Helms takes job with state lottery

The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery has hired J. Michael Helms, the assistant chief executive officer at the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission, as its chief legal counsel, starting Aug. 1.

Helms, of Little Rock, will be paid $104,080 a year by the Arkansas lottery.

Helms was paid $87,711 a year by the Workers’ Compensation Commission, according to the Arkansas Transparency website.

He will fill the vacancy created after Jean Block resigned as the lottery’s chief legal counsel to go to work at Little Rock Wastewater, where she is the chief legal officer.

Block was the lottery’s chief legal counsel from October 2012-April 8 and was paid $109,252 a year when she departed. She previously worked in the attorney general’s office from August 2005-October 2012. The now-defunct Arkansas Lottery Commission voted to hire her to fill a vacancy created in February 2012 when then-chief legal counsel Bishop Woosley was promoted to director.

The lottery received 25 applications for the job and formally interviewed six candidates, Jake Bleed, a spokesman for the Department of Finance and Administration, said Friday. The lottery operates under the finance agency.

“Mike’s resume stood out,” Woosley said in a written statement in response to a question about why Helms was hired.

“He has strong experience in a variety of legal backgrounds, not just governmental, but also a city attorney and in private practice. This is an excellent background for the chief legal counsel of the OAL [Office of Arkansas Lottery], who needs a wide array of knowledge to handle the issues that we face on a day to day basis, ” Woosley said.

“He also interviewed well, and I am confident he will be a great fit for this position,” he said.

Helms has been the Workers’ Compensation Commission’s assistant chief executive officer since April 2015, according to his resume.

He was a staff attorney at the Arkansas Securities Department from September 2014-April 2015 and operated his own general legal practice in Little Rock from April 2005-September 2014, his resume states. He also was a public defender in youth cases and a conflicts attorney for the Arkansas Public Defender Commission from July 2005-September 2014.

Helms was managing partner of the Moore, Serio, Bishop & Helms law firm in Clarendon from November 2000-April 2005, Clarendon city attorney from January 2002-December 2006, and operated his own general legal practice in Little Rock from March 1998-November 2000.

Meanwhile, Workers’ Compensation Commission Chairman Scotty Dale Douthit of Russellville said the commission hasn’t yet decided who will be the next assistant chief executive officer.

The commission will advertise the opening for a few weeks to seek applications, if it decides to fill the job, and then commission Chief Executive Officer Barbara Webb will conduct interviews, Douthit said.

Earlier this week, the lottery reported its total revenue and net proceeds for college scholarships increased in fiscal 2016 over levels in fiscal 2015. The lottery’s revenue and net proceeds dipped during each of the previous three fiscal years after peaking in fiscal 2012.

The lottery started selling tickets on Sept. 28, 2009.

It has helped f inance more than 30,000 Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarships during each of the past six fiscal years. State lawmakers have reduced the amount of the scholarships for future recipients three times during the past several years as a result of proceeds falling short of initial projections and more students than initially expected receiving the scholarships.

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