Senate leader relieved Darr decided to go

Impeachment, ‘we’ll never know,’ states Lamoureux

Lt. Gov. Mark Darr (shown) said Tuesday that he didn’t believe his mistakes warranted being impeached by the House.
Lt. Gov. Mark Darr (shown) said Tuesday that he didn’t believe his mistakes warranted being impeached by the House.

A day after Lt. Gov. Mark Darr announced his resignation, effective Feb. 1, the Arkansas Senate’s leader declined to speculate whether senators would have convicted the Springdale Republican and removed him from office.

“The good thing is we’ll never know,” Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, said Saturday.

“I’m glad he saved us from having to find the answer to that.”

It’s inevitable that the question will be posed in political circles across the state.

The Senate is composed of 21 Republicans and 13Democrats with a vacant seat, formerly held by Jonesboro Democrat Paul Bookout, to be filled in a special election Tuesday.

After Darr rejected calls for his resignation from Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and the state’s heavily Republican congressional delegation, House Republican leader Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs said it was “inevitable” that the House would vote to impeach Darr if he stayed in office, an assessment other House leaders shared.

Gov. Mike Beebe told media members Wednesday that "nothing's changed" in regards to his stance on Lt. Gov. Mark Darr following Darr's comments on Tuesday.

Beebe: 'Nothing's changed' on Darr

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All constitutional officers, judges and prosecuting attorneys are subject to impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanors and gross misconduct in office” under Article 15, Section 1 and 2 of the state constitution.

No one has ever been impeached in Arkansas under the current constitution, written in 1874, according to House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot.

In impeachment proceedings, the process begins in the 100-memberHouse, where 51 votes would have been required to impeach Darr and send the matter to the 35-member Senate for a trial, where 24 votes would have be required for conviction, according to House officials.

Darr said Tuesday that he didn’t believe his mistakes warranted being impeached by the House.

“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 said in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Nearly two weeks ago, the state Ethics Commission issued Darr a public letter of reprimand and fined him $11,000 for 11 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.

Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, who was among a handful of lawmakers Darr consulted before rejecting in newspaper and television interviews calls for his resignation, said Saturday that he “wouldn’t take the odds that [Darr] would be found innocent” by the Senate.

“Not knowing you were safe, you couldn’t take the risk,” he said. Most senators were reluctant to signal how they would vote, he added.

Arkansas officials who are convicted by the Senate after impeachment by the House are required by law to pay for the cost of the proceedings.

“Ultimately eventual impeachment [by the Houseof Representatives] was coming and along with impeachment comes a $50,000 price tag [if convicted],” said Hester, who said Darr informed him by text message that he would resign. “What he was really fighting for was to get his side of the story out and he accomplished that.”

But Lamoureux said Darr never talked to him about the odds of the Senate convicting him or the cost to Darr if Darr was convicted.

“I don’t really think that was what he was thinking,” when he decided to announce his resignation, according to Lamoureux. “I don’t think he analyzed it to that point.”

“I think it was everything altogether,” he said.

The lieutenant governor is paid $41,896 a year. He primarily presides over the state Senate when it’s in session (usually a few weeks in even-numbered years and a few months in odd-numbered years) and to act as governor when the governor is outside the state. Darr, who also works part time for a pizzeria he once owned, said Tuesday that he wasn’t remaining in office to keep his salary because he could make more money in another job.

Lamoureux had said that it wouldn’t be a good idea for the Senate to have a trial during the fiscal session and the cost of the trial outside of the fiscal session could be roughly $50,000 just for lawmakers’ per diem and mileage expenses.

Like Lamoureux, Senate Democratic Whip Bobby Pierce of Sheridan declined Saturday to speculate on whether the Senate would have convicted Darr.

“You really don’t know. That’s what you have a trial for,” Pierce said.

If there had been a Senate trial, Lamoureux was prepared for disputes to arise over which senators were eligible to decide Darr’s fate.

Lamoureux said some people questioned whether senators who made extensive public comments about Darr’s problems should be allowed to vote on whether to convict Darr since state law requires them to swear to be impartial in such a trial. That makes handicapping such a vote difficult, he said.

Darr, who was elected in 2010 in his first bid for public office, said Friday night that politics “can be a toxic business.”

“I will no longer subject my family to its hard lessons. All my forgiveness to those who play the games and all my respect and appreciation to those who serve with class and humility,” Darr said in a news release.

Darr could not be reached for further comment on his cellphone Saturday.

A spokesman for Beebe said the governor will begin considering Monday how to handle Darr’s departure. Under Arkansas law, a special election must be held within 150 days of the governor declaring the position vacant.Some lawmakers, including Lamoureux, have discussed possible legislation allowing Beebe to leave the post unfilled until Darr’s term expires in January 2015.

Once Darr goes, Lamoureux will be next in line to serve as governor.

Matt Campbell of Little Rock, an attorney and liberal blogger who filed the ethics complaint that ultimately led to the Ethics Commission’s findings against Darr, said Saturday that Darr “had no choice but to resign, given both the number of ethical violations he admitted to and the fact that the Legislature was ready to impeach [him] if he did not.”

“At the same time, I was somewhat disappointed by the statement that he released. It mirrored the ridiculous statement from last Tuesday, in that he continues to act like he did nothing wrong. He even tried to sound like he was being magnanimous in resigning. For as many times as he said he was taking responsibility for his mistakes, to continue to play the mistreated victim is embarrassing,” Campbell said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/12/2014

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