FARGO — For now, Gov. Mike Beebe doesn't plan to hire any employees for the state's 4-year-old office in Washington.
He said Friday that he plans to sublease some of the office's space to the Delta Regional Authority to defray some of the office's cost. The state pays $3,742 a month to lease the office, according to the state Department of Finance and Administration.
In February, Beebe said he likely would trim the office to two or three employees. It had operated with five under former Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Beebe discussed the officein an interview after speaking at the Arkansas Land and Farm Development Corp.'s annual conference in Fargo.
It's an experiment for the governor's office to operate without staff members in Washington, he said.
"If we don't need it, why waste the taxpayers' dollars and put somebody in there and fill it?" Beebe said. "But right now, based on what is happening in Washington, what is coming down and what we are able to do, we have been able to address most of the issues, virtually all the issues, that we needed to do with our [congressional] delegation."
The National Governors Association also has helped the governor's office stay abreast of matters in the capital, he said.
Beebe is a Democrat. Five of Arkansas' six U.S. Senate and House members are Democrats.
Beebe declined to specify a deadline for a final decision about the future of the Washington office.
The governor's office "sought some interest" for its possible jobs in Washington during the first few months of this year but never offered any jobs or entered into "a formal interview process," Beebe said.
Beebe spokesman Matt De-Cample said the salary ranges for the positions weren't decided.
When Huckabee opened the Washington office in 2003, he said it wouldn't cost taxpayers additional money.
In 2005, the Legislature approved legislation to give Huckabee five more positions to replace four that he shifted to his Washington office and one that was financed by the then-Employment Security Department.
The Washington office was led by Jason Brady, campaign manager for Huckabee's 2002 re-election bid. As attorney general, Beebe said it was illegal to pay Brady for Washington office work from a special fund of the Employment Security Department.
The legislation OK'd by the Legislature moved Brady's position onto the governor's office payroll.
Last year, a Huckabee aide told lawmakers that the office in the nation's capital had helped secure more than $26.8 million from the federal government for Arkansans.
Richard Weiss, director of the state Department of Finance and Administration, said Friday that he doesn't know how much the state spent on the office in the last fiscal year under Huckabee.
Huckabee, a former chairman of the National Governors Association, is seeking the Republican nomination for president.
A former Huckabee spokesman, Rex Nelson, who is alternate federal co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority, said this week that the authority plans to sublease some space in the Washington office because the authority needs more space.
"We have a room meant for one with two full-time staff members now," he said.
Also, people from the authority's Mississippi office often are in Washington on business, he said.
DeCample said the state plans to begin subleasing space in the Washington office to the authority in January but details haven't been finished.
U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Little Rock and U.S. Rep. Marion Berry of Gillett, both Democrats, said Friday that they'll work closely with Beebe no matter what he decides about the Washington office.
Arkansas, Pages 13, 15 on 10/27/2007