front & center: Mark A. Pate

Judge keeps family, friends, supporters close to heart

Mark A. Pate, White County District Court-Searcy Division Judge, served three terms as a state representative for White County's District 49 before winning his judge's race last year, taking office in January.
Mark A. Pate, White County District Court-Searcy Division Judge, served three terms as a state representative for White County's District 49 before winning his judge's race last year, taking office in January.

— When Mark Pate tells the story of his life, he talks in terms of all the people he has to thank.

First, there are all the women in the Searcy lawyer's life. He thanked his mother, sister and wife, especially for supporting him through the stress of building his political career. Pate served three terms as a state representative for White County's District 49 and won his judge's race for White County District Court-Searcy Division just last year, taking office in January.

Growing up in Velvet Ridge and Bald Knob, Pate remembers watching his mother earn her law degree. Then she was a teacher in the former Judsonia-Griffithville district. Now she is a department head with the Arkansas Workers Compensation Commission.

"Her being able to raise two children, with a full-time day job and going to school at night, that left me with no excuses," Pate said. "My mother and other members of my family were very influential to me."

Pate graduated from Bald Knob High School, attended Arkansas State University-Beebe and Harding University before heading to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville for law school. He joined the U.S. Naval Reserves while in Beebe.

At some point in law school, Pate was bitten by the political bug. After graduating he returned to Bald Knob because "Fayetteville is a wonderful part of the world, but White County is home," where he ran for Bald Knob city attorney. Pate, as the young newcomer, was running a grassroots campaign against the incumbent with the support of people like his sister, Kelli McNeill, who is two years younger than him.

"She's always been supportive of her big brother," Pate said. "Going door to door for me, helping me with my campaigns."

By the time Pate's next campaign came around, he had another supporter: his wife, Julie. After about four years as city attorney, Pate decided to run for the Arkansas House of Representatives.

"Just prior to entering the race, my wife and I got married," Pate said. "We married, went on our honeymoon and immediately started campaigning."

Julie may not have realized just what she was getting herself into, Pate said, but she's always been supportive.

"My wife is one of the strongest influences in my life," Pate said. "She has supported me in every endeavor. Of course, I've consulted with her on every one of them, because her opinion means a lot to me. But campaigns are very stressful. They take time, money, energy, resources. And then serving in office takes you away from your family. A lot of your responsibilities end up being at night-time events. But throughout the years, she has sacrificed without complaint."

After serving the full three terms in the House allowed under state law, Pate returned to private law practice in 1997. Since then, he's served as city attorney or prosecuting attorney for about seven cities in White County. This phase of Pate's life involved the most incourt action, and Pate said the experience was exciting and helped him hone his trial skills.

He misses working for the cities, but the work helped prepare him for greater opportunities, like his current district judgeship. Again, Pate has people to thank - this time some of the men in his life.

His stepfather, Chief Justice Jim Hannah of the Arkansas Supreme Court, gave Pate an inside look at campaigning when he was young - a possible source for Pate's early political inspiration. His stepbrother, Craig Hannah, is a circuit judge for White and Prairie counties, so it's an interest that runs in the family.

The previous White County District judge, Phil Schoffner, was more of Pate's parents' generation and someone for Pate to look up to. When it became increasingly clear that Schoffner's health was becoming too poor for him to run for the judgeship again, Pate and Schoffner started talking about the possibility of Pate running for the seat. It was a tough decision.

"The night before the filing deadline, I received a call from him asking me to run," Pate said.

It was a crowded race, but Pate didn't start actively campaigning until Schoffner passed away. In the end, the voters chose Pate. He said it was nice to feel a bit like Schoffner, a man he respected, had passed on the torch to him. When it came time for his swearing in, Schoffner's wife loaned him the judge's old robes for the ceremony.

"Guys don't really talk like that, but, yes, I'd like to hope that it would have been something like pride for Judge Schoffner to see me come after him," Pate said.

Pate had filled in for Schoffner before, so he thought he knew just what the position would be like. But there have been some surprises: how busy the court is, for one. Pate sometimes has to stay until 9 p.m. to get through all the cases. It's a part-time job, and he still maintains his private practice work.

Despite the job's busy schedule and how stressful dealing with some of its negativity can be (it never feels good to send people to jail, after all), Pate said he's found plenty to love.

"Patience, compassion, firmness - those are words to live by," Pate said. "Everyone that comes before me deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, no matter what. ... I also try to wish them good luck, even if they're going to jail. It only takes a second for a kind word."

And now that he's more familiar with the everyday aspects of the job, he's got a whole new list of people to thank: the civil and criminal clerks, the probation department, the prosecutors, Sheriff's Department and bailiffs. Everyone has a part to play, Pate has discovered, right down to the taxpayers who have funded his new court building and the voters who put him in office.

Pate said it's that ever-present sense of thankfulness that drives him, both to take on a life of public service and to fill his days with it - sometimes too much of it, according to his wife, he said with a smile.

"It's the desire to give back," Pate said. "I had a lot of opportunities given to me. I was a poor kid from Velvet Ridge, Ark., probably not expected to go very far. But I was given encouragement and education, and with a little hard work on my part, well, you can do anything."

- awidner@arkansasonline.com matter of fact

Birth day: Feb. 17, 1970

Occupation: Judge/attorney

Family includes: Wife, Julie; daughter, Emily; mother, Pat Hannah; stepfather, Jim Hannah; father, Alvie Pate; stepmother, Reba Pate; sister, Kelli McNeill, and her husband, Mike; halfsister, Wendy Bowers, and her husband, John

Hobbies: Home improvement

Most people don't know I'm: Actually pretty shy

I cannot live without: My family

When I was young I wanted: An electric train

What makes me mad: Dishonesty

The people I admire most are: My parents

My favorite memory is: The birth of my daughter

Favorite quote: "It is what it is" - change what you can and have a positive outlook about what's out of your control

My goals for the future: I hope I have a few more political races left in me

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