Dear Fort Smith regional legislators:

Dear Fort Smith regional legislators:

Having given up a few years ago on Santa Claus (apparently, the North Pole logistics folks can’t hook a believer up with a few cases of Maker’s Mark), the goal each year is to submit a wish list to a person or persons who don’t have what is, frankly, a creepy interest in sneaking around late at night to win the favor of little boys and girls.

Being thankfully ignorant of any odd predilections among the 11 returning and newly-elected legislators whose district represents all or portions of the Fort Smith region, this essay is a simple, sincere and naive wish list.

• Education and Prisons
The two expensive topics are bottomless pits within black holes in which everything from state court mandates, federal oversight, higher-education fiefdoms and high-school football politics serve to create two tangles for every tangle untangled.

Not sure there is a solution to these issues other than scrapping the systems and starting over again. And we know that ain’t gonna happen.

Without a clear path, please use whatever legislative and leadership skills you have to include more accountability with the amount of money we continue to throw into schools and prisons.

• The Arkansas Lottery
This Ernie Passailaigue fella is a real piece of work. By most accounts, he and his high-paid team were successful in getting the lottery launched in a short period of time. And like Smokey and the Bandit, who also had a “long way to go and a short time to get there,” Passailaigue has played fast and loose with the rules.

Let’s not all pretend to be shocked and alarmed that the overpaid and arrogant top-tier folks running the lottery would ignore a few accounting rules and established personnel policies. The previous Legislature created the just-go-make-it-happen mechanism that allowed the overpaid and arrogant to go forth and quickly capture scholarship money through the lottery. If you put an open flame near gunpowder casks, don’t be surprised when something blows up.

Please use whatever legislative and leadership skills you have to take Ernie’s keys to the Trans Am and bounce him back to the Palmetto State.

• Highways
What a huge sticky wicket this is. Where would we begin? The organization the state uses to manage highways? The politics (highway commission) of the organization? The funding mechanisms? The number of miles of roads in the state highway system? Or maybe the inconsistent funding from the federal government?

This wish list item will not come with any solutions. For many years, state officials and citizens have wrestled with how we manage our road system and how we fund it. Too often, efforts to pursue a more efficient highway management organization/system are pushed aside by prophets of asphalt apocalypse who say potholes, bridges and interstates must be fixed now and can’t wait for a top-to-bottom review of organizational fundamentals.

Just know that any productive pestering of state highway officials about the fundamentals will be appreciated by those of us willing to pay a little more to support highways but would first like to know the system is reasonably efficient.

• Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund
Remember when Ross Perot would talk about the crazy Aunt in the basement who would soon be a problem? Well, for Arkansas, the crazy Aunt is upwards of a $1 billion fix to the fund that pays unemployment benefits.

By the end of 2012, Arkansas may owe the federal government $500 million in unemployment benefit “loans,” with the feds possibly demanding the state create a $500 million reserve in the unemployment insurance fund. The problem is so bad, that even the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce is suggesting a plan that would raise taxes on businesses.

The thing is, the state chamber and labor officials will have to agree on a plan to restore the fund. It’s possible that labor officials will stall, knowing that a pro-union Obama Administration will force a pro-union refunding plan on Arkansas businesses — which is to say, a plan that raises taxes on businesses but does not curtail unemployment benefits.

Republicans and conservative Democrats who promised not to raise taxes may find themselves having to decide between voting for a relatively modest tax increase on businesses or taking their chances with a plan mandated by the federal government.

The simple wish here for area legislators is that they limit — as much as possible — federal government dictates.

• Quick Action Closing Fund
It’s a $50 million fund that Gov. Mike Beebe has used to recruit new companies to the state and retain existing industry. Mitsubishi and Mars Petcare are just a couple of examples of how the fund has benefited this region.

Please use whatever legislative and leadership skills you have to ensure this successful economic development tool continues.

• Redistricting
It’s that time again to redraw legislative and Congressional districts. There are typically three ways to redraw political boundaries; the way that best serves incumbents, the way that best serves the party in power, and the way that best serves citizens.

Please use whatever legislative and leadership skills you have to keep a close eye on the process.

• Term limits
Arkansas has one of the most restrictive term-limit laws in the country. For those of you who appreciate bureaucrats and lobbyists having more power, the law has worked well. One of the ironies of Arkansas politics is that the most ardent supporters of term limits are those who argue the loudest that government be run more like a business.

Please find some political backbone and push for an amendment to lengthen legislative terms to at least 10 years in the House and 12 years in the Senate.

• No silly politics
It will certainly be tempting for the historically large Republican contingent in the Arkansas House and Senate to flex a little political muscle. The hope is that the flexing is practical and productive rather than petty posturing. We need you to simply mind the store.

Already, we have one Republican legislator-elect wanting to change the state motto. Look, we don’t have time for a lot of nonsense. We may or may not be coming out of a deep recession. There are some big picture issues that should consume 99% of your agenda. We really don’t have time for the silly partisan games and posturing we see in Washington. Just mind the store.

Republicans indeed have a great chance to create a healthy, two-party system. They’ll blow the chance if they get too far off into symbolism at the expense of substance. Arkansas voters will see through silly politics, and punish the participants in 2012.

The literal bottom line to the above rambling is a simple wish that you please use your legislative and leadership skills to just mind the store for this one session.