State lands exec to seek 2nd term

Efficiency, customer service remain his focus, Land says

Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands Tommy Land is seeking reelection in 2022, Land announced this week.

Land, a Republican from Heber Springs, was elected to a four-year term as the state land commissioner in 2018.

The land commissioner’s primary responsibility is to collect delinquent real estate taxes that couldn’t be collected at the county level. The office also has jurisdiction over the state’s navigable waters, submerged lands and mineral leasing on state property.

In the news release announcing his reelection bid, Land said the office has cut red tape for the citizens of Arkansas, focused on increasing efficiency and ushered office technology into the 21st century. Land hopes to continue with the same focus in a second four-year term.

“If given the chance to lead the office [for] another four-year term, my focus will remain the same: efficiency and customer service,” he said. He is 65 and retired from Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.

Land said that most notable on his list of achievements is giving residents the option to conduct most interactions with the land commissioner’s office online. Many Arkansans previously would have to drive to Little Rock to complete notarized paperwork to redeem property. That process can now be completed online from their homes, he said.

Land’s campaign issued a news release Wednesday announcing his reelection after this newspaper asked his office whether he is seeking reelection in 2022 and noted that state Rep. Roger Lynch, R-Lonoke, was registered at that time to file campaign finance reports as a candidate for land commissioner on the secretary of state’s office website.

Lynch was no longer registered on the secretary of state’s website Thursday to file campaign finance reports as a candidate for land commissioner.

Lynch said Wednesday that he is “absolutely not” running for land commissioner in 2022.

“I have a little heating-andair business that keeps me real busy,” he said. “I don’t need another job.”

Lynch said he didn’t know that he was registered with the secretary of state’s office to file campaign finance reports as a candidate for land commissioner until the newspaper asked about it Wednesday, and “somebody” made a mistake.

He said his certified public accountant files his campaign finance reports for his House District 14 campaigns with the secretary of state’s office.

He has served in the House since 2017.