The Gov./Lt. Gov. alliance history

Only those with a short or nonexistent memory of Arkansas politics would scoff at the alliance pledged this past week between gubernatorial  candidate Mike Ross and wanna-be Lt. Governor candidate John Burkhalter.

Both men are Democrats. Each has an announced Democratic party candidate for next May.

They also have a collective vision for Arkansas’ future – Providing economic development activities that will put Arkansans to work all over the state.

It has worked before, and done so in a tight race for both the Governorship and the No. 2 spot under the State Capitol dome.

How did it work?

Take a trip, back in history to a delayed vote in Sebastian County that helped strengthen the umbilical cord between the Governor and Lt. Governor. Something that has not been seen in the last 50 plus years.

Remember Maurice Lee “Footsie” Britt?

Winthrop Rockefeller after a failed 1964 run at 10-term Governor Orval E. Faubus , (337,489 to 254,561) was gearing up for a 1966 campaign. WR, as Rockefeller was known, would spare no expense and take no prisoners in this second run at the Governor’s office.

With Faubus bowing out of the race, Democrats swayed by two major factors, were flocking to Rockefeller and seeking a change in Arkansas’ plantation style mentality.

First, Rockefeller, as a Republican, was talking about jobs, industry and industrial development. He was non-stop in promising to lift this state from the bottom of statistical categories on almost every national ranking out there.

Next was a fractious melee in the Democratic Party which saw seven men in a Democratic Primary contest. Then came a down-and-dirty August runoff between former Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Jim Johnson over Frank Holt by a slim 15,000 vote margin in the state wide run off.

“Justice Jim” as he was called, was a member of the White Citizens Council and an avowed Segregationist. He ran on vile, fiery rhetoric against the federal government intervention in the public schools and even hotter against Rockefeller’s wealth.

What “Justice Jim” did not count on was the popularity of State Rep. Bill Wells of Warren, who ran an impressive campaign as the Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, despite Johnson’s baggage.

Rockefeller was leaning heavily upon the fledgling Republican bases then in Pulaski, Sebastian and Miller counties and the small, but developing, but still rural base in Washington and Benton Counties (which were much smaller).

In an effort to capture North Arkansas and Sebastian County in particular, Rockefeller encouraged Maurice Lee “Footsie” Britt, a World War II wounded and decorated  Veteran,  former Razorback star athlete who married a Fort Smith gal, to run for Lt. Governor on the GOP ticket.

Britt, was a Democrat, who like many in the mid-1960s in Arkansas, switched to the Rockefeller Republicans.

Back in those days, the ticket, albeit Democratic more times than not, the Lt. Governor candidate could count as many votes as the candidate. But on election night November 1966, something unique happened.

Rockefeller beat “Justice Jim” easily, by 49,121 votes. But Britt struggled as the moderate Wells, polled more votes than “Justice Jim.” It looked like a dead heat.

Would a Republican governor serve with a Democratic Lt. Governor? How would that work, the politicians asked themselves? Days later after some recounting late boxes in Sebastian County, those votes put Britt over the top. It’s been rumored for decades that the powers that be in Little Rock, wanting to shed the state of “Justice Jim’s” antics ended the political career of Wells, putting Britt into the Lt. Governor’s seat to see if these two could deliver on their promises.

Britt served as Rockfeller’s No. 2 man for WR’s first and second term. When WR ran for a third try, Britt did not run, but was WR’s campaign manager. The third term (back before term limits) was a death wish.

A small-town lawyer from Charleston, Dale Bumpers, bested the Democratic field and even defeated Rockefeller on election night. Bumpers did not have the political capital to run a Lt. Governor under his wing. He inherited Dr. Bob Riley, a decorated WWII Marine, who taught political science at Ouachita Baptist.

Democrats never attempted the one-two punch of pair like Rockefeller-Britt. In fact most candidates for Governor never really cared who was in the No. 2 seat.

Until last week’s announcement.

Ross-Burkhalter may have something to offer Arkansas voters. This Governor/Lt. Governor alliance may mend fences within the Democratic Party and show a united and purposeful reason to elect this tag-team of office seekers. Their statement about being united in the search for industrial development and more jobs for Arkansans sure sounds solid.

But in 2014, as it was in 1966, that alliance is always up to the voters.