Appeals judge is pick to be justice

Hoofman to fill seat, Beebe says

— Gov. Mike Beebe has tapped longtime friend and state Court of Appeals Judge Cliff Hoofman of Enola to serve on the seven-member state Supreme Court for the next two years.

The announcement of the appointment came Wednesday.

Hoofman will replace departing Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Brown, who announced last year that he would retire Jan. 1, two years before his term expires. Hoofman’s term will start Jan. 1 and expire Dec. 31, 2014.

In January 2007, Beebe appointed Hoofman to the state Highway Commission to replace Mary “Prissy” Hickerson of Texarkana, who is now a state representative. That appointment came after Hoofman worked alongside Beebe for two decades in the state Senate from 1983-2002 and lobbied the Legislature for Beebe during Beebe’s tenure as attorney general.

In January 2011, Beebe named Hoofman to the appeals court to replace Karen Baker through the end of this year, after Baker won election to the state Supreme Court.

Beebe selected Hoofman for the state Supreme Court post because Hoofman was one of the people who showed interest in the job and the governor asked “objective individuals about how things have gone on the court of the appeals, and they all had very positive and glowing things to say about him and the job he has done there,” said Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample.

“So the governor thought he would be a good fit to fill the two-year vacancy at the Supreme Court,” DeCample said.

He declined to say who else expressed an interest in the Supreme Court appointment, and he said he didn’t know how many people had sought it.

“We usually don’t go into details about individuals or size of lists or things like that,” DeCample said.

After Court of Appeals Judge Jo Linker Hart of Mountain View defeated Court of Appeals Judge Raymond Abramson of Holly Grove in May to succeed departing Justice Jim Gunter on the state Supreme Court, effective Jan. 1, DeCample declined to say whether Abramson would be considered for an appointment to the post from which Brown is retiring.

Abramson, who was appointed by Beebe to the appeals court in 2010 for a term expiring at the end of this year, declined on Wednesday to say whether he expressed interest in Brown’s seat.

“I don’t want to get into that,” he said, adding that there is no reason to get into who may or may not have been interested in the job.

“I am completely supportive of Judge Hoofman,” Abramson said. “He’ll make a superb Supreme Court justice.”

Hoofman will make $145,204 a year, up from $140,732 on the appeals court.

Hoofman, 69, said he is very honored by the appointment, but “not really surprised.”

“I have been led to believe for several weeks I would be appointed,” he said.

Hoofman said his aim on the court is to “find fairness and seek justice.”

In 1999, Hoofman was arrested on a drunken-driving offense. He told the police officer he didn’t speak English — only Spanish — and later pleaded no contest to the charge, and later said he quit drinking.

Asked whether the governor considered the matter before he appointed Hoofman to the Supreme Court, DeCample recalled that the matter came up when Beebe announced his appointment of Hoofman to the state Highway Commission.

“The governor said at the time that was well in the past and would not affect Hoofman’s ability to serve,” DeCample said. “Judge Hoofman’s record of service since then only bolsters that opinion.”

On Jan. 1, Hoofman and Hart will join Chief Justice Jim Hannah and Justices Donald L. Corbin, Courtney Hudson Goodson, Paul E. Danielson and Baker.

Beebe said he also appointed Batesville lawyer Bill Walmsley to the state Court of Appeals to replace Hart for a term starting Jan. 1 and expiring Dec. 31, 2014.

DeCample said Beebe has known Walmsley for a long time and Walmsley is a lawyer “who has always had an even-handed legal approach.

The governor “felt he would be the right man to carry the rest of that term,” DeCample said. He declined to say who else expressed an interest in the appointment.

Walmsley, who served in the state Senate from 1971-82, said that serving on the Court of Appeals “will be a good way for me to cap off a long legal career.”

Walmsley, 71, said he would probably retire after serving on the appeals court.

He will make $140,732 a year.

Beebe said he also appointed John Andrews of Walnut Ridge as director of state Department of Rural Services to replace Butch Calhoun, who became the state’s agriculture secretary this summer.

Andrews will be paid about $76,000 a year in the job, said DeCample.

Beebe also announced his appointment of the following judges:

Doug Martin of Fayetteville to a circuit judge post in the 4th Judicial District, 2nd Division, replacing Kim Smith for a term starting Jan. 1 and expiring Dec. 31, 2014. In 2011, the governor appointed Martin to the appeals court for a two-year term.

Lawyer H.G. Foster of Conway to a circuit judge position in the 20th Judicial District, 1st Division, to replace David Reynolds for a term starting Jan. 1 and expiring Dec. 31, 2014. Reynolds was elected as a district judge in Faulkner County earlier this year.

Will Feland of Cabot to a circuit judge post in the 23rd Judicial District, 2nd Division, replacing Phillip Whiteaker for a term starting Jan. 1 and expiring Dec. 31, 2014. In the Nov. 6 election, Whiteaker won election to a post on the state Court of Appeals to serve the remaining two years of a term vacated by Judge D. Price Marshall Jr., who was appointed to the federal bench.

Jason Duffy of Yellville to the Marion County District Court to fill a vacancy in office for a term starting Jan. 1 and expiring Dec. 31, 2014.

P. Luevonda Ross of Monticello to the Drew County District Court to replace Ken Harper, who resigned in September. Ross will be sworn in immediately and serve a term expiring Dec. 31, 2014.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/22/2012

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