The speaker of the Arkansas House is seeking a second-consecutive term in the post and, if successful, would be only the fourth person in state history to pull off such a feat.
No known opposition has stepped forward, several legislators said.
If re-elected next March, Rep. Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, would be the first repeat speaker since Craighead County legislator Bobby Hogue was chosen for two stints as the leader of the state's largest chamber, in 1995 and in 1997.
Gillam would have to be re-elected to his House seat before that could happen.
Gillam, a third-term legislator and berry farmer, said he reached the decision to seek the post again just a few weeks before the end of the legislative session. It was a decision that involved a lot of reflection and prayer, he said.
"This is going to be new territory," Gillam said. "I thought about that at great length, and I wondered about the precedent we might be setting for the future. I don't know, at the end of the day, if it'll be anyone else going for two terms a few years down the road. I don't know how it will unfold. At the end of the day I had to make a decision what I thought was right."
Gillam's goal reflects what some see as an inevitable change in the dynamics of the Arkansas Legislature, where term-limit changes, as well as new pay scales, could shake up the institution.
Like others who sought the powerful schedule- and agenda-setting position in March 2014, Gillam was facing an inevitable end to his career as a representative because of the six-year limit on service in the House.
Hogue got in his second-consecutive term as speaker shortly after term limits were set by popular vote and the creation of Amendment 73.
Shane Broadway, an Arkansas State University System vice president, was first elected to the House in 1996, just a few years after Amendment 73 and its term limits went into effect.
Broadway said it was a time of transition for the House as legislators who had served for decades before the term limits finished their last years of eligibility.
"I remember my first term, I was in the back room during the session ... and [a veteran legislator] asked me, 'What do you want to do in your last term?' And I'm like, 'Man, I just got here, what do you mean?'" Broadway recalled. "He said 'Well you have to decide right now. Do you want to chair a committee? Do you want to be speaker of the House? ... You have to start making up your mind now'."
Those rigid limits were abolished by a vote in the November election. Amendment 94 expanded the time a legislator could serve at the Capitol to a cumulative 16 years.
In addition to the term-limit change, a pay raise was approved by the Independent Citizens Commission, increasing legislator salaries from $15,869 to $39,500.
Broadway said that given the new dynamics, he thinks it's wise for the House membership to pick Gillam, who has the experience of running a session and can make structural and procedural changes to prepare for a new kind of Legislature.
"You have got to prepare the House for what is currently law. That may include some changes to the way the House operates, but it needs to be thought through," he said. "It's important that love and respect and care for that institution, that its future be well thought out in terms of how you're going to operate in this new dynamic."
In the old dynamic, Gillam did well, his peers said.
Gillam, along with Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, guided the Legislature through an 81-day session, one of the quickest in recent years.
After being in the fray of tax-cut negotiations, as well as a compromise to reconstitute the private-option program, Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, said he's confident Gillam can continue to produce results if given another chance.
"I cannot imagine someone doing a better job than he did. The reality is, he was a phenomenal person to do that job," Ballinger said. "I like the idea of there not being a speaker race over the next two years so we can do business and get stuff done and know who the speaker is."
Ballinger and Broadway both agree that Gillam made the right move by announcing his plans early.
Doing so may snuff out some insurgent runs for the same position, one legislator said.
"It's really early in the game for him to announce. Others that may have been thinking about it are going to be behind at this point," said Rep. Charlotte Douglas, R-Alma. "But it would not surprise me if he had some competition. Competition is a good thing. It makes us better."
Gillam won the speaker chair by beating fellow Republicans Kim Hammer of Benton and Matt Shepherd of El Dorado.
Neither said he planned to run again for speaker and neither knew of any opposition to Gillam. Both said Gillam did a remarkable job this session.
"I think it always makes for a good process if there are two to choose from," Hammer said. "It makes it a more competitive process, but he'd be hard to beat. That would be a fair statement."
Despite some head-butting on policy and process, House Minority Leader Eddie Armstrong, D-North Little Rock, said he thought Gillam worked in a "bipartisan manner" and that Gillam's attitude and approach through the session was a "step in the right direction."
Without naming names, the leading Democrat said there are several members who "quietly" watched the session with their "eyes set on the post." Armstrong said Gillam's return for a second run as speaker "is not a given."
"For him, having two parties within one party was an exercise ... you saw that with the far right and the Tea Party members as well as his conservative base; how he manages that beyond his kind personality and his good will for the [legislative] body, it'll take some effort," Armstrong said. "The outcome of the election will be a big part of the outcome for future sessions if he pulls this off. Hats off to the guy."
Broadway said breaking from the tradition of a one-term speaker might be necessary for sustaining the "institution" of the House down the road.
"It's a unique position. ... It's not about who's currently in the chair personally, it's more about the role itself and having someone who has the knowledge," Broadway said. "When I got sworn in, [former House parliamentarian Tim Massanelli] did the swearing in. He looked at me and said 'Boss, it's me and you versus 99 of them. But I like our odds'."
SundayMonday on 04/12/2015