Darr Resignation Puts End To Drama

The latest drama in the state Capitol is apparently over. Lt. Gov. Mark Darr will resign effective Feb. 1.

The Republican office holder made the right decision for himself, his family, his party and the state.

Darr’s resignation statement, delivered to legislative leaders on Friday, doesn’t explain why he’s waiting until month’s end. But Feb. 1 will be soon enough to let the Legislature turn its attention to the upcoming fiscal session and the $5 billion budget being proposed for the coming year.

Darr’s continuation in office had become too much the focus in Little Rock, after he admitted 11 violations of state ethics laws and regulations and agreed to pay a fine of $11,000 to the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

Just a week ago, Darr tried to explain away his violations as unintentional mistakes.

The attempt seemed to galvanize legislative intent to impeach the state’s second highest-ranking official, the person next in line to the governor’s office.

Indeed, his colleagues were using words like “inevitable” to describe the likelihood of Darr’s impeachment.

Defiant on Tuesday, when he refused to resign, Darr said he was putting a stake in the ground “for those Arkansans who are sick and tired of these types of political games and the people who play them.”

By Friday, he wrote, “Politics can be a toxic business. I will no longer subject my family to its hard lessons.”

However he came to this conclusion to quit, it is the right course. Darr is in a position of public trust, a heartbeat away from a much larger position of trust; and he has lost credibility with the people he serves.

The former pizzeria owner from Springdale won the office in a Republican surge in 2010 that secured two other statewide offices and Republican majorities in the state House of Representatives and the state Senate.

Republicans also won all four of the state’s federal congressional district seats.

It was an election that clearly favored candidates, even relatively unknown ones like Darr, who had an “R” by their names on the ballot.

Darr defeated a veteran Democratic politician, Shane Broadway of Bryant, to win the seat with 51 percent of the vote.

The new lieutenant governor immediately became a rising figure in Republican politics. He once considered running for governor this year but settled instead on a bid for the U.S. House in the state’s 4th District. He was set to move back to the district but ultimately decided against the race.

He had been saddled with the ethics complaint that even kept him from declaring for re-election.

When the complaint finally reached conclusion, the state Ethics Commission levied a hefty fine and revealed Darr’s personal use of more than $31,000 in campaign funds as well as his use of thousands of state tax dollars for improper travel reimbursements and other expenses.

The Pulaski County prosecutor also initiated an inquiry into possible crimes.

That investigation continues despite Darr’s announced resignation.

So, the drama isn’t completely over.

The conversation is turning to what happens next for the lieutenant governor’s office, which is arguably an unnecessary office.

Gov. Mike Beebe is researching whether he absolutely must call a special election to fill the seat. (He thinks he’ll have to call an election within 150 days of declaring the oft ce vacant.)

Meanwhile, some lawmakers want to change state law to allow the vacancy to continue until a new lieutenant governor can be elected, as previously scheduled, in November’s general election.

The Legislature could take the matter up in the fiscal session, but it will require strong support in both chambers to add it to the agenda.

Whether that happens now or not, lawmakers ought to begin a serious interim look at all of the statewide offices to determine which should be kept at all and which might be better filled by appointment rather than election.

The Legislature would have to wait until the 2015 session to consider a constitutional amendment on point, but the discussion should begin now.

BRENDA BLAGG IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST AND LONGTIME JOURNALIST IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 01/15/2014

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