Lt. Gov. Mark Darr said Tuesday that he won’t resign, despite violating 11 state ethics laws, insisting that the people of Arkansas still trust him.

The Springdale Republican’s refusal to quit led House Republican leader Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs to predict a few hours later that it’s inevitable that the Republican-controlled House will vote to impeach Darr if he doesn’t resign from office.

In a statement released Tuesday, Darr called his multiple violations of Arkansas law “an oversight.”

“I am not downplaying what has occurred, but there is no scandal, no conspiracy and no malicious intentional disregard of the law,” the former pizzeria owner and first-time officeholder said.

During an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Darr questioned the motives of those who have urged him to step down, including Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and all five Republican members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation.

Reminded that five Republican members of Congress had urged him to “step down immediately for the good of our state,” Darr said, “I think the people who have asked for my resignation have either done so for their political gain, they are ignorant of the facts or they are doing so as an emotional response.

“I don’t believe that I have lost the public’s trust; I don’t believe I have violated the public’s trust,” he said. “I believe as an elected official that we are human, we make mistakes, and I think that the public would rather have an elected official who was forthcoming about that, didn’t try to hide anything and corrected those mistakes instead of lie to the public and pretend like I am perfect. I am definitely not.”

In the written statement, released before a round of media interviews, Darr said he has “put a stake in the ground” by not resigning from the post he’s held since January 2011.

“Not for this office, not for the title or the job, but I put a stake in the ground for those Arkansans who are sick and tired of these type of political games and the people who play them,” Darr said. “It would be an immediate fix to tuck tail and run, but I would regret it for years to come.”

Asked if he’s daring the House to impeach him by referring to putting “a stake in the ground,” Darr said in an interview that he’s very respectful of the state House of Representatives.

He said he’s not heard a public outcry for his resignation from his constituents or from representatives’ constituents.

“This is not a dare to the House at all,” he said. “If they truly know the facts, they will know that there were no high crimes committed, there were no malicious or bad intent in comparison to others. They shouldn’t make an emotional response or do just what somebody wants them to do because it’s politics or to be politically correct.”

He also complained during the interview with the Democrat-Gazette about people who he claimed fed the news media “one-sided” stories about him, but he declined to blame any particular person.

In addition to Beebe and members of the congressional delegation, several Republican and Democratic candidates for statewide office and several state legislators have called for Darr’s resignation since Darr acknowledged 11 violations of state ethics laws and regulations.

The state Ethics Commission issued Darr a public letter of reprimand last week and fined him $11,000 for the violations, which included improperly using more than $31,000 in campaign funds, using a state-issued credit card for more than $3,500 in personal purchases and receiving more than $3,500 in improper travel reimbursements. Darr has said he didn’t intentionally take money that he was not entitled to, and blamed inadequate record keeping and campaign-finance reports for the violations.

Last month, auditors for the Legislative Audit Division reported that Darr received $9,298 in improper mileage reimbursements for more than 22,000 personal vehicle miles and made personal purchases on a state-issued credit card for more than $2,500.They recommended Darr reimburse the state $9,836 for excess travel reimbursements and expenses. Darr said he plans to reimburse the state soon.

Darr’s decision not to resign prompted House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, to issue a statement that he’s considering appointing an adhoc committee to make procedural recommendations to the House Rules Committee if 51 of the House’s members decide to pursue impeachment.

No one has ever been impeached in Arkansas under the current constitution, written in 1874, his office’s research found, he said.

House Democratic leader Greg Leding of Fayetteville said Tuesday that he’s confident that he’ll get “51 votes and then some” to impeach Darr if Darr doesn’t resign by the Feb. 10 start of the fiscal session. The House comprises 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one Green Party member. Two Republicans representatives - Andy Mayberry of East End and Debra Hobbs of Rogers - have called on Darr to resign. Mayberry is a candidate for lieutenant governor; Hobbs is a candidate for governor.

Westerman, who leads the House Republican Caucus,said enough Republicans are prepared to join with Democrats, if necessary, to guarantee impeachment in that chamber.

“If charges are brought, I believe impeachment is inevitable,” he said. “That means he will have a trial in the Senate, and I don’t know what the Senate will do.”

Westerman, a Republican candidate for the 4th Congressional District, said he’s disappointed Darr didn’t resign Tuesday because Darr’s possible impeachment is diverting attention away from other important issues that the Republican-controlled Legislature has to consider with the fiscal session set to begin next month. The Joint Budget Committee and the Legislative Council are to begin budget hearings Tuesday in advance of the fiscal session.

Rep. Doug House, R-North Little Rock, who is a lawyer, said he plans to conduct a nonpartisan investigation of the allegations against Darr and to present his findings to Carter.

Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, Senate Republican Whip Jonathan Dismang of Searcy and Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain Home, later were reluctant to say much about Darr’s status, citing a state law requiring them to take an oath to be impartial if the Senate were to try Darr.

“If the odds are 50-50 [for a trial by the Senate], I think that merits caution in statements about [Darr’s resignation],” Lamoureux said.

“If you and I were going to trial, you and I wouldn’t want one of our jurors calling for our conviction in the paper before the trial,” he said.

Twenty-four votes in the35-member Senate would be required to convict Darr in an impeachment proceeding. The Senate comprises 21 Republicans and 13 Democrats and a vacant seat in Craighead County, formerly held by Jonesboro Democrat Paul Bookout, to be filled in a special election Jan. 14.

Bookout resigned Aug. 20 after the Ethics Commission fined him $8,000 for four violations, including the personal use of more than $53,000 in personal funds.

In his written statement Tuesday, Darr maintained that the only campaign funds “that ever came back to me, in whatever form, was a repayment of a campaign debt that was legally owed to me.”

While he improperly collected almost $10,000 in reimbursements over the past three years for travel to and from his home in Northwest Arkansas, he said he could have spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars by using the Arkansas State Police to provide transportation and security, or he could have purchased a state vehicle as his predecessor did, costing taxpayers thousands.

Darr said he misused funds by using the state credit card for personal expenses and these were for expenses that were for either official use or used by mistake while traveling and he reimbursed the state for these charges.

“These three facts are not worthy of my removal from office and certainty not worthy of personal attacks on my character and on my family,” he said in his statement. “The cost of a special election would be in excess of one million dollars. This cost coupled with the facts that I have outlined concerning my actions, convince me that I should stay in office. I believe that this course would be best for the state.”

Matt Campbell, an attorney and blogger who filed an ethics complaint against Darr that led to his Ethics Commission sanctions last week, said Darr’s statement was “embarrassingly transparent as an attempt to convince people that he didn’t do what he already admitted to doing by agreeing to the ethics settlement.

“Worse, the statement was full of lies and half-truths,” he said in a written statement.

For example, Campbell said Darr claimed to have accidentally used his state-issued credit cards, as if it was just a few times, but it was months and month of use for personal expenses, including three months and $1,500 in charges after he had already claimed to have realized his mistake in June 2012.

“Then, to wrap it all up, he chalks getting caught up to “political games,” suggesting that he is somehow the victim, when he is the one who, by his own admission, violated eleven state laws and received thousands in improper payments,” according to Campbell.

The lieutenant governor’s primary duties are to preside over the Senate when it’s in session and act as governor if the governor is outside the state. The job is considered part time and pays $41,896 a year.

Darr said he also works part time for the pizzeria that he once owned.

Last week, Arkansas’ five Republican members of Congress issued a written statement that “as elected officials, we are keepers of the public trust. We are bound by a very strict code that is the basis of that trust. Based on Lt. Gov. Darr’s own admissions, it is clear that he has violated that trust and he should step down immediately for the good of our state.”

On Tuesday, Darr said he’s not sure whether the Republican lawmakers acted on their emotions, were misinformed or had political motivations for urging him to step down.

“To be honest with you, I don’t really hold it against them. If I was in their situation, I don’t know, based upon the information that was provided to them, what I would have done. … I didn’t speak to any of them [beforehand], none of them had asked for my opinion or for my side of the story, so I think they were incorrect in that, so I still like them. It is nothing against that, but I disagree with how they handled it.”

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said in a written statement, “This is his decision, but I maintain that our state would be best served if Darr stepped down.”

U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., said in his statement that “I’m still hopeful Lt. Gov. Darr will recognize that resigning is best for him and all Arkansans.”

Republican U.S. Reps. Tom Cotton, and Rick Crawford stand behind by the joint statement made by the delegation last week, according to Cotton spokesman Caroline Rabbitt and Crawford spokesman Jonah Shumate.

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., could not be reached for comment by cellphone Tuesday night.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/08/2014