Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — The chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas informed party leaders Friday that he is working to resolve a foreclosure action on a family business.

The foreclosure, disclosed Thursday, was filed Aug. 5 against Webb and his wife, Barbra, owners of Webb’s House of Flowers in Benton. The couple owe more than $660,000 in principal, interest and late fees to First Security Bank in Benton for the business they purchased in 2006, according to court documents.

“I am a business owner, like many of you, facing the challenges of running a small business in these tough economic times,” Webb said in a letter Friday to the Republican Party of Arkansas’ state committee. “We are working with the bank to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.”

The state GOP released a copy of the letter to news outlets.

Webb, a state senator from 1995 to 2003, was elected chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas in December.
In 2001, Webb was reprimanded by the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct after the panel found he violated three rules of professional conduct but committed no fraud by accepting about $321,000 as beneficiary of a client’s will.

Along with the reprimand, he was fined $1,000.