A legislative panel on Wednesday signed off on the Arkansas Minority Health Commission's plan to hire ShaRhonda Love -- the wife of state Rep. Fred Love, D-Little Rock -- as its director at a salary of $79,092.
ShaRonda Love is a senior policy analyst at the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where her salary is $65,000 a year, UAMS spokesman Leslie Taylor said.
The Legislative Council's and governor's approval are required by law for state agencies to hire a spouse of a lawmaker at that salary level. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson approved the Minority Health Commission's request to hire ShaRhonda Love in a letter dated Dec. 9 to Larry Walther, director of the state Department of Finance and Administration.
During its meeting Wednesday, the Legislative Council's Personnel Subcommittee recommended that the council on Friday approve the commission's request to hire Love, after two lawmakers asked questions about her hiring.
Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, said it seemed like this was the second time that the Personnel Subcommittee has had to consider a request from a state agency to hire Love during the past six to nine months.
In August of this year, the Legislative Council approved UAMS' plan to hire her at the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, at a $65,000 salary, from her previous job at the Department of Health, where her salary was $57,342 a year. In May 2015, the Legislative Council approved the Department of Health's request to hire her as the school health director at the same $56,774 a year salary she made at UAMS as project director for health education.
Rep. John Payton, R-Wilburn, said he wants to know about Love's qualifications to be the Minority Health Commission's director.
Commissioner Willa Black Sanders said Love has a master's degree in public health from UAMS' College of Public Health and "is well-published on health-related issues and considered an excellent researcher.
"She has extensive experience on a lot of health-related issues working with the Legislature, excellent communication skills, [is] well-known in the community, [and] would be an outstanding director for the Minority Health Commission," Sanders said.
The position has been vacant since mid-August, Sanders said.
Afterward, she said the commission received 52 applicants for its director job and conducted interviews before deciding to hire Love.
Metro on 12/15/2016