Beebe: 3 more agency heads to keep jobs
Posted on Saturday, December 16, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/175919/
Attorney General Mike Beebe, the governor-elect, announced Friday he’s keeping three more department heads from Gov. Mike Huckabee’s administration.
They are John Selig, director of the Department of Health and Human Services; Larry Norris, director of the Department of Correction; and Terry Bolton, director of the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training.
This is the fourth round of announcements from Beebe, a Democrat, of reappointments, bringing the total number of Huckabee officials keeping their jobs to 15. So far, Beebe hasn’t replaced any Huckabee agency heads, although one director of a minor agency announced about a month ago he was leaving.
“Most of the people [keeping their jobs ] are people Mike Beebe has had longstanding relationships with,” said state Sen. Steve Faris, D-Central, co-chairman of the legislative Personnel Committee. “Most of these people knew Mike Beebe before Mike Huckabee was even thought of.”
Beebe, a Democrat, replaces Huckabee, a Republican, on Jan. 9. Huckabee has been governor since 1996. Beebe has been attorney general since 2003 and was in the state Senate for 20 years before that.
Beebe spokesman Zac Wright said it would be more accurate to call some of the state officials keeping their jobs as “Clinton people” and not “Huckabee people.”
Faris said most of the reappointees were working for state government before Huckabee became governor.
In a news release Friday, Beebe said of the people in his latest announcement, “These are good people who already have firsthand experience at what they do. With the legislative session just around the corner, their experience and talent will help give the new administration a strong start.”
Wright said that doesn’t mean Beebe is keeping people because of convenience. He said people who are keeping their jobs have a good record in state government and that other department heads may lose their jobs.
Faris said he wouldn’t expect Beebe to “fire every department head because that would bring nothing but chaos to the table.”
Beebe has not yet made an announcement regarding these people and the major agencies they head: Linda Beene, higher education; Marcus Devine, environmental quality; David Guntharp, community correction; and Larry Walther, economic development.
Beebe has said that it takes time to interview people for positions in his administration and that just because he hasn’t made an announcement doesn’t mean those people won’t keep their jobs.
Selig, 46, of Benton, makes $ 134, 131 a year and has 10, 182 full-time employees. He’s been director since July 2005 but was deputy director for several years before that.
Norris, 58, who lives in a statesupplied house at the department’s Pine Bluff headquarters, has a salary of $ 124, 120 a year and has 3, 870 full-time employees. He’s been director since 1993. He is the second-longest tenured prison chief in the country, according to Beebe’s release.
Bolton, 53, of East Camden, makes $ 72, 270 a year and has 54 full-time employees. He’s held the job since 1995 and is a former Columbia County sheriff.
Health and Human Services has had problems, especially in its Youth Services Division’s detention center in Alexander where there have been allegations that an inmate died because of lack of attention to her health problems.
But Sen. Percy Malone, DArkadelphia, said he’s confident that Selig has taken steps to remedy the situation, noting that the agency has pulled the contract from a private firm running the center.
“Now it behooves him to stay on top of it and make sure they do it properly,” Malone said. “If this happens again then I’d say he’s not watching the shop very well.”
Sen. Jim Luker, D-Wynne, said he’s questioned how the Department of Correction operates its budget over the years but that overall he’s always had a “high regard of the job” done by Norris.
Luker and Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, said the key for agency heads if they want to last in state government is to be competent and be loyal to their governors but not cross the line into political activity on behalf of one party or the other.
Argue said of the ones who have kept their jobs, “I don’t know whether they are Republicans or Democrats. Their job is to stay out of that.”
Other major agency heads who have been reappointed include Ken James, education; Richard Weiss, finance and administration; Steve Dozier, state police; and Richard Davies, parks and tourism.
Beebe will have no direct control over whether some agency heads stay or go because some answer to state boards and commissions. Those agency heads would include Dan Flowers at the Department of Highway and Transportation and Scott Henderson at the Game and Fish Commission.