Now Mr. “Shameless” Broadway may be a very nice fellow. You know all the criteria; attends church regularly, doesn't beat his wife, his dog likes him, and the Jehovah Witnesses think he's just grand. But I really have no knowledge of the man other than he has just joined the “Another Good Old Boy Politician's Club”. Actually he may have been a life long member but just this week he “came out of the closet” so to speak and made everyone aware of this.
He's a long time politician; in a former life he was Speaker of the House and also a Senator. An up and coming political star who had the bad luck to be a Democrat running for Lt. Gov during the height of the “TEA Party” excitement last year. He had been a Senator in the state legislature and decided to run for Lt. Governor for some reason or other. [Maybe as a stepping stone to higher political office? But I'm a shameless cynic.)
Well, having found himself unemployed and looking for some type of public payroll at which to feed, his old buddy Mike Beebe, some of you may recognize him as the Governor of the state of Arkansas, appoints Mr. “Shameless” Broadway to be a deputy commissioner in the state's Department of Higher Education. As luck would have it, the number one man resigns and moves onto another state and suddenly Mr. “Shameless” Broadway's star rises as he is selected by his old crony Gov. Beebe to be the INTERIM Director of the Department of Higher Education for the entire State of Arkansas.
There are a couple of perks with this job beside getting a state car. He also is paid pretty handsomely out of the citizens' taxes plus he is in charge of distributing all that lottery money for education. Not that he would attempt to personally persuade the electorate that it's his personal generosity that's giving money to your kid to attend college. Not even Mr. “Shameless” Broadway would be that shameless, would he?
But now a new wrinkle, thanks to his old crony Gov. Beebe. The Gov. has asked that his “good old friend” Mr. “Shameless” Broadway be made the PERMANENT Director of the Department of Higher Education. Nothing wrong here; of course it smells bad, looks bad, and makes some of us just a little irate. But still, worse things can happen in politics.
Except that buried in the Arkansas law is some particularly specific criteria for the office. To wit, Arkansas Code Annotated 6-61-203 states some specific qualifications for the position. For example, “The director shall be an experienced educator in the field of higher education who must have relevant experience on a campus of higher education.” Now Mr. “Shameless” Broadway does have a bachelor's degree in [can you guess what discipline?] Political Science! The pesky law also states, “the director be chosen through a search and selection process.”
And what is Mr. “Shameless” Broadway's response to these pesky laws? He opines that the words are “just semantics”. He explained it all away by the fact that in the legislature he had worked very closely with the heads of the colleges and universities in the state; thus he has the requisite experience.
If working closely with a college or university head or group qualifies you for the above criteria, then a nurse is qualified to be a physician; a waitress qualified to be a chef; I'm qualified to be an auto mechanic because I have intimate relations with my automobile [you know what I mean].
The Attorney General, Dustin McDaniel, is alleged to be OK with all of this. Where's Barney when you really need him? He may not have been anymore competent than McDaniel, but Barney at least sure loved enforcin' the law.
Oh come on now Shirley, everybody understands who Barney is/was. You know Barney, the deputy in Andy's Mayberry. Gheez, give me a break!
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