The above appears to be a fax copy of the e-mail that was sent to chamber members by Tom Daniel.

The letter following appears to be a draft of the response e-mail that was sent by Ken Carney to chamber members and others.

October 21, 2008

Dear Chamber Member:

I apologize for having to involve you in this exchange but I feel that a letter you received yesterday must be answered.  I was appalled to see that my opponent for city director district six has attacked my profession, and that it is evident he does not have a clue as to how many business skills it takes to run a church, a district, or a university.  I sit on all of those boards and the combined total of finances we deal with runs into the tens of millions of dollars.  You don’t get elected or invited to serve on those boards without proper education and business experience.  Further note that I have been a part of managing budgets and construction projects for thirty plus years.  I have managed building hundreds of buildings in third world countries and also managed several major building projects in the USA.  If you would like to see one of them drop by 3804 Central Avenue and I will gladly give you a tour of one of the most amazing facilities in all of Hot Springs.  Needless to say you don’t oversee projects like these without some type of business management skill.  Not only do I have experience overseeing budgets and construction projects but I have also managed thousands of volunteers and paid staff.  By the way, churches do have payrolls and do pay payroll taxes.  I have been operations manager for a national company, and we have owned two businesses. Therefore we know well the strain of budgets and payrolls.

It sounds like my opponent thinks being a minister, and not a businessman disqualifies me for office.  It sounds like my opponent thinks being a minister has nothing to do with being a business man, in reality it requires marketing, promoting and fiscal oversight.  As a point of reference, the letter you received from my opponent reminds me of the time he was in the board chambers and a veteran chastised him for his outright disrespect and prejudgment of one of our citizens who was trying to give their honest opinion.  He has made a judgment of me without even knowing who I am and what I have done.  Being a minister is a servant of the people, and that is just the kind of leadership we need on the city board.  I am running for office as a private citizen.  Hopefully no one will be disqualified from this privilege because of their chosen profession. I am truly amazed at the lack of civility in our government, and that is one of the main reasons I am running for office.

Also, my wife and I have supported Hot Springs in many tangible ways.  We are Therapeutic Foster Parents-helping Hot Springs one child at a time; we support the Lupus foundation, the alcohol and drug coalition, etc.  We also were very involved in relief for the Katrina victims, and the list goes on and on.

Another thing you need to know is that I am not opposed to business or tourism as my opponent has openly stated. That is far from the truth. It sounds like my opponent is desperate and has to attack my abilities and profession.  This is sad.  If you want change, and live in district 6…then vote for me.  I am the only qualified candidate for change.  I look forward to working with all of the businesses in Hot Springs after winning the election.  If you have any questions about my qualifications and ability to be a city board member please call me at 655-2933 or write me at [email-masked].

Thank you for your time,

Ken Carney, Candidate for City Director District Six