LITTLE ROCK — The chief deputy for state Land Commissioner Mark Wilcox said Wednesday that Wilcox fired him because of an article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last month detailing Wilcox’s travel expenses and use of state vehicles.
Bentley Hovis said Wilcox fired him Tuesday.
“I can only repeat what was told, and there was a witness,” Hovis said. “I was told it was my job to protect him. That article embarrassed him and his family, and it was my job to protect him, and I didn’t do that, and since I didn’t do that, my services were no longer needed.”
Wilcox wouldn’t address why Hovis left.
“I’m just going to say the conversation was between me and him,” Wilcox said. “I’m not going to comment on the whole reason of it. Nothing can bring the [article] back. I’m not in an election anymore.”
Wilcox lost the Democratic runoff June 8 for secretary of state to Pulaski County Clerk Pat O’Brien 62 percent to 38 percent. O’Brien had led a three-candidate field in the May 18 preferential primary.
The May 30 article said taxpayers had paid more than $14,000 in fuel over the past22 months for two state vehicles that Wilcox largely uses for personal purposes.
The article also pointed out that Wilcox rarely provided receipts for meals or for out-of-state trips at taxpayers’ expense. On one trip to Alaska, Wilcox and two staff members stayed seven days for a three-day conference.
Wilcox didn’t return messages left him for that article despite consenting to an interview by the newspaper for a separate article that ran that same day about his campaign against O’Brien.
That left Hovis to answer questions posed by the newspaper about his boss’s travel and state-vehicle use. Hovis said Wilcox was busy campaigning.
In the article, Hovis confirmed that Wilcox keeps one of the vehicles, a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, at Wilcox’s farm at Greenbrier.
The newspaper asked Hovis why Wilcox stayed in Anchorage, Alaska, last summer four days longer than a Western State Land Commissioners Association conference lasted. Hovis replied in the article that he didn’t know because he didn’t go.
Hovis said he did nothing wrong in answering the questions about Wilcox.
“I don’t know what he wanted me to do,” Hovis said. “Maybe I assumed he wanted me to lie to [the newspaper]. I don’t know. I don’t know what he was expecting. How am I supposed to protect him from the facts ?”
He added he “wasn’t that surprised” at being fired because it had “probably been building up for a while, I would say.”
As chief deputy, Hovis signed off on Wilcox’s travel expenses, even though Wilcox was his boss. Hovis made $92,000 a year and had been chief deputy since 2003 when Wilcox took office.
Wilcox spoke to the Democrat-Gazette late Tuesday about a different matter but briefly addressed the May 30 article. He said that Hovis had done him no favors in that article. Regarding why he didn’t speak to the newspaper for the article, Wilcox laughed and said it wasn’t necessary because Hovis had spoken plenty for him. But he said he had no problems with Hovis.
He didn’t mention that Hovis’ employment had been terminated about five hours earlier.
On Wednesday, after being asked if Hovis had been fired, Wilcox said he didn’t want to say. He also wouldn’t say whether Hovis’ departure had anything to do with the May 30 article.
“He’s no longer working for us,” Wilcox said. “I’ll just leave that between me and him to protect his professionalism. We left in good friendship. No hard feelings.”
Hovis said the person who witnessed his firing was Laurie Spencer, the office’s director of operations. She declined to comment Wednesday.
Hovis, 44, interviewed at the house he rents in Little Rock’s Hillcrest neighborhood, said he has no immediate job plans.
He worked in the land commissioner’s office from 1990 to 1996 under Charlie Daniels, who is now secretary of state. He then worked for the Arkansas Center for Public Affairs, which was run by former state Sen. Nick Wilson, D-Pocahontas. He later worked for the Arkansas Bankers Association.
Hovis said he met Wilcox in the early 1990s when Wilcox was a county official in Faulkner County. He said Wilcox called him in 2001 and asked him to help him with his campaign for land commissioner. Hovis said he agreed and served in a role similar to a campaign manager for Wilcox’s successful campaign in 2002.
The May 30 article reported other trips Wilcox took on the state dime for association meetings, including Williamsburg, Va.; Bethel, Maine; Santa Fe, N.M; Austin, Texas; and Boise, Idaho.
In February 2008, he was reimbursed $102.78 for a stay at the Wyndham Riverfront hotel in North Little Rock, which is 38 miles from his home. The purpose listed was for Wilcox to attend an Arkansas County Judges Association meeting.
In July 2008, Wilcox stayed in a $240 room at The Peabody in Memphis the night before his flight to Boise.
In August 2009, Wilcox was reimbursed $144.20 for a trip he took to Jonesboro. Wilcox wrote that the purpose of the trip was to attend a birthday party for Arkansas’ U.S. Rep. Marion Berry.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/24/2010