HOW WE SEE IT

Clock Ticking On Lt. Gov. Darr’s Antics

Riddle us this: Who has the capability to take an inconsequential offce of state government and make it seem bigger than the man who occupies it?

Mark Darr, that’s who.

Readers might remember Darr, the former Springdale insurance agent and Rogers pizza shop owner. He entered politics in 2010 by running for lieutenant governor and got lucky when the incumbent, Bill Halter, ran instead for the U.S.

Senate against Blanche Lincoln. He earned the lieutenant governor’s post by slipping past Shane Broadway, a former speaker of the state House of Representatives.

Gov. Mike Beebe campaigned for Broadway, and said after the election he didn’t regret it because Broadway would have been the best one for the job.

Considering the job, that’s faint praise, but we get what he meant. We suspect Beebe today still feels Broadway was the better candidate given Darr’s recent stunt.

What could Darr do in a position with extremely limited authority? In addition to presiding over the Arkansas Senate (no vote unless there’s a tie), the lieutenant governor also becomes acting governor when the real one is out of state or incapacitated.

Lord help us, we hope the latter never comes into play, especially with Darr in the shadows.

But occasionally, Beebe indeed needs to leave the state. He recently went to the National Governor’s Association winter meeting.

Prior to leaving, Beebe announced he opposed but would not veto a bill to exempt the names and all other available information about people with concealed handgun permits from release to Arkansas residents. It was passed with an emergency clause, making it eftective the very moment the governor signed it. Beebe said he would let it become law without his signature.

Then Beebe left town, and in steps Gov.-wannabe Darr. Without warning, Darr signed the concealed handgun permit bill. It became law the moment he did, and reflected the kind of shallow grandstanding this meager public fi gure is capable of.

Darr issued some mumbo-jumbo about doing what’s right for Arkansans, but he was really doing what he could to keep his 15 minutes of fame from winding down. Tick tock, tick tock.

It all brought to mind some Arkansas history that was more egregious. In 1993, as Arkansans flowed to the nation’s capital to watch Bill Clinton take the oath of off ce, Clinton’s successor, Lt. Jim Guy Tucker, was among them. The state had no lieutenant governor, so the president pro tem of the Senate, Jerry Jewell, became acting governor. During his brief rise to power, Jewell granted executive clemency to two prison inmates and pardoned two other men already out of prison. The resulting outcry led quickly to passage of a law requiring a governor to give 30 days’ notice before granting a pardon or clemency.

Tucker remained in the state for nearly eight months, until a new lieutenant governor named Mike Huckabee took offce. Tucker said he stuck around just to avoid anything similar to Jewell’s actions happening again.

Given the Republican majority at the state Capitol today, we doubt any legislative changes will happen, but it would sure be nice if lawmakers placed further limits on the authority of acting governors when the real governor is simply out of state. With today’s technology, a governor can govern from practically anywhere. Darr was able to commit his totally inappropriate act, as Beebe described it, because Arkansas’ Constitution remains stuck in the days of horse and buggy.

The more decision-making Arkansans can keep out of Mark Darr’s hands, the better.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 03/02/2013

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