Appointments Made To Citizens Commission Created By Amendment Three (UPDATED)

The Governor, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Senate President and Speaker of the House released the names of their appointees to a citizens committee that will set legislative, executive officeholders and judicial salaries.

As part of Amendment 3, approved by voters in November, an Independent Citizens Commission will now determine salaries for elected state officials.

The seven-member commission is appointed by all three branches of government.

In a joint press release, the appointees were named. They include:

Governor’s Appointees:
Barbara Graves, Little Rock, retired businesswoman.
Larry Ross, Sherwood, President of Ross Consulting, L.L.C.

Senate Appointees:
Stuart Hill, Searcy, Vice President and Treasurer of White County Medical Center.
Brenda James, Little Rock, Math Coach in the Little Rock School District.

House Appointees:
Mitch Berry, Little Rock, Attorney at Dyke & Winzerling, P.L.C.
Stephen Tipton, Cabot, Regional Vice President of Centennial Bank.

Chief Justice’s Appointee:
Chuck Banks, Little Rock, Senior Partner at Banks Law Firm, P.L.L.C.

These appointments will expire November 5, 2018.

The citizens’ commission will meet quickly to begin its work, according to requirements of the new law. Talk Business & Politics blogger Jason Tolbert outlined some of the major provisions the commission will work on plus his thoughts regarding the commission’s work at this link.

UPDATE: At a press conference late Wednesday morning, Gov. Beebe discussed his expectations – or lack thereof – on the new commission’s charge.

“I have no expectations on that issue,” Beebe said. “I think they go in objectively to look at the situation. Look, I never griped about salaries. I knew what the salary was when I ran. And if I wasn’t happy with that, I shouldn’t have run.”

“Now having said that, looking toward the future to make sure you’ve got good folks to run for all these things [offices], they ought to look at all of that, you ought to be competitive. But salary ought not to be your number one reason for running for public office. If it is, you’ve got the wrong folks running,” Beebe added.