OPINION | JOHN BRUMMETT: Desperately seeking kudos


"I admire your audacity in thinking you have any business being governor."--My first draft of an application for appointment to the state Highway Commission, leaving only 488 words to go.

With the legislative session ended, a man asked the other day how I thought Sarah Sanders might continue to execute her form of governing, which is to eschew detail and instead emphasize national right-wing talking points, Florida me-tooism and self-celebration in service to her own promotion in national right-wing media.

I had not considered that she could require applicants for boards and commissions to write testimonials to her.

But she and her band of Traveling Trumpettes, to borrow Rex Nelson's phrase, seem to have thought of it. That's according to a midweek scoop from the feistily liberal Arkansas Times.

The item was picked up nationally on MSNBC. That prompted public scoffing by Sanders' import off the staffs of Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson to be her chief of communications with some, and enforcer of non-communications with others.

"Slow news day," tweeted disdainfully this above-referenced person going by Alexa Henning.

Notably, she didn't deny or dispute the news item. She only ridiculed it. 

But, two days later, Sarah herself said the whole thing had been a "design error." The question had been intended, she concocted or contended, only for applicants for internships. No one ever meant to put it on an application for persons seeking or under consideration for appointments to boards and commissions. 

So, take your pick: This governor's office got caught requiring adulation or being inept. Or both. It could always be both, according to the believability index based on demonstrated proclivities for seeking adulation and screwing up. 

It is true that legislative adjournment removes the near-daily high-profile opportunity to engage with in Fox News-appealing initiatives such as undercutting public education in Arkansas to subsidize the private-school tuition of well-to-do parents. Or protecting our children from true history and good books. Or keeping people in prison longer on the theory that people on the outside will look at that and, on that basis alone, turn law-abiding.

I've known many governors, and more than one has talked of the unnerving uneventfulness in the immediate hangover of a session. They might even admit to the grind that daily chief-executive duties can become. A couple of them--more than that, actually--kind of checked out in their second terms, which we can hope Sanders does not get.

But post-session gubernatorial work is important. In fact, it's the real job, which is to administer through executive oversight of state government the drive-by law the Legislation made over the 90 days or so. It is unlikely Fox would find telecast-worthy regular updates from Arkansas ont he working group trying to figure out how to implement the thing called the LEARNS Act. 

Sometimes something unexpected can come up, like a pandemic or a tornado. But the day-to-day dynamic typically is dominated by two drags. There's the governor's personal scheduling, because everyone wants the governor to come to their event. And there are appointments to board and commissions, of which there are way too many, but, oddly, plenty of people who want them.

I've known of no previous governor who required a formal application or questionnaire of seekers of board or commission service. 

The process I've observed over the years is for an overworked governor's staff person to serve as appointments secretary, which is different from scheduling secretary. The assigned task is to keep up with all the expiring board terms and resulting openings and pore over lists of supporters, friends and persons expressing interest.

It is almost always the case that the appointee is a political supporter of the governor. The victor-gets-the-spoils system is as old as time. But there surely have been occasions over the years when a prospect's political views were not known and the appointments secretary asked around about whether the person was a supporter.

But I have not until now heard of a prospect being handed an application form with or without a box requiring hosannas to the governor. 

It ought to go without saying that the ultimate determining factors in an appointment-seeker's appropriateness should be experience-based qualification or knowledge in the relevant field and the absence of any conflict or problem in personal background.

Yes, I'd kind of like to be on the Highway Commision. I have driven many miles on state highways and have ideas about looking to transportation's future rather than simply adding lanes. I'd also settle for the state Board of Education so that I could propose critical race theory mandates on our preschoolers. 

But that essay requirement for hosannas to Sarah was giving me writer's block.

I suspect my chances for any appointment remain slim. But they're better than if I was wanting to be an intern. 


John Brummett, whose column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, is a member of the Arkansas Writers' Hall of Fame. Email him at [email protected]. Read his @johnbrummett Twitter feed.


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