Constitutional Officers Have Different Spending Plans On Office Makeovers

KATV’s Elicia Dover reports:

Whether you voted for them or not, in November, Arkansas got a brand new set of state leaders. It’s not unusual for new state officers taking over at the capitol to make their offices feel a little bit more like home.

“I have no plans to redo the office. I think it looks great the way it is. We may…uh I put different pictures up because I have my own pictures. We may rearrange some things but I think the office looks great,” said Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin.

But in the past, some have made some big changes or some just expensive ones, using a large chunk of tax dollars remodeling.

“I can remember when Lt. Gov Bill Halter came into office, he upgraded some things in there, I think there was a carpet he paid for, a rug that he paid for that created some headlines. We saw the constitutional officers bought flat screen TVs back in the day when they weren’t as commonplace as they are now. That raised some eyebrows,” said Roby Brock of Talk Business and Politics.

On their first day in office, Channel 7 News caught up with all of the constitutional officers and asked them about their plans for remodeling or spending.

“Oh just some minor things, my office has carpet in it and I’d like to return it to the hardwood floors, which is not a major expense, it’s a matter of just pulling up the carpet, because the hardwood floors are so pretty. Maybe a little touch up painting here and there, but nothing major,” said State Treasurer Dennis Milligan.

For the entrance of the treasurer’s office there are much bigger plans.

“Two weeks into my administration, I asked the capitol architects to come in and they looked this thing over stem to stern and gave me some recommendations,” said Milligan.

Milligan says a complete overhaul is planned for the front office.

“What we want to do is return it back to the historic way it was in 1912,” said Milligan.

The plan calls for moving walls, bringing in brass bars and fixtures, restoring the original teller windows, among other construction. Milligan says he even has plans for tour guides to wear period costumes for tour guides into the vault.

“This office is the most toured office we have in the capitol and we thought it would be neat for the citizens of Arkansas to be able to come in here and see how it would be in 1912,” Milligan said.

The treasurer’s office says the big renovation won’t come out of their budget though, they’re applying for a state historic property grant. There’s no price tag on the grant the office will be requesting.

Another historic office is a little more from recent history: the 1970’s. The auditor’s office is covered in wood paneling, but newly elected Auditor Andrea Lea says she’s fine with it.

“We call it the 70’s vibe, yes it still has the old paneling in there, but everything’s functional, it’s working and I have other ways to spend that money,” said Lea.

Over at the Attorney General’s office, newly elected Attorney General Leslie Rutledge moved into a completely remodeled space. Her predecessor Dustin McDaniel spent a hefty chunk of change on overhauling the office.

In 2010, remodeling charges reached nearly $398,000. In the last three fiscal years, an additional $2,767,145.50 was spent remodeling. Rutledge says, for her, just a coat of paint in her office will do.

“It’s the public’s money when you spend it and to only buy what you need. That’s what we talk to citizen’s about. That’s what we talk to Arkansans about and so we’re going to be just as careful at the attorney general’s office,” said Rutledge.

The governor’s office has a long history of changes, with each governor doing something to make it their personal space.

“We saw when Mike Huckabee became governor he wound up doing a complete makeover, the paint job in the governor’s office, complete with white paint on some of the paneling. Mike Beebe reversed that. He came into office and ripped all of that off and had it restored to its original,” said Brock.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, however, hasn’t had a lot of time to think about his office. He’s using rental furniture for the time being.

“Eventually that will change, but as you know the session has been busy, busy, busy,” said J.R. Davis, the governor’s spokesman.

The other constitutional officers – Secretary of State Mark Martin and Land Commissioner John Thurston – were re-elected to their positions and didn’t make any changes to their offices this year.

Watch Dover’s full report or offer comments at this link.