Lynch Pen Get all the facts before making decisions

To the best of my knowledge there is no law against being stupid. If there is no one has used it to incarcerate me for many of my decisions over the years. Mind you that is not an excuse, nor even an admission of guilt, just a fact that how bad or good my decisions were depends on where I made them, who is (or was) the judge of the decision and the final outcome of the event. Maybe we should use a phrase such as “careless in omission of getting all the facts,” but the final analysis says it is stupid to make a decision without having all the information needed to make the best possible decision. Please tell me, is it careless or is it stupid to rush into a decision and overlook information easily available that might have, or should have, affected the final outcome regardless ofwho does it?

In industry, my positions required that I make decisions and the responsibility lay on my shoulders to assess the available information and make sure it was complete before the decision was made. Part of that information included determining the consequences of being wrong - would it lead to injury, a lawsuit or a penalty to the company, etc. An awfully lot of every major decision required old fashioned “commonsense” like we were taught on the farm. In industry the “cost” of a bad decision was not determined by the news media, but the outcome was available to your superiors who determined your salary and even your future with the company.

And, part of their assessment was the effect on the company’s P & L statement, if any. The larger the cost of the bad decision, the more attention a wrong choice received. That world is perhaps easier to deal with because we weren’t working for a voting public which is subject to coverage of the incident (decision) by media bias or media limitation. What society will never fully grasp is whether media drives the polls or the polls drive the way the media presents the facts.

We are facing a runoff election for the position of Benton County’s chief executive, the county judge. The voters of Benton County overlooked a candidate with 10 years county government experience and twice that much time as an executive at a major Benton County employerand chose an incumbent with a recent history of “careless decisions” and an individual with no county political experience. The question for those of us who believe experience in county government has value is “how do we put the ‘careless decisions’ of Judge Bisbee’s office into perspective” in the runoff election? Does the financial loss to the county outweigh the experience Judge Bisbee brings to the table or is this part of the educational process? Does the legal issue rise to the point of criminal intent or does the level (misdemeanor) of the violation put it in the category of jaywalking or criminal trespassing?

When considering the decision making process exhibited in Washington, the kinds of things that come to mind are the likes of the Alaskan bridge to nowhere, the healthcare bill’s Louisiana Purchase and some of the military purchases such as the plain hammer purchased under a pseudonym pushing the price upwards of $100. Does that kind of decision ever get anyone prosecuted? These “activities” are quickly forgotten in the wake of new “news” and you have to go on the internet to find the long forgotten details because they are history. Is thenews media providing all the motivation for this Benton County situation or is there a reason to believe Dave Bisbee is guilty of a serious crime? Until Bisbee is actually found guilty of a misdemeanor rather than an ethical violation, he is actually still innocent except in the media.

The alternative is someone who by his own admission doesn’t have much experience in government.

The benefit of his selection of a mentor depends on your own view of the administration which preceded Bisbee. The late Travis Harp proved to be a significant force in the administration, but he is not available.

Wasn’t it Forest Gump’s mother whose words of wisdom included “life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get” and “stupid is as stupid does”’? I wonder what words of wisdom she would have for us in this situation.

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Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected]. The opinions of the writer are his own, and are not necessarily those of The TIMES.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 05/26/2010