Beebe tells lawyers to get involved in public service
Gov. Mike Beebe said Friday that attorneys throughout the state have a responsibility to get involved in public service by either running for office or supporting good candidates.
“For a number of these sessions, I have talked to you about the need for you to exercise your leadership ability and accept your role because of the extraordinary privilege you have had to have the best education in the world,” Beebe told the Arkansas Bar Association’s 114th annual meeting at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
“If you don’t do it, then we’re in trouble. They used to say that there were too many lawyers involved in public service; now we don’t have enough lawyers involved,” he said.
Beebe said he realizes that, with term limits in place, it is difficult to plan for the long term and to make the kind of commitment that is required to try and reschedule and reorganize how one makes a living to be compatible with public service, especially in the Legislature.
“But that doesn’t negate the fact that what I said in years past is not still applicable today about the need for your involvement and your responsibility for that involvement.
“Specific engagement in the political process, I think, is paramount, particularly when it comes to lawyers,” he said.
Beebe told the roomful of lawyers that Arkansas has made such significant strides in the last few years that “we need first
to be embracing and talking about it, and second, spreading that message.”
“If you don’t love yourself, nobody else is going to love you. I think we need to shout from the rooftops who Arkansas is today, what Arkansas is today, where Arkansas has come from and that we’re still going,” he said.
Beebe also reminded everyone they should not be guilty any longer of saying, “Thank God for Mississippi.”
“Let Alabama, or Georgia, say it. You say you are irritated that Maryland is first in K- 12 education and we’re only fifth.
“Who would have believed not that many years ago that Arkansas would be ranked fifth overall in K- 12 public education, according to national rankings?” Beebe asked.
“Lawyers have a lot to do with that, the Supreme Court has a lot to do with that, the Legislature has a lot to do with that, and I’ll take my fair share of that as well, but the point is that it’s a collective effort and if there’s one thing state government has a primary responsibility towards, it’s public education.
“And if you can climb the ladder as fast as Arkansas has climbed it in that category, it’s something you ought to be talking about, shouting about. But what I find is that more people in other parts of the country know about this progress than our own people,” he said.
Beebe also told the group that a higher education ranking nationally attracts more outside investment and interest in the state.
“If you’re doing great in that arena, you have a greater opportunity to keep your people in the state. Some of you are old enough to have children who are grown and you don’t want them taking your grandchildren to New York or Los Angeles to get a job.
“The greater we are at generating this kind of talent, improving that education statistic and keeping our people here, the greater opportunity you’ll have for a better quality of life when you get older,” he said.
In addition, Beebe said the state has survived the worst economic downturn that most of those in attendance had seen.
“This is the worst economic downturn, starting in late 2007, and there are still vestiges of it that we’re going through, yet Arkansas has survived.
“You talk about that. Tell your friends in Missouri, Oregon, New York or wherever about it. Talk to your kids and grandkids, church members and colleagues about it.”
Even though the state is not perfect, has suffered losses and has communities and sections of the state that are hurting, Beebe said, “We’ve got a heck of story to tell. Progress is made by a collective effort. You are required to help make that change.”