Wednesday’s ceremony in which Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced her appointment of Brandon Adams to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was bizarre.
Conspicuously, Game and Fish Director Austin Booth did not speak at the event. I have covered 18 such appointments made by four governors and spanning six directors. It is customary for the agency’s top administrative official to welcome the new commissioner to the board. It’s an opportunity for the director to articulate the agency’s mission and to articulate the state’s constitutional mandate for the new commissioner’s responsibilities.
Wednesday’s event was the first time in my memory that the director did not make any remarks. Booth, an attorney and a former officer in the United States Marine Corps, has as dry of a poker face as I’ve seen, but his expression and demeanor looked as if he was slighted.
People talk in the aftermath of such events. We’ve heard several theories about why Booth was omitted from the program, but we are unable to confirm any of them. The only consensus opinion is that it made almost everybody present feel uncomfortable.
Also curious was the fact that nobody introduced the other members of the commission, all of whom were present, at the beginning of the ceremony. That is the group, after all, that the new commissioner is joining. For them to sit unrecognized at the governor’s right hand so late into the program was just weird. Commission chairman Stan Jones finally introduced them near the end of the program, but it looked like inviting Jones to speak was an afterthought.
Even more curious were Adams’ comments following the ceremony. Adams said he did not ask for the appointment and that he did not expect it. He said he was on vacation when Sanders offered him the post, and that her offer surprised him.
Apparently, Sanders is the only person who wasn’t surprised by Adams’ appointment.
The latest vacancy on the Game and Fish Commission, created by the expiration of Bobby Martin’s term, had to be filled by someone from Arkansas’ Third Congressional District. Two other candidates from Northwest Arkansas were very interested in the position, but the governor chose a person who said he never asked to be considered.
Furthermore, candidates for the Game and Fish Commission customarily complete a form that details their interest in the position, their competency for the position, and their qualifications for the position. Most importantly, it compels candidates to disclose real or potential conflicts of interest.
We remember one candidate during Gov. Mike Beebe’s administration who omitted a glaring financial conflict of interest. Beebe found out about it a couple of weeks before he was to appoint the guy and summoned him for a classic Beebe “come to Jesus” meeting. Beebe gave him a choice. Give up the financial interest in the agency or give up the appointment. The financial interest was substantial, so the individual withdrew himself from consideration.
It requires a willing suspension of disbelief, to quote a prominent former Arkansas First Lady, to accept that Sanders did not thoroughly evaluate Adams before offering him one of the most desirable assignments in Arkansas government.
Adams impressed us as an earnest and highly capable individual who grasps and appreciates the agency’s mission. He hunts and fishes, which makes him a consumer of the commission’s products and an active participant in its mission. He creates wildlife habitat with his own money, which demonstrates that he is personally invested in the commission’s mission. He appears to understand how the commission works. Adams impressed other members of the commission, and several expressed sincere approval that he has joined their number.
Good choices are a product of due diligence and an established process. We trust that the governor did her due diligence with Adams, even if it appears that she didn’t.
