Halter wades back into political scene
LITTLE ROCK — Taking a key role campaigning for an ethics initiative and mulling a run for governor in 2014, Bill Halter is making it clear that he’s not done with Arkansas politics.
The former lieutenant governor’s announcement last week that he was backing an ethics initiative that includes a ban on lobbyist gifts to lawmakers is the clearest sign yet that his brief political hiatus is over.
Halter announced last week he is joining the Better Ethics Now Committee as it raises money and helps gather signatures for a proposed initiated act aimed at tightening the state’s ethics and campaign finance laws. It’s the most high profile campaign role he’s taken since his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Senate nomination against incumbent Blanche Lincoln two years ago.
It also comes just a few weeks after Halter announced he was strongly considering running for his party’s nomination for governor following Congressman Mike Ross’ decision to opt out of that race.
Halter insists the ballot campaign has nothing to do with his plans, but his announcement offered a hint of the platform he may run on if he seeks the state’s highest office in two years.
“Countless Arkansans have expressed their concerns to me about the power of special interests and their desire, the people’s desires for a more open and transparent government,” Halter said at a news conference at the state Capitol last week. “As an advocate of ethics reform and a believer in the power of people to affect change at the ballot box, I urge Arkansans to take this matter into their own hands by signing petitions, placing this initiative on the ballot and passing it in November.”
Halter’s announcement was overshadowed by a parade of top Democrats and Republicans in the state who separately said they were backing the ethics initiative. They include Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, a Democrat who’s also widely expected to run for governor in 2014.
But Halter’s advocacy for the initiated act, depending on how big of a role he’ll take on, could give him leverage in a governor’s run. By joining the campaign, he’s not just lending his name to the initiative. Halter championed the 2008 constitutional amendment approved by voters that created a state- run lottery to fund college scholarships.
With the ethics initiative, he’s backing a proposal that has more widespread support but a much shorter window to gather the 62,507 signatures needed to win a spot on the ballot.
“Nobody should be under the impression that time is not a constraint here, because it is,” Halter said. “But it’s also the case that Arkansans have demonstrated at the ballot box multiple times that if they get a good government initiative in front of them, they will support it and they will support it strongly.”
For Halter, the ethics campaign gives him a chance to stay in the spotlight at a time that many factors seem to be working in his factor. The surprisingly strong showings by congressional hopefuls Scott Ellington and Gene Jeffress over a pair of establishment- backed rivals in last month’s primary offered a promising sign to Halter, who has tried to run in the past as an anti- establishment outsider.
And Ross’ decision to not seek the gubernatorial nomination offers an opening in that race — setting up a potentially bitter and expensive primary between Halter and McDaniel.
There are just as many obstacles as openings, though. Critics could use controversies at the state lottery commission — including the resignation of its first director — to undermine Halter’s chief accomplishment. Republicans may be just as eager to criticize Halter’s past support from labor unions in the right- to- work state.
Halter spokesman Bud Jackson said the former lieutenant governor doesn’t have a timeline for deciding on the race and said it would be a mistake to view it as linked to any other plans.
“I don’t see it that way,” Jackson said. “Without hesitation, the lieutenant governor has always been an outspoken advocate for ethics reform going back to when he first ran for office.”