Politics and progress

guest commentary by Emon Mahony Jr.

Fort Smith has a carefully nurtured reputation as being anti-government, with the anti becoming increasingly strident as the government is geographically or politically separated. Much hand wringing and lamenting has accompanied the various harmful manifestations of this phenomenon, all to no avail.
 
What would you have us do instead?

Fair question. The short answer is to have someone take a crash course from Uvalde Lindsay, and do for the Fort Smith region what he did for Northwest Arkansas. What did he (with help) do? The first and most important thing was to get the chamber crowd, the political people (both elected and party types) and the economic stakeholders to work together for the common benefit of their region. This means recruiting of the best political candidates and actually working for the region on a bipartisan basis.

When the local interests are united, it is so, so easy for your United States Congressman and Senators to be totally supportive of the region’s desires. And how easy is it for the governor to support and work hard for a project when the whole region, regardless of political affiliation, is supportive?

Bottom line: do any of us think political affiliation is more important than real economic progress?
 
OK, all of that is a little vague. Let’s go through a few concrete examples. Let’s start with a real easy one. Water. We all have water problems, and we daily make them worse by refusing to cooperate. Water quality in LeFlore County is horrible, and supplies are limited. Charleston is out, and Fort Smith officials have been churlish about sharing, even though it is unquestionably in their own best interest. Sequoyah County water is in short supply and of bad quality. Crawford County has a well deserved reputation of being obsessed with controlling their own water, regardless of the environmental consequences or the cost.

What should we do? First, place responsible citizens on water-related state boards in both states and listen to their advice. Create a bi-state water commission with representation from all affected counties; make water sharing at a fair price mandatory across state lines and city and county boundaries. Cause this group to select the next large project for the area, and begin working with Federal water and environmental officials to make the project happen. Again, if you are united, support will be forthcoming. If not, help will be difficult. How easy will it be to get federal and state(s) support if the region is united on a project and commits for the various shares of financing?
 
What did the Fayetteville/Springdale/ Rogers/ Bentonville area do when it realized it needed vital infrastructure improvements? They joined hands through an organization, selected a regional site for an airport and built it. They have done the same for Highway 71, and for 412.

How did they do it? Three consecutive highway Commission appointments for their area took them a long way toward their goal. How did they get such clout to get the appointments? Easy, they all worked together on a bipartisan basis to get it. They have made it known to gubernatorial candidates for the last 30 years that they remember how well Little Rock works with them, and their votes for statewide candidates have something to do with how well the region is treated by the candidates. To the contrary, if it is well known that a region will vote for the candidate of a particular political party, regardless, then where is the bargaining power to secure help from the state? Arguably, there is little incentive for the candidate to commit to anything if the vote is not affected by the action.
 
As many of you know, I now live in El Dorado. We have a highway commissioner because it is not certain who the county will vote for in advance, and the whole county worked together on a bipartisan basis to get a commissioner. That commissioner operates on a non-partisan basis, solely in the public interest.

Again, when the county became a critical groundwater area and sacrifices had to be made and additional supplies had to be obtained, all worked together to get that accomplished. State and Federal funding were sought and obtained. The help of the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission was sought, obtained, and their advice was taken. They additionally worked with the Corps of Engineers and the USGS in structuring their project, securing funding, and expediting construction. Most importantly, they taxed themselves to show they were doing their part when they were asking others for assistance.
 
Why do the counties on top of the mountain regularly get commissioners and roads and we (in the Fort Smith area) do without both? Because our votes are known and theirs are not. Because they work together as a region and we do not. Because governors know that highways are a priority to the whole region, and that they cast their votes according to how they are treated by governors.
 
We do have a new chamber executive in Fort Smith who can lead or strongly support many of these efforts. He has hands-on experience in dealing with these matters and can lead if the region will get behind him and support his efforts.

Equally important, regardless of what anyone thinks of government in general and governments in particular, Fort Smith needs to adjust its attitude to resolve to work together as a region with city, state and federal governmental bodies to accomplish its goals. That will require participation of Fort Smith citizens on State Boards and Commissions. That will require those same leaders to regularly meet, discuss priorities, and communicate them to politicians. Measures to show concrete regional support for projects need to be implemented. The way to start is for those who are in fact leaders in the community to resolve to roll up their sleeves, resolve to get their hands dirty if need be, and work together on a bipartisan basis to help the region. The time to start is the day before yesterday.

As a final example, I am told that there are opportunities for all of the water serving areas in the region to interconnect and help others in times of need, and to sequentially or jointly build new storage projects instead of overbuilding. Imagine the relief and pleasure with which such acts would be received in Little Rock, Oklahoma City and Washington! Pretend you are a public servant in one of those cities. Would it be easier to help if such were to occur? You bet! Do it.

Emon Mahony served as president of Fort Smith-based Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corp. from 1977 to 1996, and was a long-time board member of Little Rock-based Alltel Corp. He most recently served on the three-member transition team for Gov. Mike Beebe. Mahony was a commissioner on the Arkansas-Oklahoma River Compact Commission, and served as a senior aide from 1968 to 1975 for U.S. Sen. John McClellan, D-Ark. Mahony, who is also a member of the U.S. Marshals Museum board of directors, now lives in El Dorado where he helps manage a family business.