Gov. Mike Beebe said Thursday that he has chosen former state Rep. Dennis Young of Texarkana for the state’s Parole Board.
Beebe appointed Young, 68, to fill a vacancy on the board created by last month’s resignation of Joe Peacock, who cited personal reasons for his departure. Young’s term on the board expires Jan. 14.
The Democratic governor chose Young, a retired insurance agent, based on his knowledge of the board and the state’s correctional system and his willingness to take an appointment that has an uncertain future after Beebe’s successor assumes office in January, said Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample.
The selection comes about two weeks after a dispute derailed Beebe’s original choice for the spot, former state Rep. Linda Tyler, D-Conway. Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, who defeated Tyler in the 2012 Senate race, blocked her appointment. The salary range for the post is between $73,116 and $91,359 a year, according to the state’s personnel administrator Kay Terry.
A state senator generally is allowed to essentially veto gubernatorial appointments if the nominee is from that senator’s district. In the past, when a governor has ignored a senator’s veto, the Senate has intervened and rejected the appointment.
Young - who served in the state House of Representatives from 1993-1999 after serving on the Texarkana city board from 1978-1986 - said he appreciates having the confidence of the governor, who appointed him to the Parole Board, and Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, who confirmed his appointment.
“I’ve always enjoyed public service,” Young said.
Hickey said Young will do an excellent job on the Parole Board, adding he’s “very thorough. Nobody will be able to get anything past Mr. Young.”
He said he doesn’t know whether Young considers himself a Republican or Democrat.
“It’s not about party. It’s about the man. I have great respect for him,” said Hickey.
Young said he considers himself a Democrat, though he was elected as a Republican to the state House in 1992 after his Democratic opponent objected to him running as a Democrat because he had contributed money to Republican candidates.
Young switched parties in 1994 after the state Democratic Party’s State Committee changed the party’s rules, at the urging of Democratic Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, to repeal its loyalty oath requiring candidates to support and vote for Democratic nominees in all races. It also required that all party candidates have voted for the Democratic nominees in the previous election.
At that time, Young said he supported Republican Sheffield Nelson in his unsuccessful 1990 race against then-Democratic Gov. Bill Clinton, and he supported Mike Huckabee in his successful 1993 race for lieutenant governor.
In 2000 and 2002, Young lost state Senate races to Foreman Democrat Barbara Horn. Young ran as a Democrat in 2000 and as an independent in 2002.
As the Republican governor in 2000, Huckabee wrote letters urging voters to support Horn in the Democratic primary. Huckabee blamed Young for a lawsuit that alleged the governor misused the taxpayer-funded Governor’s Mansion allowance. Huckabee admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement of the lawsuit in 2000. Young has denied any involvement in the lawsuit.
Earlier Thursday, Beebe said Tyler was his first choice for the Parole Board appointment, but Rapert’s opposition “didn’t surprise me,” though he didn’t know in advance whether Rapert would object to it.
“A lot of people with past appointments see that as an opportunity to bury the hatchet and win over somebody. But other people don’t. It just depends on the personality of the individual,” the governor said.
Rapert has said that he balked at confirming Tyler’s appointment to the board because Tyler was one of the primary architects of Act 570 of 2011 - which overhauled the state’s sentencing laws at Beebe’s request to try to slow the growth of the state’s prison population - as well as based on his consultation with local law enforcement officials, who oppose that law.
He’s maintained that he and Tyler’s acrimonious Senate campaign had nothing to do with his opposition to her appointment.
In June 2013, Rapert objected to Beebe appointing Kathryn Spinks, a retired nurse from Conway, to the Occupational Therapy Examining Committee because he said he’s “just not comfortable with that appointment.”
In a fundraising email this week, the state Democratic Party’s executive director, Candace Martin, pointed to Rapert’s opposition to Tyler’s and Spinks’ appointments, saying, “We can’t let Republicans like Jason Rapert take control of our state. Decisions based on Tea Party demands or political spite is not a way to govern. We need your help to make sure that Democrats up and down the ticket are elected this year.”
Martin’s email said Rapert voted for Act 570 in 2011; Rapert has said he voted against the measure in the Senate Judiciary Committee and he was outside the Senate chambers when he was incorrectly recorded as voting for it in 2011.
Rapert could not be reached by telephone for further comment Thursday afternoon.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 04/04/2014