Morril Harriman says economy top issue at Governor’s office

Morril Harriman, a veteran of 16 years in the Arkansas Senate representing the Van Buren/Fort Smith area, said “communication, communication, communication” is vital for area business and civic leaders interested in keeping the needs of their communities in front of Gov. Mike Beebe and his staff.

ECONOMIC CONCERNS
Harriman serves as chief of staff for Gov. Beebe and is preparing the governor’s office for its second legislative session. The key issue facing Beebe and Arkansas Legislators is the economy, Harriman said during a Friday morning interview with The City Wire. (Link here for a TBQ story about Harriman’s role as chief of staff.)

“I don’t think there is any question that the issue before the state and before the Fort Smith region is the economic situation,” Harriman said.

Beebe’s approach to responding to the national economic downturn is to do as much as possible to streamline and enhance the availability of state services for those who lose a job. Part of that, Harriman continued, is to “make more efficient” the state’s job training programs. He said Beebe is especially sensitive to the layoffs in the Fort Smith area and “is working hard each day” to help those areas.

To that end, Harriman said Beebe likely will push to renew his quick-action closing fund. The fund, which was authorized up to $50 million in the 2007 Arkansas General Assembly, has been “a valuable resource in attracting business,” Harriman said. Most notably, the fund helped bring a Hewlett-Packard operation and an estimated 1,200 jobs to Conway earlier this year.

INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS
Beebe also intends to soon — possibly mailed out today (Dec. 12) — send a letter to President-elect Barack Obama asking him and his new administration to keep fiscally responsible states like Arkansas in mind when crafting federal stimulus bills, Harriman said.

One of those stimulus bills might include an infrastructure stimulus package. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department recently submitted a $1.1 billion ready-to-go projects list for consideration. Of that $1.1 billion, $116 million is for Fort Smith regional projects, including $43.92 million for construction of Interstate 49 through Fort Chaffee and a $53 million rehab of I-540 through Fort Smith. (Link here for more details on the state’s project list.)

Harriman said Beebe, in the letter to the President-elect, simply wants to stress that Arkansas has legitimate highway needs and those needs deserve just as much attention as highway needs in state’s that have not been as fiscally responsible as Arkansas.

TERM LIMITS
When asked if term limits have helped or hurt the Fort Smith region’s participation in the legislative process, Harriman said term limits, overall, are not helpful. He would not comment on the effect of term limits on a specific region, other than to say that once a legislator learns the complexities of state funding, they are often pushed out the door by term limits.

He cites himself as an example. After more than 16 years in the Arkansas Senate and almost two years as chief of staff for Gov. Beebe, Harriman said, “I still learn things every week.”

COMMUNICATION
And how has the wily veteran of a former legislator learned to work from the executive side of government? “Communication,” he said, adding that it took a while to “put on the executive hat” of government, and that there is always room for improvement in the area of communication.

Which brings us back to how communities interact with the office of Gov. Beebe.

Open, consistent and frequent lines of communication from communities are always helpful, Harriman said when asked what a region must do to improve its track record of getting area citizens placed on state boards and commissions.

There have been times, Harriman noted, after Beebe makes an appointment that the governor’s office will hear of a qualified person who was interested but was not considered because that person’s interest was not known.