The state's chief Medicaid fraud investigator, the top consumer protection attorney and a pair of couriers were just some of the employees dismissed last week when Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge took office.
A day before taking office, Rutledge notified 23 employees, ranging from leading lawyers in the approximately 170-person agency to investigators and secretaries, that their services would not be retained.
Since then, an analysis of documents released to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette shows that 31 of the office's approximately 170 employees have been let go.
In total, 13 attorneys -- out of about 73 -- were not retained by the new administration, according to office records.
Eight employees not retained were administrative or clerical employees, including a courier, and another four positions were nonclerical, nonattorney professional staff.
Rutledge also declined to keep on at least six investigators, including the leading Medicaid fraud investigator, Michael Mashburn.
Mashburn could not be reached for comment.
The former attorney general, Democrat Dustin McDaniel, said that to the best of his recollection he retained all but two lawyers when he took office in 2007.
Rutledge spokesman Judd Deere, via email, said the lost positions were standard for an incoming administration. Deere noted that Rutledge met face-to-face with all of the employees still working in the late days of McDaniel's term, adding that their terminations were necessary in order for his boss to put together the most effective legal team possible.
"Whether it is an assistant, an investigator or a lawyer, the citizens of Arkansas deserve to have the very best," he wrote.
Some of those not retained were expected to leave, such as attorney Scott Richardson, who announced in December that he would join his old boss, McDaniel, at a new law firm.
Robert Steinbuch, a law professor at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, said that with any changing regime, there will be turnover.
"It's a dramatic shift in staff and that's, well, to the victors goes the employment positions," Steinbuch said. "It's not patronage ... [it's] bringing in people who are a part of your team and have a consistent vision and agenda as the attorney general does."
This type of turnover is unusual in Arkansas because Democrats have controlled the office since the late 19th century, Steinbuch said.
Arkansas is a right-to-work state, and as Steinbuch pointed out, the employees at the attorney general's office are at-will employees and not insulated by civil service rules like some city or county employees.
"If the Republicans had had it for terms upon terms and the Democrats took over, I would expect a similar amount [of turnover]," Steinbuch said. "This, to me, is perfectly normal."
Another University of Arkansas at Little Rock law professor, Jeff Woodmansee, said that he expected a bit of turnover. But when word spread through the legal community of who was leaving, he was taken aback.
"I look at some of these names and it calls into question the reasoning behind it," Woodmansee said. "[Rutledge's decisions] seem to have gotten under the skin of folks, for whatever reason, more than other Republicans [who have taken state offices from Democrats]."
One name that shocked Woodmansee was the departure of Jim DePriest, a 23-year veteran of the agency and the head of the agency's Public Protection Department, who was instrumental in taking down payday loan stores several years ago.
DePriest could not be reached for comment.
"Certainly, people of that long of a record deserve a little dignity on their way out the door regardless of who the new head coach is," Woodmansee said.
Deere said that the loss of four attorneys in the office's criminal division or the loss of veteran attorneys such as DePriest wouldn't affect ongoing litigation and the remaining leadership would help coordinate the cases.
But Woodmansee said he is unconvinced that their departures won't negatively affect the office.
"It's cost-ineffective to get rid of the most experienced people when you're brand new and haven't had a [leadership] position like that," Woodmansee said. "Running one of the biggest [offices] of the executive branch, that's very different than working [as an attorney] at [the Department of Human Services]."
State Republican Auditor Andrea Lea announced in December that she would retain two-thirds of the office's 36-person staff. The office had previously been held by a Democrat.
The new state treasurer, Republican Dennis Milligan, said in December that he would keep 15 of the office's 25 employees. The interim treasurer had been an independent; the last elected treasurer had been a Democrat.
In the office of newly elected Gov. Asa Hutchinson, "a large majority" of the people are new hires, according to gubernatorial spokesman J.R. Davis.
Hutchinson, a Rogers Republican, replaced Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, of Searcy.
Deere said that Rutledge followed precedent in waiting until the day before taking over to notify employees whether they would be retained.
"Because of the confidential nature of the legal work conducted by this office, there is precedent in timing and process from Attorney General Rutledge's predecessors. Attorney General Rutledge made it a priority to interview all of the current staff personally and evaluate each position," Deere said. "This took a great deal of time due to the size and scope of the agency."
Deere said that he had been given no indication of any more departures in the near future.
Metro on 01/20/2015