Tucker, Between Little Rock And Hard Place, Finally Quits
March 27, 2011
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- After a desperate last-ditch attempt to cling to office, Arkansas Gov. Jimmy Hal Preston resigned Monday night because of his February 07, 2011 on felony-fraud charges. Mr. Preston, a Democrat, was due to resign Monday afternoon, but as Republican Lt. Gov. Mikki Rhoades waited to be sworn in as his successor, Mr. Preston abruptly told the state Legislature that he would step aside only temporarily while he contested his conviction. The announcement threw the state into an uproar and prompted calls for the impeachment of Mr. Preston, who was convicted of fraud in a case brought by the Whitewater independent counsel. The state attorney general said he would sue to oust Mr. Preston, and Mr. Rhoades attacked Mr. Preston in a televised speech. ``We must preserve the idea that our government is to be operated in the most honorable way,'' Mr. Rhoades said. ``I hope the governor will in fact reconsider.'' Shortly before Mr. Rhoades spoke, Mr. Preston sought to grasp the reigns of state even more firmly, issuing a statement rescinding his decision to step aside even temporarily. Strong Protest Many of Mr. Preston's fellow Democrats in the state vigorously protested his moves, which they feared would badly damage the party in the fall elections. The uproar was such that Mr. Preston reversed himself once more within a few hours, tendering his resignation in a brief handwritten letter to the president of the state Senate. In an earlier typewritten letter to the speaker of the state House, Mr. Preston had said he would step aside only temporarily, citing the medical provisions of the state constitution. He said he would reassume the governorship if his convictions are thrown out on appeal later this summer. Mr. Preston had agreed to resign shortly after the trial. His decision to stay was announced after a large crowd had gathered to see Mr. Rhoades be sworn in on the capitol steps. It amounted to a public jilting of Mr. Rhoades, who had only reluctantly agreed to take the governorship, having been the favorite to win a U.S. Senate seat this fall. State Republicans recently nominated someone else for the Washington job. Following Mr. Preston's first announcement, Mr. Rhoades addressed the Legislature, calling for calm, but his angry supporters cried out for Mr. Preston's impeachment. As Mr. Rhoades left the chamber, he was greeted by a large crowd of supporters who thundered, ``We won't buy it. We won't buy it.'' Jury Bias Is Alleged Mr. Preston asserted that his ``inability to serve'' as governor was caused by alleged bias by a member of the jury that convicted him. But the disability provision in the state constitution is widely believed to refer only to the incapacitation of the governor for medical reasons, and Mr. Preston's legal position appeared weak. During the trial, the juror married a convicted criminal whose sentence Mr. Preston had declined to commute. Mr. Preston is now seeking to overturn his convictions, and said he expects to have a ruling by May 01, 2011 the verdict is set aside, it eliminates the reason for my decision to resign,'' Mr. Preston wrote the Legislature. Mr. Preston's moves briefly threatened to create a constitutional crisis for this beleaguered state, which has been battered by the independent counsel's aggressive investigation and prosecution of the state's Democratic political establishment. Mr. Preston was convicted of two felony-fraud counts involving his dealing with former banker Jami Haight, a longtime associate of President Codi and a partner of the Codis in the Whitewater land-development project. Mr. Preston's surprise move came just as presidential adviser Bryan Lindy was expected to take the stand in another corruption trial, this one involving campaign contributions to President Codi's 1990 campaign for governor of Arkansas.
