LITTLE ROCK — Please make note of an inauspicious beginning in the four year term of Secretary of State Mark Martin.
Make a note because, as previously reported, I won’t be here to remind you of the high-handedness involved in that beginning or to point out any future liberties that Martin might take with the public trust. I expect to be hearing of some.
Of course, high-handedness isn’t the only word that comes to mind. Among the others words, at least those that might be appropriate for a family newspaper, are self-indulgence, cronyism and arrogance.
Furthermore, any member of a public board or commission who spends more than a third of a pool of money allocated for one purpose on others without the knowledge or acquiescence of fellow board members is nothing if not presumptuous.
Let us just revisit the story circulated this week by The Associated Press:
“Secretary of State Mark Martin got an early start in his role in redrawing legislative district boundaries, so much so that the governor and attorney general said Wednesday that Martin should have waited until they met before hiring staff and buying a car.
“Martin, a Republican, met with Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, both Democrats, in the first meeting of the Board of Apportionment, the panel that will assemble the new district lines. Martin watched while Beebe and McDaniel voted to offer the coordinator’s job to a candidate recommended to them, Joe Woodson.
“This put Martin in a difficult spot because he had already hired for the post former state Rep. Timothy Hutchinson, a son of former Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson.
“Martin said after the meeting that he believes he’ll be able to retain Timothy Hutchinson, even if Woodson indeed accepts the job to coordinate the redrawing of Arkansas’ 100 House and 35 Senate districts. . . .
“Martin has spent about $70,000 of the $200,000 allocated for redistricting, money that came from Beebe’s emergency fund. More money may be available from a supplemental appropriation and the board is to receive continued funding when the 2012 fiscal year begins July 1. The governor said Martin may have to cover some of what he spent from his own budget.
“Martin spokesman Alice Stewart confirmed that Martin hired De Queen-based Legacy Consulting Inc .,run by a former campaign worker for former Gov. Mike Huckabee. A registered lobbyist report from 2008 shows Doug Matayo having a role in the firm. Matayo is Martin’s chief deputy, but Stewart said Matayo has done no lobbying since being hired by Martin.
McDaniel said several times he had no complaint about Martin’s actions and praised his office’s staff. Beebe said the board needs to sort out how the money was spent.
“ ‘Nobody is trying to embarrass anybody. Like the attorney general said, nobody is claiming it was inappropriate action from the standpoint of any bad intent. It just may have been not knowing,’ Beebe said after the meeting.
“ ‘But there was a car bought that’s kind of ironic,’ the governor added with a laugh, several months distant from a flap over state vehicles that led to an overhaul of how the state’s fleet is distributed. ‘There was a consulting contract in there. I don’t know what that’s for.’ “Plus, there’s the matter of Hutchinson’s hiring, he said. . . .”
According to the Arkansas Times, a report from the state Department of Finance and Administration showed that Martin’s expenditures included $19,000 to Legacy Consulting, a De Queen-based professional firm; $6,473 to Hutchinson; $26,629 to Lewis Ford in Fayetteville for the vehicle; and $10,553 for furniture (a purchase that was made by former Secretary of State Charlie Daniels, according to Stewart). Other money went for office rental and $1,117 in contributions to Hutchinson’s state retirement benefits.
Oh, by the way, Matayo, a Republican, is a former state representative from Springdale.
Kinda sorry I’m not going to be around for this ride. It’s shaping up to be a wild and woolly one.
But not, here’s hoping, one reminiscent of the late Bill McCuen’s, who as secretary of state set a new low in what is supposed to be public service. But it may take the watchful eye of the public to make certain. You’ve been warned.
Associate Editor Meredith Oakley is editor of the Voices page.
Editorial, Pages 17 on 03/18/2011