Many state representatives dipped into their own pockets to buy House Speaker Davy Carter a pair of custom-designed cowboy boots emblazoned with an outline of Arkansas.
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Rep. Darrin Williams, D-Little Rock, announced the news on the House floor Wednesday. He claimed that the footwear gift for the Cabot Republican had been inspired by the wardrobe of a colorful Texas Democrat.
Carter’s staff recounted a trip to the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin and said a pair of the former president’s boots had caught the speaker’s eye, Williams said.
Williams said he arranged for a Star City boot-maker to fit Carter in the private gallery after the House recessed Wednesday.
“You can choose the color and style, and how you’d like the [Arkansas] flag to look. You’re even allowed to choose the leather, and Rhino is not a choice,” Williams joked, referring to the acronym Republican In Name Only.
Carter - who was elected House speaker in November 2012 with the backing of House Democrats and a band of House Republicans - laughed at the comments and spoke briefly to the representatives.
“I can’t tell you how much this means to me,” Carter said. “We’ve had a great year and a half, dealt with some difficult things. I couldn’t be any prouder of the state of Arkansas. This is something I’ll never forget. It’s been an honor serving with you.”
Williams, who is House speaker pro tempore, also presented Carter with a photo of the Capitol signed by all the members, joking that the secretary of state’s office even had it framed after the House agreed to pass the office’s budget.
The secretary of state’s budget had been held up temporarily by the House Democratic Caucus as a possible bargaining chip in negotiations to pass the private option funding bill.
Williams was in line to be House speaker after lawmakers elected him speaker-designate in 2012. But he was ousted after Republicans won control of the Legislature. He joked that Carter was the second best “Democrat-elected” speaker of the House and asked everyone who voted for Carter to stand up and give him a hand.
The joke drew laughs and an awkward pause when no members stood up to clap. After it became clear that Williams had finished his speech, most of the members stood up to applaud Carter.
Rep. John Vines, D-Hot Springs, and Rep. David Branscum, R-Marshall, gave a “roast and toast” to third-term representatives, who will be departing from the House at the end of this year. They bequeathed gag gifts to the members specific to their service or, in some cases, to political opponents.
Referring to Rep. Les “Skip” Carnine, R-Rogers, who voted “present” on the private option before supporting it on the final ballot, Branscum joked that they would replace Carnine’s yes and no buttons with a “not yet” button.
Carnine gave a simultaneous thumbs up and thumbs down gesture at Branscum’s joke.
Vines and Branscrum also offered to change a road in Branscum’s district from Roller Coaster Road to the Jonathan Barnett Expressway. The joke referenced a failed resolution from the House Democratic leadership that would have prevented federally funded highways from being named after former highway commissioners.
Some members said the legislation was targeted at Rep. Jonathan Barnett, R-Siloam Springs - a former state highway commissioner -because he had beena consistent vote against funding the private option.
Vines and Branscum joked about giving Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, who they nicknamed the “boy wonder representative,” a gift from his hometown.
“We have come up and got a visitors guide from the Harrison Chamber of Commerce, inviting you to visit Harrison,” Branscum said, followed by roars of laughter and clapping. Burris is one of three Republicans vying for the Senate seat held by Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, in the May 20 primary election.
Adversaries had questioned whether Burris maintained a residency in his district, an allegation he denied Wednesday.
On the other side of the state Capitol, Key, who is one of two departing senators, told senators that he’s glad they haven’t changed the collegial “way that we behave toward each other,” since he became a senator in 2009, even though the 2012 election changed the Senate’s makeup.
Republicans stripped majority party control of the chamber from Democrats in that election for the first time since Reconstruction.
“I love you all,” said Key, who chairs the Senate Education Committee and has applied to be the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s vice chancellor of government relations.
Sen. David Wyatt, D-Batesville, the other state senator not returning next year, told a few jokes and said a quick good-bye on the Senate floor Wednesday.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 03/13/2014