A campaign against tourism?

Dear editor:

The honorary mayor continues her curious campaign to assault the success of the local tourism industry. This Carney campaign against tourism appears to target two Hot Springs success stories, the Downtown, and the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission.

One of the mayor’s most vocal supporters ( think “Ducks”) was instrumental in dissolving the merchants/ owners association that has made “Downtown” a lively, fun place for locals and tourists to gather. Either allowing Downtown to become a habitat for Ducks, or forcing its return to the 1980s would be a death knell for tourism. Hopefully, the downtown merchants/ owners will choose to find some common ground with a proposal offered by the Chamber of Commerce to “grow” a vibrant Downtown.

The mayor and some tea party supporters seem to view the A& PC, led by Steve Arrison, as too powerful, with a hidden agenda. By continually harassing Arrison, they hope he will resign. For example:

1. On Thursday, April 26, the mayor filed a Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA) request for “personnel and financial information” from the A& PC. Oddly, the information is readily available in several reports/ documents sent to the mayor and board of directors on a regular basis. One would suppose the honorary mayor either had a memory lapse or was just ignorant of the public availability of facts when she made her request last week. Um ... could the