Panels like Darr staff, office bills

A state Senate committee Wednesday endorsed a bill that would allow the governor to forgo calling a special election to fill the vacant lieutenant governor’s post this year.

Another legislative panel recommended sharply reducing the amount of money spent on the office’s staffing during the second half of this year.

Springdale Republican Mark Darr resigned as lieutenant governor effective Feb. 1, more than a month after the Ethics Commission levied a $11,000 fine against him for 11 violations of state ethics laws and regulations.

Gov. Mike Beebe and the entire congressional delegation had urged Darr to step down, which he did before impeachment proceedings could begin. But his four staff members remain on the state payroll at a cost of more than $200,000 per year.

The state Senate Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday sent to the Senate legislation that would let the governor forgo calling a special election to fill the vacancy if he decides the cost of holding such an election “is impractical because of the timing of the vacancy.”

The measure would also allow future governors to leave similar posts empty if the vacancies occur within 10 months of general elections during which the positions would be filled by a vote of the people.

The measure is Senate Bill 139 by Senate Republican leader Eddie Joe Williams of Cabot. The secretary of state’s office has estimated that a special election to fill the lieutenant governor post would cost at least $1.5 million.

Before the Senate committee recommended approval of the legislation, Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, noted that Beebe has indicated that he won’t call a special election for lieutenant governor this year if the Legislature sends him this measure. He said, the law leaves the decision in Beebe’s hands.

Williams said his legislation would allow the governor to call a special election for lieutenant governor if the office became vacant within 10 months of a general election under “extraordinary circumstances.”

While the Senate committee considered the vacancy legislation, another committee focused on reducing spending in Darr’s former office.

During an afternoon meeting, the Joint Budget Committee’s Special Language Subcommittee approved an amendment proposed by Sen. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, to an appropriation bill for the lieutenant governor’s office. It would allow only up to $40,000 to be spent on employee salaries and up to $12,000 on employee benefits before Jan. 1 unless there is an elected lieutenant governor in office. The bill is Senate Bill 53 - a fiscal 2015 appropriation measure for the lieutenant governor’s office.

Maloch said his amendment would allow the office to have at least one employee after July 1.

After the vote, Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, said he opposes Maloch’s amendment because the lieutenant governor’s office is a constitutional office, and he doesn’t want to cut funding for the staff members in other constitutional officers if those positions become vacant.

The state’s lieutenant governor is paid nearly $42,000 a year. His primary duties are to preside over the Senate and serve as acting governor when the governor is out of state. Without a lieutenant governor, Lamoureux is next in line to serve as acting governor.

Maloch proposed his amendment after the subcommittee rejected his earlier proposal to bar the office from spending money on employee salaries and benefits during the last half of the year. Spending would have been allowed only if a lieutenant governor assumed office after a special election.

The four employees in the lieutenant governor’s office and their annual salaries are Chief of Staff Bruce Campbell, $75,132; Communications Director Amber Pool, $57,564; Director of Governmental Relations Josh Curtis, $51,564; and Executive Assistant Raeanne Gardner, $33,660.

Campbell is a former employee for the state Senate and former director of the state Department of Rural Services under Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee.

There is precedent for keeping staff members in the lieutenant governor’s office during an extended vacancy.

After Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller died in July 2006, his aides were allowed to continue working for the rest of his term, which ended in January 2007.

But Maloch told lawmakers that his proposal to bar spending on employee salaries and benefits from July 1-Dec. 31 would likely lead to “some allegations of partisanship, which I can assure you is not the case for people who know me.”

Maloch said his proposed amendment would save at least $100,000, which “I think could be better utilized somewhere else.”

He said he told the office’s employees that “there was nothing personal in respect to any of those employees and actually offered assistance if any of those employees might apply with another agency that had openings.” The employees are good people who have done nothing wrong, he said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/20/2014

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