E-Mailing Poem Costs Arkansas Official Job

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. â€”  Arkansas’ top emergency official resigned Wednesday for e-mailing his 66 employees a poem making fun of immigrants and welfare recipients.

Gov. Mike Huckabee’s office said that it accepted W.R. “Bud� Harper’s apology and resignation.

“The forwarded e-mail was neither humorous nor acceptable,� Huckabee said.

“In spite of all best intentions and dedication, we sometimes make mistakes,� Harper, 72, said in his resignation letter. “Some of these mistakes are so simple that it seems unreal that they can carry us into a situation I must now address.�

Harper, director of the Office of Emergency Management, said earlier that he received the verse, titled “Illegal Poem,� from someone else and sent it along because he found it humorous.

Among the poem’s lines: “Welfare checks, they make you wealthy, Medicaid it keep you healthy.� Another line accuses immigrants of bilking the system: “By and by, I got plenty of money, Thanks to you American dummy.�

A copy of the poem was obtained by Associated Press. Asked about it, Harper initially said he found nothing wrong.

“It was just a poem that I got that I thought was funny and you know how you exchange things with people,� he said.

“I believe in a strong work ethic. Aside from that I have no statement, cause or agenda,� Harper said.

“Whoever got concerned about this really had to reach to find something. I am very sensitive to people and I care about people. There was no intention ... to create any hard feelings.�

Bob Trevino, director of Arkansas’ chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens and Huckabee’s liaison to the Latino community, said the poem was an insult.

“We are not a drain on our community, we add value to our community. I would say to Bud Harper or anyone else out there, ‘Show me how we are a drain on the public rolls,’ � Trevino said.

Huckabee appointed Harper, a former judge, in 1997, praising his work in handling the devastation from a 1996 tornado that killed six people and caused millions of dollars of damage in the Fort Smith area.