A rotting mansion

Talk about a mess multiplied by two: It’s not just the Governor’s Mansion that needs a lot of fixing up, but its management.

Here’s the first principle that should be followed in both private and public finances: The more safeguards the better. Yes, have someone else countersign your checks. And, yes, have a whole commission oversee the operation of the Governor’s Mansion.

Talk about too many cooks spoiling the broth, everybody and his cousin seems to have dipped his oar into these roiling waters:

There has been a succession of First Ladies, each of whom wanted her own way.

There has been a selection of interior designers that would do justice to a high-end ladies’ clothier.

And even a governor (Mike Huckabee) who planted his own triple-wide on the Mansion grounds. Call it Mike’s Mobile Home Sales—easy credit terms.

A lot of hard work awaits, to say the least. Helpful Hint No. 1: Buy a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order. And then follow it; don’t ignore it as if it were on the bookshelf for ornamental purposes only. Let it guide the state instead of every governor’s passing whims and fancies.

It may be a temptation at this point to just clear the lot and put up a whole new Governor’s Mansion—like one of those awful tear-downs that now deface all too many of the state’s older, simpler neighborhoods. But that would come too close to hiding the evidence.

Cleaning up the Augean Stables, however Herculean a task that it was, would be a snap compared to this assignment. But never fear: Arkansas has been through a lot worse.

Just keep the faith and hold on to the plow!