LITTLE ROCK — The chairman of the University of Arkansas board of trustees said he has talked with another trustee and state Sen. Gilbert Baker of Conway about the possibility of Baker working for the University of Arkansas System as a lobbyist after Baker departs the Legislature at the end of this year.
Board Chairman Mike Akin of Monticello described the idea of Baker working for the UA System as a “concept” that trustee John Goodson of Texarkana asked him about, but for which no salary has been discussed nor a final decision made.
“Nothing has been decided,” he aid Friday in an interview. “It’s purely exploration at this stage. I don’t know if it’s a good fit for the system.”
Baker, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said he doesn’t know what he’s going to do after his legislative service ends later this year, but that he hears the question about plans three times a day.
He has been asked, he said, whether he will work on something related to tort reform in the 2013 Legislature, raise money for a foundation or work for a higher-education institution - not necessarily as a lobbyist.
“Everybody has an idea what Gilbert should do, and Gilbert doesn’t know what Gilbert should do,” Baker said. “There are a lot of things on the radar screen, nothing formal and nothing definitive.”
Baker has pushed for the Legislature to enact a cooling-off period of a year or two between a lawmaker’s departure from office and work as a lobbyist. Last year, the Legislature enacted a law that prohibited legislators from registering as lobbyists until they have been out of office one year, but lawmakers such as Baker who aren’t seeking re-election this year are exempt from the law.
The UA System needs someone familiar with the Legislature and the UA System to act as “a conduit” and increase the trust level in what has been an era of generally flat state appropriations for higher-education institutions, Akin said.
The system doesn’t have “a per se lobbyist,” he said, but “a myriad of representation” that includes chancellors of its campuses, UA-Fayetteville Vice Chancellor for Government and Community Relations Richard Hudson and UA System Vice President for University Relations Melissa Rust.
Akin, a Republican who is vying with Democratic state Rep. Eddie Cheatham of Crossett for a state Senate seat in the Nov. 6 general election, emphasized that his discussions about the possibility of the UA System hiring Baker, a former chairman of the state Republican Party, have nothing to do with his bid for the state Senate.
Goodson could not be reached for comment Thursday and Friday at his office.
Baker has had “informal discussions” with Akin and Goodson about the possibility of working for the UA System, and he’s “trying to keep all options open in the public sector and private sector.”
In response to public records request filed Monday by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, UA System spokesman Ben Beaumont said Friday that none of the system’s 10 trustees has copies of any correspondence with any state lawmaker since Jan. 1.
Gov. Mike Beebe, who appointed Goodson to the UA System board in April of 2011, said Friday that he’s “heard that discussion” about the possibility of the UA System hiring Baker.
“Somebody, frankly, may have asked me about it,” he said. “That’s their decision. I wouldn’t be pushing that one way or the other.”
Beebe, a Democrat, said he doesn’t recall who asked him about the idea.
“I can’t remember if it was Goodson or Baker or another trustee,” he said. He said he thought he heard about the idea after this year’s fiscal session ended.
“We’ve heard he was seeking employment, after the Legislature, in higher education. And I haven’t heard exclusively it was the UA, either. I even heard some UCA [University of Central Arkansas] stuff,” Beebe said.
From 1978-2000, Baker was a music professor, adviser and administrator at UCA.
Baker said he hasn’t talked with Beebe about the possibility of working for the UA System, but “I share the governor’s passion for higher ed.”
UCA President Tom Courtway said he’s had a few informal discussions with Baker about his future, but they haven’t talked about a specific job.
Senate President Pro Tempore Paul Bookout, a Democrat from Jonesboro, said he told UA System President Donald Bobbitt months ago that Baker “would be good for higher ed somewhere down the road.”
He made “a general comment” about Baker, he said, that wasn’t aimed at pressuring UA System officials to hire Baker.
Bobbitt could not be reached for comment Friday.
Randy Zook, president and chief executive officer for the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, said there have been discussions in the business community about organizing an effort to push for tort reform in the 2013 Legislature, but there is “nothing structured or concrete at this point,” and he has not talked with Baker about working for such an effort.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 07/14/2012