Alternet: “One of Gov. Sarah Sanders’ first decisions after her election in 2022 was to undo part of the state government reorganization put in place by her predecessor, Asa Hutchinson. Instead of appointing both a cabinet secretary for the Department of Public Safety and a director of the Arkansas State Police, Sanders gave both jobs to the same man, Mike Hagar.
Thus, Hagar is both a political appointee serving at the pleasure of the governor and a career law enforcement officer commanding state troopers. He is, in essence, his own boss, and as DPS secretary, also oversees the Department of Emergency Management, the Arkansas Crime Lab and the Arkansas Crime Information Center.
What’s happened in the two years since shows why Sanders may have made this choice — and why it’s proven to be a bad idea, with the potential to get even worse.”