My supporters were ecstaticAfter a long,...
My supporters were ecstaticAfter a long, history-making campaign, they had every right to their raucous celebrationBy contrast, I was feeling strangely subduedI was happy but didnt feel like gloating over my victoryI didnt blame Frank White for beating me last time or for wanting to be governor againLosing had been my faultWhat I mostly felt on election night, and for days afterward, was a deep, quiet gratitude that the people of the state I loved so much were willing to give me another chanceI was determined to vindicate their judgment

O n January 11, 1983, I took the oath of office for the second time, before the largest crowd ever to attend an inauguration in our stateThe celebrants had brought me back from the political grave, and their support would keep me in the governors office for ten more years, the longest period I ever stayed in one job

The challenge I faced was to keep my promise to be more responsive to the people while maintaining my commitment to move our state forwardThe task was complicated, and made more important, by the dismal state of the economyThe states unemployment rate was 10In replica tiffany jewelry December, as governor-elect, I had gone to Trumann, in northeast Arkansas, to shake hands with six hundred workers at the Singer Plant, which had made wooden cabinets for sewing machines for decades, as they walked out of the plant for the last timeThe plant closing, one of many we had endured over the last two years, dealt a body blow to the economy of Poinsett County and had a discouraging impact on the whole stateI can still see the look of despair on so many of the Singer workers facesThey knew that they had worked hard, and that their livelihoods were being swept away by forces beyond their control

Another consequence of the poor economy was a falloff in state revenues, leaving too little money for education and other essential servicesIt was clear to me that, if we were going to get out of this fix, I had to focus the states attention, and mine, on education and employmentFor the next decade, thats what I didEven when my administration took important initiatives in health care, the environment, prison reform, and other areas, or in appointing more minorities and women to important positions, I tried never black chanel handbag to let the spotlight stray too far from schools and jobsThey were the keys to opportunity and empowerment for our people, and to maintaining the political support I needed to keep pursuing positive changesI had learned in my first term that if you give equal time to all the things you do, you run the risk of having everything become a blur in the publics mind, leaving no clear impression that anything important was being doneMy longtime friend George Frazier from Hope once told an interviewer, If he has a flaw, and we all do, I think Bills flaw is that he sees so much that needs to be doneI never cured that flaw, and I kept trying to do a lot, but for the next decade I focused most of my energy, and my public statements, on schools and jobs

Betsey Wright had done such a good job with the campaign that I was convinced she could manage the governors officeIn the beginning I also asked Maurice Smith to serve as executive secretary, to add some maturity to the mix and to ensure cordial relations with the senior legislators, lobbyists, and power brokersI had a strong education team with Paul Root, my former world chanel quilted bags history teacher, and Don ErnstMy legal counsel, Sam Bratton, who had been with me in the attorney generals office, was also an expert in education law

Carol Rasco became my aide for health and human servicesHer qualifications were rooted in experience: Her older child, Hamp, was born with cerebral palsyShe fought for his educational and other rights, and in the process acquired a detailed knowledge of state and federal programs for the disabled

I persuaded Dorothy Moore, from Arkansas City in deep southeast Arkansas, to greet people and answer phones in the reception areaMiss Dorothy was already in her seventies when she started, and she stayed until I left the governors officeFinally, I got a new secretaryBarbara Kerns had had enough of politics and stayed behind at the Wright firmIn early 1983, I hired Lynda Dixon, who took care of me for a decade and continued to work in my Arkansas office when I became President

My most notable appointment was Mahlon Martin as director of finance and administration, arguably the most important job in state government after the governorshipBefore I appointed him, Mahlon was deville watch city manager of Little Rock, and a very good oneHe was black, and an Arkansan through and throughhe always wanted to take the first day of deer season off from workIn tough times, he could be creative in finding solutions to budget problems, but he was always fiscally responsibleIn one of our two-year budget cycles in the 1980s, he had to cut spending six times to balance the books

Shortly after I became President, Mahlon began a long, losing battle against cancerIn June 1995, I went back to Little Rock to dedicate the Mahlon Martin Apartments for low-income working peopleMahlon died two months after the dedicationI never worked with a more gifted public servant

Betsey saw to it that my time was scheduled differently than it had been in my first termI had been perceived as being inaccessible then, in part because I accepted so many daytime speaking engagements out in the stateNow I spent more time in the office and more personal time with legislators when they were in session, including after-hours card games I really enjoyedWhen I did attend out-of-town events, it was usually at the request of one of my louis vuitton miroir support