Well, I think that . . . we are lagging right now in appointments of
minorities to boards and commissions and I think we could increase this
and I plan to do so. When I'm talking about minorities I'm not just
talking about blacks. I'm talking about women, also. But basically, by
forcing, if necessary, these folks to sit down and talk to each other.
And I think through the governor's office I can do this. I see so many
businesspeople talk about how bad labor is and they've never met anyone
or really talked to anyone about labor, about their problems. I mean,
labor people talk about business folks. And there's not any
communication. I hope we can do it. I hope, too, that industrially I can
look back and say that at least I had a part in leading our state, in
being very selective as to the type of industry, the type of business
that we brought into the state. Because we're at the stage now where we
can be very selective.
Just a few weeks ago there was a plant in Pine Bluff which announced that
it was not going to come. It was a smelter plant.
They announced that they were not going to locate in Pine Bluff,
Arkansas, Well, a lot of people, gloom and doom and all like that. Well,
frankly, it upset me none. One, I thought it was going to be a very
serious problem of pollution on the Arkansas River. It was going to be a
serious problem, eventually, of air pollution. I've never seen or heard
of a smelter plant that did not have some pollution problem along with
it. And frankly, I say, well, if they don't want to come that's fine. We
can afford to be very, very selective about it. And there'll be someone
else and I think there'll be someone else down the track that will
recognize the responsibilities of citizenship in this state. These are
just wild thoughts that seem to me . . .