Democratic attorney general candidate Mike Lee this week took issue with pay raises that Attorney General Leslie Rutledge granted to her staff.
An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article Sunday about state pay raises for fiscal 2019 found that eight employees in the attorney general's office received raises of $10,000 or more, the most of any state agency outside of public colleges and universities.
Rutledge's office said the raises went toward promotions and making salaries in the attorney general's office more competitive.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, Lee suggested the raises were hypocritical after Rutledge earlier this year declined to authorize a ballot proposal to raise the state's minimum wage. Rutledge did eventually authorize a minimum wage ballot question after being pressured to do so by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
"The hard working people of Arkansas deserve good pay," Lee, a former federal toy regulator, said in a statement. "It's unseemly of my opponent to deny Arkansans the right to vote on the minimum wage, while using state coffers to give her own team a pay raise."
In response to Lee's criticisms, Rutledge released a statement Monday evening saying the raises were in response to a change in the state's pay plan and an effort to remain competitive with other public and private employers.
In addition, Rutledge's office said it was able to boost pay while shrinking overall spending through staff restructuring and reduced travel and furniture expenses. The office spent $374,992 less in fiscal 2018 than it did the year before, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.
The largest increase went to Nicholas Bronni, who received a $23,833 raise along with a promotion to solicitor general, the top trial attorney post within the office. Bronni is earning the same $140,000 salary as his predecessor, Lee Rudofsky, who left to take a job at Walmart Inc.
Other attorney general's office employees who received $10,000-plus pay raises included five assistant attorneys general who were all bumped up to $110,000 annual salaries and two deputy attorneys general who will each now be paid $120,000.
The total cost of pay raises at the 154-employee office was $526,999, which averaged out to a $3,400 raise per employee.
The mean annual salary for lawyers in Arkansas is $99,100, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Suzanne Clark, the president of the Arkansas Bar Association, said the public salaries for attorneys working under Rutledge were "certainly within market rate."
"The Attorney General recognizes that her office must remain the top law firm in the State and attract the most talented lawyers, investigators and other professionals to defend the State in the courtroom and protect Arkansans from criminals and con artists," said Amanda Priest, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, in an email response to earlier questions about the pay raises.
Earlier in the campaign, Lee criticized Rutledge's handling of ballot measures, including the minimum-wage increase.
For more than a year, Rutledge had declined to approve the wording of any ballot proposals, including the proposed wage increase, arguing that the state's justices had failed to set a clear standard for scrutinizing the proposals.
Prodded by the court, Rutledge eventually approved four ballot questions earlier this year, including one proposal to raise the state's minimum wage to $11 per hour.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 08/08/2018