'Ridiculous' plan
Dear editor:
Regarding the Jan. 15 article "State buys land to protect thermal springs":
Does anyone besides me realize the absurdity of this? Geologists universally explain that rain that falls today doesn't surface on Hot Springs Mountain until 4,000 years from now. So the state is spending a million dollars of taxpayers' money so that people living 4,000 years in the future will enjoy the Hot Springs. Now, don't get me wrong, I do believe it's proper that our government should spend money and resources to ensure our environment is protected but isn't this going beyond ridiculous? If you believe even a little of the current "climate change" hysteria the planet will be unsustainable in, 10, 20 or 100 years anyway, so why is the state of Arkansas spending a million dollars to prevent what happens 4,000 years from now?
Dave Hulett
Hot Springs
Arkansas' future?
Dear editor:
To Jan Morgan:
I guess you are hoping that you will become the next governor of Arkansas. Well, I have a few questions that most Arkansas folks want answered.
1.) Since your core belief is less government, how do you propose we pay for much-needed infrastructure such as the levee crisis without raising taxes or federal financial assistance?
2.) What is your vision for Arkansas in the next 10 years? How will you accomplish it without raising taxes or federal assistance?
3.) Why do you believe you are the most qualified person to be the next governor?
4.) Since you are financially well off from your business as well as other sources, will you donate your governor's salary to local charities just like President Trump?
I think these four questions are fair and honest. We, good folks of Arkansas, look forward to your answers.
Michael Lucas
Hot Springs
Job misinformation
Dear editor:
Lately, there have been a couple of letters containing some misinformation about the federal executive branch employment laws. (It should be noted that the judicial and legislative branches and the military use a different system.)
During the term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, there was a great deal of controversy about federal employee hiring being contaminated with favoritism and nepotism. The Hatch Act, An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, was passed in 1939 to protect some federal employees from political pressure, partly by dividing those employees into two major categories
Those in the lower levels (GS 1-16 and Wage Board) are secure in their employment, needing extensive and highly regulated procedures for their removal. They are prohibited by law from participating from partisan political activity.
Those in the senior executive service, by definition, serve "at the pleasure of the President." Appointment at the upper levels is required by the Constitution (Article 2, Section 2) to be approved by a vote of the Senate. These employees may be fired for any reason the president chooses. He does not need the approval of anyone else. Every employee in the SES tenders his/her resignation before every inauguration; the president has the option of accepting or declining those resignations and he may fire them at will at any time.
The president also needs a senior staff that cooperates in carrying out the policies that he was elected to implement -- a staff that will not counter or impede the implementation of those policies.
It has long been recognized that the president needs to get the best advice he can from his chosen employees. It is therefore necessary that those giving advice to the president feel free to be open and honest. These brainstorming sessions might be one-on-one or in a group. The members must feel free to give honest opinions, even joking a bit or using irony to relax tensions, and not be subject to the fear that, someone later, ignoring the full context of the meeting, reveal what was said and make ill use of it. For this reason, the policy of executive privilege, making private any conversation between the president and his advisers, was formalized and has been upheld by the Supreme Court. This is why presidential advisers may not and should not be required to testify without the express consent of the president.
P.S.: Federal employees in both categories may informally be divided into two other categories: Civil servants, who are very conscientious and worth every cent they are paid, if not more; and bureaucrats, who merely occupy their positions and aren't worth powder and shot to blow them to the nether regions.
Pat King
Hot Springs
Editorial on 01/18/2020