're God's creation. We're going to talk about how we can help, because it's a huge problem," Malone said. "I really appreciate so much what the first lady, Susan Hutchinson, is doing. For her to have the event at the Governor's Mansion -- it raises awareness."
Hutchinson's openness to such auctions is a change of pace in the governor's office. Former Gov. Mike Beebe said "I never auctioned me off" but acknowledged he didn't know if there was anything wrong with the practice.
Wrong? Perhaps not, but the practice is a little discomfiting. What if a buyer turned out to be president of a company under review by, say, the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology? Or maybe calculated purchase by a supporter of Planned Parenthood or, in contract, by Arkansas Right to Life? Or, if it was simply a bit of an embarrassment such as a leader of the Ku Klux Klan from Zinc?
Of course, none of that happened, and some will say such hand-wringing is useless. But Hutchinson is at least partially right: Bidders are not really trying to have dinner with Asa Hutchinson. They want dinner with the governor of the state of Arkansas. How many times, for example, did charities asked to auction dinner with Asa Hutchinson before he earned election into the state's highest office?
There's no huge controversy here. Just a concern. High-dollar auctions of access to the governor reinforce a perception -- certainly earned at many levels of politics -- that money speaks louder than simple constituency.
Are we to see dinner with the attorney general up for bid? Breakfast with the lieutenant governor? Snack time with the secretary of state?
It's good news some serious money was raised for charities who do great work within our state. That's not the issue.
The question is whether auctioning the governor off is good for the office and good for Arkansans.
Hutchinson, in explaining the limited nature of his participation in such auctions, knows he's ventured into a practice that requires sensitivity to the authority of his office.
He shouldn't want to encourage average Arkansans to ask how they can have dinner with their governor, and does it require more than $10,000.
Commentary on 10/13/2015