Republican Carter wins speaker’s job

Williams bumped from House spot

State Rep. Davy Carter is greeted by fellow legislators at the Capitol on Thursday after being elected to serve as the next speaker of the state House of Representatives. Republicans gained control of the House and the Senate for the first time since Reconstruction.
State Rep. Davy Carter is greeted by fellow legislators at the Capitol on Thursday after being elected to serve as the next speaker of the state House of Representatives. Republicans gained control of the House and the Senate for the first time since Reconstruction.

— The newly elected members of the Arkansas House of Representatives on Thursday ousted Rep. Darrin Williams, D-Little Rock, as the House speaker designate and selected Davy Carter, R-Cabot, over Terry Rice, R-Waldron, for the post, putting Carter in line to lead the House in 2013 and 2014.

These actions came after Republicans narrowly won control of the House from Democrats for the first time in 138 years.

But the House’s decision to select Carter over Rice for the post exposed differences among some Republicans that they were reluctant to talk about publicly. In March, Rice lost to Williams for the House speaker-designate post and had been widely expected to replace Williams if the GOP gained control of the House.

The vote, taken in secret Thursday, was 52-45 for Carter over Rice. The Republicans will hold 51 seats in the 100-member House,0 with the Democrats occupying 48. Green Party member Fred Smith of Crawfordsville holds the final seat.

The House will formally elect the House speaker when it convenes Jan. 14.

Carter, a 37-year-old lawyer who has been in the House since 2009 and chaired the House Revenue and Taxation Committee since 2011, said his decision to run for House speaker designate “has been an evolving process that really picked up speed a couple, three days ago.

“I think it was that trust, that respect with returning [House members] that drove this,” he said. The House will comprise 59 existing representatives and 41 newcomers, including Smith, who served briefly in 2011.

Carter said his commitment is to follow a leadership style similar to that of departing House Speaker Robert S. Moore Jr., D-Arkansas City, that’s fair and gives proportional representation to both parties.

He said he’s not made any commitments on appointments of committee chairmen.

Rice, a 57-year-old owner of a furniture store who has been in the House since 2009, said a small group of Republicans and most Democrats joined to elect Carter as House speaker-designate, and he congratulated Carter, who he called a very capable person.

“This is not devastating,” he said. “We will move on and do our best. I am not the type of person who worries about spilled milk.”

Rice declined to comment about whether some Republicans abandoned him in his bid for the post.

“Politics is politics,” he said. “If I had known things earlier, things could have been different. But it is what it is.”

House Republican leader Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs said, “We have got a Republican speaker and the first one since Reconstruction, so we are elated with that.”

House Democratic leader Greg Leding of Fayetteville said he believes that all 48 House Democrats voted for Carter because Democrats, who’ve worked with Carter in the past, felt he’s the better leader to work with both parties.

“I think that this was a major coup for the party,” he said.

“I think it still demonstrates that Arkansas Democrats still carry considerable power in the House and that both sides are going to have to come together to work because neither side can just run all over the other,” Leding said.

Republican Reps. Charlie Collins of Fayetteville and John Burris of Harrison said they voted for Carter in the secret-ballot election, while other several other Republicans, including Duncan Baird of Lowell, Andrea Lea of Russellville and Westerman, declined to reveal their votes.

Collins said he loves “Davy’s leadership. I’ve watched him make things happen in the last session.

“I’m as strong of a conservative as there is, but when I see fantastic leadership like Davy, it really doesn't matter to me as much, because I know to do the things we need to do together for Arkansas, we’re going to need great leadership,” he said.

Burris declined to discuss why he voted for Carter over Rice.

“Both are good men. We’re moving forward,” he said.

Burris, Collins and Westerman have served on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee chaired by Carter.

Westerman said he “doesn’t want to get into who voted for who and all of that.

“We have got that behind us and we are going to move forward and Davy Carter is the speaker-elect right now,” he said.

“I think Republicans can come together and work together. We have vigorous debates and we vote and move on,” Westerman said.

Smith said he voted for Carter for because Carter is humble and can work well with Democrats and Republicans.

Sen. Michael Lamoureux, a Republican from Russellville who was elected last week as Senate president pro tempore in 2013 and 2014, declined to comment about the House’s actions Thursday.

Lt. Gov. Mark Darr, a Republican from Springdale, said Carter will be the first Republican speaker of the House and either Carter or Rice would have done a good job.

“Davy Carter will be fine, he’s awesome,” Darr said.

Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe “has always found Speaker-elect Carter to be a smart and deliberative legislator, and congratulates him on his election,” according to Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample.

In March, the House voted 54-46 to designate Williams over Rice as the House speaker-designate, putting him in line to be the first black man to be House speaker in Arkansas.

But Moore last week scheduled a vote for Thursday to determine whether Williams would continue to be designate after Republicans won control of the House in the Nov. 6 election and 51 Republicans and 22 Democrats signed a petition calling for a new vote.

Williams on Thursday needed 51 votes to be affirmed for the post, but he fell three short.

In an initial vote, 48 state representatives-elect voted to affirm Williams in the post, while 49 voted against him. Smith said he voted to keep Williams in the job. Two members, apparently, abstained. Moore said 91 representatives-elect attended the meeting and eight others submitted absentee ballots.

Williams told his colleagues that “many may base this decision largely on my party label, but I am much more than a party label and I hope for the good of Arkansas that each one of us will rise above our party labels and find common ground.

“In a Legislature as closely divided as ours, it is not only practical for us to work together, it is mathematically required,” he said.

Approval of most appropriation bills requires 75 votes in the 100-member House.

Williams said he’s worked for the past eight months preparing for the 89th General Assembly, and “I assure you, nothing that I have done has been done in a partisan fashion.”

Rice and Williams have their own political action committees through which they distributed campaign contributions to legislative candidates in their respective parties.

Leding said Democrats tried persuading a handful of Republicans to break ranks and vote to affirm Williams, but “today’s vote shows how that attempt went.”

Williams said the vote went “exactly like he expected” and he’s not disappointed.

“This was never about me,” he said. “So it is not about being this close to history. History will speak for itself. I still was the first African American to get elected as House speaker designee.

“We are just going to continue to move forward, and continue to do what is best for the people of Arkansas, “ Williams said.

Carter said he expects Medicaid and tax matters to dominate the session.

“Those are going to, at some point, collide, and that will likely be the heart of the session, so we’ve got to get those two issues resolved,” he said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/16/2012

Upcoming Events