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King May Run for GOP Chair

King: May run for GOP chair
King: Weighing run for GOP chair

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Mike Wickline reports that Rep. Bryan King says he’ll decide by next week if he’ll join the race for Arkansas GOP chair. (Arkansas Project commenters were floating this rumor last evening.)

King, of Carroll County, would join former state Sen. Doyle Webb and current GOP treasurer Joseph Wood among the announced candidates. Former Rep. Jake Files is also rumored to be looking at the post, The Arkansas Project noted yesterday.

Current chair Dennis Milligan, who announced last weekend he would not seek re-election to the post, says he’s backing Wood.

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17 thoughts on “King May Run for GOP Chair

  • Arkansas GOP Kremlinologists are buzzing about Milligan’s support of Wood. There are only about six people who live in Saline County who actually like Doyle Webb — but most or all of them are current or former Saline County GOP elected officials who have some pull. Doyle and Dennis are the backbone of this Saline GOP mafia and it is very surprising to see a split between the two of them.

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  • I kick ass

    King is a great guy, but I am against sitting legislators chairing the party. Was against it with Gilbert, am against it now.

    I think that George O’Conner should be our chairman.

    Reply
  • David Kinkade

    IKA,
    Uh…who?
    D.

    Reply
  • Where there's a Will there's a Webb

    TheCabin.net

    July 02, 2000

    Lawmaker questioned about inheritance
    Associated Press

    BENTON — A state senator who once declared himself “hooked on ethics” is being questioned about a possible ethics violation regarding an inheritance he received from a widow friend.

    Sen. Doyle Webb, R-Benton, said recently that he legitimately inherited assets worth between $200,000 and $300,000 from Merle S. Salberg of Benton after he helped her draw up her will, then carried it out after her death.

    But Saline County Chancery Judge Robert Garrett, Circuit-Chancery Judge Grisham Phillips and Circuit-Chancery Judge Gary Arnold are trying to determine if they should file an ethics complaint against Webb with the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct.

    The attorneys’ code of conduct says that neither a lawyer nor a partner may prepare an instrument providing the lawyer a substantial gift.

    Garrett said the judges have agreed not to comment on the matter until and unless formal action is taken.

    Webb acknowledged recently that the judges have asked him for an explanation, and Webb’s former associate, Charles J. Doerpinghaus, said the judges have taken a sworn statement from him, the Donrey Media Group reported Saturday.

    In explaining his inheritance, Webb said that he and Salberg were old friends, that he had been friends with her husband, and that they had attended the same church. He cites rules seeming to provide a waiver from the ethics guideline if the client is adamant and the attorney determines that nothing would change materially if the client went to another lawyer.

    In 1993, Webb prepared a will for Salberg naming her niece, Kathryn LaNelle Mazander of Hot Springs, as the recipient of all her property except the property specified in the will.

    Webb said Salberg then told him in January 1996 that she wanted to leave the bulk of her estate to him. He said he told her he couldn’t change the will, naming himself. She then suggested she go to his law associate at the time, Doerpinghaus, Webb said.

    Salberg died Dec. 18, 1996, at age 86.

    Webb noted that Doerpinghaus prepared the actual amendment to the will, adding Webb as an heir. Webb said Doerpinghaus was not his actual law partner, but was an associate at the time. He said Doerpinghaus shared expenses but not fees.

    Webb said he couldn’t be sure of the amount he received from the will because he never took inventory. The widow’s family heirs, Mazander and Mazander’s son, who received specified and smaller inheritances while Webb got everything else — a house, car, stocks and cash — signed documents prepared in Webb’s office waiving the inventory requirement.

    Webb said he offered at the reading of the will Dec. 23, 1996, to disclaim his portion but the family members insisted on following Salberg’s wishes. He said he let the family members go into the house to take whatever they wanted.

    Alan Mazander of Sherwood, Mazander’s son, said Webb never made such an offer and Webb limited the family’s access to the house to an hour.

    Alan Mazander said that when Webb told the family at the reading of the will that he was the primary heir, “we were just kind of shocked.”

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  • I kick ass

    Have a beer. The answer will come to you.

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  • George O’Connor is a large beer distributor and very successful business man. Really great guy, but doubtful he’d be interested in real party politics.

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  • Cornelius

    Anybody else hear that Rex Nelson’s name has been entered into the fray?

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  • David Kinkade

    Cornelius,
    I have heard same.
    D.

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  • Rex Sucks

    No Huckabee stooges. No Rex, no Doyle.

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  • Teddy Republican

    No one associated closely with Huckabee or we will be spending the next few years getting ready for him to run rather than building our state party.

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  • Not a GOP

    I was told by a Carroll County JP that King was under investigation by the Election Commission. Guess not?

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  • Fourche River Rex

    To all those that say, “No to anyone connected to Huckabee,” just where do you think you are going to find more experience than people associated with the most successful Republican candidate in Arkansas history? Seriously? Only three Republicans in recent history have won state wide elections. Huckabee won more of those elections than anyone. He served for over 10 years and his staff got a lot of experience in politics. Honestly, former Huckabee staffers are some of the most experienced politicos in Arkansas, regardless of party. To dismiss them simply because of who they worked for and not examine their qualifications is rather foolish.

    This isn’t a popularity contest, this is politics. Do you want to win or sit back and fight over the same scraps you’ve fought over for the last few years?

    How about Dan Greenberg, a man found on this very blog. Should he be disqualified as he served on Huckabee’s staff? Me thinks not. Just because Dan worked for Huckabee, it does not mean he shares all of Huckabee’s views or is Huckabee’s drudge, vassal, or peon. But Dan did get experience in Huckabee’s office that is probably pretty handy from time to time.

    If we actually want to win something, we all need to stop being petty and fighting each other for scraps and about whom is more Republican than whom. Who did or did not work for a candidate that you don’t like doesn’t matter. The chances are, that person probably did not agree with their boss 100% on all issues. If you want to know that person’s opinions on issues, then ask that person. Don’t assume that someone that worked for Huckabee agrees with him totally or that he is forever enslaved to Huckabee to serve only Huckabee.

    What matters is experience, the ability to raise money and the ability to get things done. Judgment is pretty handy too.

    So, go ahead and cast aspersions based upon your own cult of personality but be prepared to continue to wander about the wilderness. Until we can give up our infighting, jealousy, etc., we are not going to be anything more than we are now.

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  • I agree with Fourche River Rex; no one should be excluded or included simply because they are connected with Huckabee. The fact is that he was governor for 10+ years meaning a lot of people who were involved in politics during that time period worked with him or for him at some time. No one should be elected simply because of that fact nor excluded simply because of it. It is time to put all that behind us and come together for the future.

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  • Teddy Republican

    Notice I said CLOSELY associated with Huckabee. I think the world of Dan Greenberg, but he is a sitting representative, and I don’t think that any siting elected official should be the chairman.

    I think we did a great job this cycle. We held our seats, picked up three, and competed closely in at least three or more others. We also picked up JP seats across the state.

    We weren’t distracted by statewide, congressional, senatorial, or presidential races that drain volunteers and money from our local races. Once we build some strength at the local level we will be able to compete every cycle at the higher levels.

    Think of it as a football program. If you don’t have a good program, you may have a winning team every now and then or a superstar player from time to time but you won’t consistently compete for the championship. We need a good program.

    We have had a governor, senator, and multiple congressmen. We have lost local representation under all of them except Hammersmidt. He was the only one who cared to build the state and local parties (as did Win, but his was an uphill battle). When they lost or termed out we had nothing to replace them.

    If we get distracted by a larger race we won’t be building a good program.

    …. by the way did I mention that the chairman’s primary responsibility is to raise money and help recruit candidates.

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  • Fourche River Rex

    Teddy,
    I disagree with you on this being a good election cycle. After being in the trenches in 1994 and 1996 and the excitement of the growth during those years, three piddling little house seats is about as exciting as watching The Big Joe Polka Show on a rainy Saturday night. JP seats are good to have, but they don’t have much stroke in the big picture of things.

    Sure, we have to focus on those races and win them, but how very sad that we could not find candidates for three Congressional races and a Senate race. The fact that we suck so bad that no one will take a shot at those races says a lot. Those JP wins don’t offset how bad we do suck. And we should have won at least two other house seats. So, while I do agree with you in general, I disagree with your optimistic view of how well we did.

    I’d say if our party had a living will, the docs would have pulled the plug long ago.

    Where the local races matter is that it accustomes people to voting for Republicans. That’s the value in local races, we need that. But we also need people up the ticket to build from that end as well. That’s where the money and the influence is…and lets not kid ourselves, that stuff is very important in a political party.

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  • Teddy Republican

    Rex…. What happened to the growth? Where is it now? Three house seats is good considering our recent performance. And where did Greenberg come from… oh yeah a JP seat, Or how about Allen Kerr… another JP seat. JP’s make reps. Reps make senators. State reps and senators make congressmen. ETC……

    We are where we are. I could go on a rant about how we got in the shape we are in, but we need to look to the future.

    A Republican governor can’t do much with a dem house and senate, and a lone republican senator doesn’t have as much pull as one from a state with a Republican governor, legislature and congressional delegation.

    I have lived in other southeastern states that have built the Republican Party into a competitive organization. They worked on winning seats little by little, developed a farm team and instituted practices that continually cultivated new Republican candidates. It wasn’t exciting. It wasn’t always fun. It was long and hard. They now compete every cycle and at every level, and the loss of one superstar doesn’t cripple the party. They have others in the pipeline.

    We cannot survive without a well built farm team.

    I am here and involved not because it’s fun.. but because I’m a Republican.

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  • Barbara

    JOE is the man for R. State Party Chair. I want Doyle to stay home and get something done around the house for a change. Besides, Doyle has already been State Party Chair – in effect – when he worked for Rock and we lost seats in the State House…. so let’s not kid ourselves about how effective Doyle might be. Been there; done that.

    Doyle, please stay home; I need you there.

    Reply

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