Ark. lt. gov. says he'll resign over ethics case

[Tx4obama]

Source: The AP

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Lt. Gov. Mark Darr said Friday he would leave office Feb. 1, giving in to pressure from Democrats and fellow Republicans who said his impeachment was inevitable over ethics violations tied to his campaign and office spending.

Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and Republican members of the state's congressional delegation had begun calling for Darr to resign on Dec. 31, a day after he agreed to pay $11,000 fines imposed by the state Ethics Commission for 11 separate violations, including making personal use of more than $30,000 of his campaign funds. Darr insisted that those violations, as well as improper spending a separate agency found on his state credit card, were unintentional, and had vowed to stay in office.

In a statement released by his office Friday evening, Darr said, "Politics can be a toxic business. I will no longer subject my family to its hard lessons." He had submitted his resignation to House Speaker Davy Carter and Senate President Michael Lamoureux.

Republican leaders in the Legislature expressed relief at Darr's decision. His refusal to leave office had threatened to overshadow GOP efforts in November to build on recent electoral gains, including the party's takeover of the state Legislature in the 2012 election.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ark-lt-gov-says-hell-resign-over-ethics-case

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Looks like he changed his mind from what he said on Tuesday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014691706

[ailsagirl]

1. Fasten your seat belts...

Suddenly it seems that all hell is breaking loose

I can barely keep up with the headlines

[loudsue]

3. Why do you say that? I'm not up on Arkansas politics, but I lived there for 1 1/2 years

and knew Beebe's friends/family in the course of my work. I knew the right-wingers were gaining strength there because of the oil/gas industry....fracking.... going on. I didn't realize they took over the whole legislature, like they have in NC.

That sucks. At least you have a dem governor. We've got McCrory in NC (repub) .

[WhiteTara]

4. We have a weak dem candidate for governor

but there's is not peach either. And yes, we turned red last November. Our democratic state party is in shambles.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. We COULD have had a stronger Democratic candidate for governor

if the state party hadn't forced Bill Halter to bow out to Mike Ross

[WhiteTara]

6. Yeah, except the party hated him for challenging

Blanche. They believe that if someone runs (no matter their qualifications) then no one should challenge them and Bill didn't play by their rules so he is a pariah.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. And Blanche was trailing Boozman badly even before the primary

How could they have expected her to make up such a huge amount of ground in just a few months? By having Clinton campaign for her, against a fellow Democrat?

[WhiteTara]

14. She won the primary by

election fraud...reduced number of polling places in the county that would carry him in the runoff.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Yeah, Garland County,

Halter's home county, had only two polling places in the runoff from what I've heard, and one of those was in a gated community (Hot Springs Village). It was almost as if the state party was intentionally handing the election to the Republicans on a silver platter.

[merrily]

9. I know that is what political parties believe, but it's bullshit.

The people are supposed to decide, not the party. IMO, politicians in office and parties should stay the hell out of primaries entirely.

[Hestia]

12. Is it not WhiteTara - I look askance at people who sing Beebe's praises, but for what? Where was he

when the Mayflower spill happened and is still happening? He gives a 15 second sound bite once a week, saying absolutely nothing.

Too bad the AG is term limited - he's the only one with any nads at this point in time who actually stands up for the people in Ark. WGAFF that he had an affair - I sure wouldn't keep me for voting for him. Yes, there is a bit more to the story, but at this point in time he about the one real Dem. left.

Term limits are why we are in the mess we are in now - all the good people have run, served, then had to leave. We need to bump up the term limits time periods or do away with them. Now we are stuck with bumpkins who haven't a friggin' clue as to how to run a state government and it is really starting to show.

[WhiteTara]

15. To bad his "nads" kept him out of the running

Men and their penises are a bad combo in politics.

He hasn't done much about Mayflower or any other things.

IT isn't so much that all the good people have run, termed out and no one is left...it's the way the party runs in this state. They have their way of doing things and it sucks but they wouldn't change strategies even if Jesus told them to.

[hog]

2. We had a similar Lt. Gov problem after last election.

[nyquil_man]

8. Mark Darr knows the ACA is unconstitutional

but doesn't know that personal use of campaign funds is illegal. Yeah... And there were people who wanted this clown as governor.

My sources tell me he's going to devote more time to combing his hair.

[merrily]

10. $30K is not enough to risk a political career over.

I bet an audit would show more.

[Hestia]

13. especially when he personally borrowed something like $350k just to get the office.

Who was stupid enough to loan him that money. Some bank in south Arkansas.

[Orsino]

11. Throw the bums out.

If elections weren't made of money, we could have had a serious politician in this seat.

[vkkv]

16. Um, what about JAIL TIME ???

Um, what about JAIL TIME ???

[Judi Lynn]

17. What a shame U.S. politics will lose such a noble Republican.

One can only marvel at the Republicans too skillful to get caught, so far.

[center]

Lt. Gov. Mark Darr[/center]