By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — With pivotal state policy to be made and billions of taxpayer dollars on the line in the 2009 regular session, Gov. Mike Beebe will seek cooperation on key issues among a cadre of government leaders, some of whom have clashed in the past — with him and each other.
A 20-year state Senate veteran, Beebe has legislative knowledge and experience but must forge consensus on such major measures as a 1-cent grocery tax cut, funding a statewide trauma system and implementing a state-run lottery.
Here are some of the key players who along with the governor will help shape the agenda for the upcoming session:
Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, incoming Senate chairman of the powerful Joint Budget Committee.
The 52-year-old former teacher and administrator at the University of Central Arkansas won no points with Beebe during the governor’s 2006 campaign. The state GOP, with Baker as its chairman, helped pay for ads seeking to link Beebe with former Democratic state Sen. Nick Wilson, who served time in federal prison on tax evasion and corruption convictions. Baker said later he regretted funding the ads.
When Baker ran for a second term last year, Beebe was a staunch supporter of his opponent, Democrat Joe White. Baker won with 55 percent of the vote. After the election, he and Beebe met, presumably to bury the hatchet.
Rep. Robbie Wills, D-Conway, incoming House speaker.
As House leader, the 40-year-old lawyer will wield considerable power, both in his appointments of House committee chairmen and in controlling the flow of legislation to the committees — the speaker can doom a bill by sending it to a hostile committee or bless it by assigning it to a committee likely to be sympathetic.
Promising after the speaker’s election to be open and inclusive, Wills appears more prone to consensus building than arm-twisting. He has said he is willing to consider Beebe’s proposal to reduce the sales tax on groceries by 1 cent, but that “we have to answer the question first whether we can have a tax cut” in a deepening national recession.
Sen. Bob Johnson, D-Bigelow, the incoming Senate president pro tem.
Johnson, 45, and his brothers are partners in a Bigelow construction firm. Four years ago, he led a revolt by largely junior senators who wrested from senior colleagues control over divvying millions of unused state dollars among lawmakers for capital projects in their home districts.
Baker was among his key allies in the effort, which also gave the new ruling coalition known as The Brotherhood the power to end selection of Senate president pro tem by seniority and install a secret ballot. Johnson is the second Senate leader the group has produced, after outgoing pro tem Jack Critcher in 2007.
Johnson sponsored the 2005 legislation that opened the door to new electronic games of skill at Arkansas’ two pari-mutuel race tracks that have generated $1 billion in wagering since their introduction in 2006.
Johnson has clashed with Beebe on several issues over the years, most recently by opposing the natural gas severance tax increase that Beebe pushed through a special legislative session in 2008.
Rep. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, House chairman of Joint Budget.
Maloch has praised Beebe’s balanced budget proposal, which calls for setting aside up to $150 million of a projected $300 million surplus as a rainy day fund to shore up Medicaid, prisons and other essential services.
The 51-year-old banker, lawyer and rancher said in November that while one-time money normally should not be used for continuing needs, “I do think it’s appropriate to consider using that to get us through” the current economic downturn.
Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, Democrat. The 48-year-old former Clinton administration official briefly challenged Beebe in the 2006 Democratic primary before bowing out to run for lieutenant governor instead.
He was architect of the successful drive last year for a constitutional amendment authorizing a state-run lottery to fund college scholarships. The amendment leaves it to the Legislature to implement the games, and the issue is sure to be among the most hotly debated in the session.
Halter recently released a list of suggestions on how to structure the program, some of which conflict with Beebe’s views. The governor is against Halter’s proposal to create a separate lottery scholarship program as well as Halter’s suggestion to begin funding it from a surplus of existing scholarship funds before the first lottery ticket is sold.
Sen. Steve Faris, D-Malvern, chairman of the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is likely to play a key role in structuring the lottery program.
Faris, 47, general manager of a rural telephone cooperative, has said he is more inclined to take cues from the governor than the lieutenant governor on the lottery. He has also criticized Halter for releasing his proposals to the media before legislative debate on the lottery begins.
“It certainly doesn’t reflect a team attitude,” Faris said in December.
