The Arkansas Senate on Monday narrowly voted to confirm former Gov. Asa Hutchinson's appointment of his former aide Doug Smith of Cave City to the seven-member Parole Board.
The Senate voted 18-13 to confirm Smith, with two senators not voting, a senator voting present and a senator absent -- five days after Smith fell one vote short of confirmation. At least 18 votes are required to confirm a gubernatorial appointment in the 35-member Senate.
The 18 senators who voted to confirm Hutchinson's appointment of Smith include 14 Republican senators and four Democratic senators. The 13 senators who voted against confirming the former Republican governor's appointment of Smith were all Republicans. In addition, a Democratic senator and a Republican senator didn't vote on whether to confirm Smith, with a Democratic senator voting present and a Republican senator absent.
The Senate's narrow vote to confirm Smith came after a majority of the senators voting voted on Monday to reconsider the chamber's decision not to confirm Smith's appointment to the Parole Board on Wednesday.
Smith fell one vote short Wednesday of the 18 votes required in the Senate for Hutchinson's appointment of Smith to be confirmed. That vote was 17-10 to confirm his appointment with five senators not voting and three senators absent.
Afterward, Smith said Monday that "I'm glad it is over."
"I hate it's been such a controversial issue," he said. "I appreciate all the people who supported me and all the senators who voted for me."
In September, Hutchinson announced his appointment of Smith, the governor's then-public safety liaison, to the Parole Board to replace Boyce Hamlet after Hamlet was appointed as Arkansas' drug director, with Smith's term expiring Jan. 14, 2029. Smith had served in the governor's office since 2015.
Smith's salary is $95,381 a year on the Parole Board, according to the Arkansas Transparency website.
He worked in law enforcement for more than 20 years, with police departments in Osceola and Manila and as a town marshal in Dell. He retired from law enforcement in 2006 and worked as a field representative for U.S. Congressman Rick Crawford from 2010 to 2014, and was a field representative for Hutchinson's gubernatorial campaign in 2014.
Sens. Jim Dotson, R-Bentonville, and Mark Johnson, R-Ferndale, urged senators on Monday not to vote to reconsider their initial decision Wednesday not to confirm Hutchinson's appointment of Smith.
"It is time to put it to bed," Dotson said.
Johnson said he voted to confirm Hutchinson's appointment of Smith on Wednesday, and he's heard from constituents who told him he made a mistake in voting to confirm Smith.
"That was a vote I regret," based on additional information that he's received since Wednesday, he said.
On Wednesday, Republican Sens. David Wallace of Leachville, Missy Irvin of Mountain View and John Payton of Wilburn had urged senators to confirm Smith's appointment.
Wallace said politics is a full-contact sport, and Smith shouldn't be blamed for carrying water for Hutchinson when Smith worked as aide to the former governor.
But Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, Clint Penzo, R-Springdale, and Dotson on Wednesday urged senators not to confirm Smith.
The Senate on Wednesday also balked at confirming Hutchinson's nomination of Jimmy Warren of Conway to the state's Minority and Women-owned Business Advisory Council as it voted to confirm more than 100 of the former Republican governor's nominations to state boards and commissions.
Eight days ago, the Arkansas Senate Rules Committee rejected Hutchinson's reappointment of Jammy Turner of Gillett to the Arkansas Agricultural Board and Hutchinson's reappointment of Dexter Booth of Little Rock to the Arkansas State Claims Commission.
Then, on Wednesday, the Senate declined to suspend its rules to clear the way for a vote on whether to confirm the reappointment of Booth to the Arkansas State Claims Commission.
Two weeks ago, the Senate Rules Committee initially rejected Hutchinson's nomination of 36 appointees to state boards and commissions, and recommended the full Senate vote to confirm 14 of Hutchinson's nominations of appointees to state boards and commissions.
The Senate eventually voted to reject 30 of the former governor's appointees to state boards and commissions, and confirm 20 of Hutchinson's appointees to state boards and commissions after it voted to overturn the Rules Committee's rejection of six appointees.
Hutchinson's appointments that the Senate considered confirming during the past two weeks included appointments that Hutchinson made between March 2022 and an Aug. 9-11 special session in which the Senate didn't consider confirming at the end of the special session, and appointments made after the special session.
Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders was sworn in as governor Jan. 10.
Over the past two decades, the state Senate has rarely rejected a governor's nominees to boards and commissions.