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Huckabee was elected Governor of Arkansas Boys State in 1972. He graduated
magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University, completing his bachelors
degree in 2 1/2 years before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.[1]
Prior to his political career Huckabee was pastor of several Southern
Baptist churches in Arkadelphia, Texarkana, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He
served as President of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention from 1989 to
1991 and as President of a religious-oriented television station.
In Huckabee's first political race, he lost to incumbent U.S. Senator Dale
Bumpers (D) in 1992, receiving about 40% of the vote. However, that same
election saw Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton ascend to the Presidency, thus
elevating Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker to Governor. The 1993 special
election was held shortly after the general election; having considerable
name recognition from the general election, Huckabee won the special
election and became the second Republican since Reconstruction to serve as
Arkansas lieutenant governor. As the only Republican in statewide office,
he clashed with Democratic leaders over many issues. Nonetheless, Huckabee
was re-elected to a full term as lieutenant governor in 1994.
On 15 July 1996 he was sworn in as Governor of Arkansas to fill the
vacancy created by Governor Jim Guy Tucker's resignation because of a
felony conviction in the Whitewater scandal. This was a dramatic moment
for Arkansas as Tucker at first resigned, and then rescinded his
resignation as Huckabee was preparing to be sworn in. For a short while
the event had the makings of a constitutional crisis not seen in Arkansas
since the Brooks-Baxter War in the 19th century. Within a few hours Tucker
reinstated his resignation, and Huckabee was sworn in.
Soon after taking office, Huckabee signed legislation creating ARKids
First, a health insurance program designed to provide insurance to
children of families who could not qualify for Medicaid but could not
afford private insurance.[2] He signed legislation to cut taxes, and
simplified the automobile registration procedure.
In November 1998, Huckabee was elected to a full four-year term, receiving
the highest percentage of votes for a Republican seeking statewide office
in Arkansas history. He defeated Jonesboro attorney Bill Bristow in the
general election and retired Colonel Gene McVay of Fort Smith in the
primary.
At the beginning of his first full term, Huckabee led a public relations
campaign for a bond program to pay for road reconstruction (Arkansas had,
at that time, the lowest-rated highway system among the 50 states).
Arkansas voters had traditionally shied away from public debt, having
experienced a major bond scandal that affected the state's finances for
the latter half of the 19th century. This time, however, the voters
approved Huckabee's program.
Huckabee also led a campaign to dedicate via constitutional amendment 1/8
of one cent of the state sales tax to improvement of the state's park
system and natural resources, which had fallen into serious disrepair (and
was an embarrassment for a state billing itself as "The Natural State").
As part of the campaign Huckabee (an avid outdoorsman) traveled the entire
length of the Arkansas River (the part within Arkansas) by boat.[3]
In 2000, Huckabee also led a campaign to funnel 100% of the state's
tobacco settlement revenues into the state's health care system, rather
than into the general fund (as other states had done, where it could be
used for non-health related purposes).
In November 2002 he was reelected to another four-year term (due to term
limits, this was his final term as governor). By the end of that term,
Huckabee owned the third-longest tenure of any Arkansas Governor (only
Democrats Orval Faubus, who served 6 consecutive 2-year terms (1955-1967),
and Bill Clinton, who served 11 years, 11 months (1979-1981; 1983-1992),
had longer tenures).
He was made the chair of the Southern Governors' Association in 1999 and
served in that capacity through 2000. He has chaired the Southern Growth
Policies Board, the Southern Region Education Board, the Southern
Technology Council, and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, and
currently serves as Chair of the Education Commission of the States. He is
also a member of the Republican Governors Association and former Chairman
of the National Governors Association.
On November 21, 2002, the Arkansas State Supreme Court declared that the
state's school funding procedure was unconstitutional and ordered the
state to produce a fair system. Huckabee proposed a controversial plan
that would consolidate many of the state's smaller school districts.
School consolidation is very unpopular in rural Arkansas and may be the
"third rail" of Arkansas politics. Huckabee's plan was not accepted by the
legislature, and the court order has not yet been satisfied.
After Hurricane Katrina made landfall and numerous evacuees fled to
Arkansas (the total number was estimated at around 70,000), Huckabee
ordered state agencies to "take care of those human needs first and worry
about the paperwork later". State parks offered deep discounts, waived pet
restrictions, and bumped other reservations in favor of evacuees.
Pharmacists were given emergency authority to dispense prescriptions and
provide access to dialysis machines. Shelters opened up in nearly every
portion of the state, and Huckabee requested that the entire state be
declared a disaster area. Many of these shelters, either closed or set to
close, were reopened or kept open to process a "second wave" of Katrina
evacuees being moved from Texas in the wake of arriving Hurricane Rita.
(See also Hurricane Katrina disaster relief).
In early 2006, Huckabee - along with fellow governors Rick Perry (R-TX);
Jim Doyle (D-WI); and Dave Freudenthal (D-WY) - travelled to the Middle
East and South Asia as part of Department of Defense-sponsored trip to
provide the state leaders with an idea of the conditions under which
American forces are serving. While visiting Baghdad and Tikrit, Huckabee
and the governors received briefings from Gen. George Casey and Amb.
Zalmay Khalilzad.[4]Among other honors Hagel has received are the 82nd
Airborne Division Association's Recognition for the "National Airborne
Day" Senate Resolution; the first annual Cordell Hull Award; the Horatio
Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association; The Vietnam Veterans of
America Legislator of the Year Award; membership in the Consumers for
World Trade Hall of Fame; the Center for the Study of the Presidency’s
Distinguished Service Medal; The American Farm Bureau Federation’s Golden
Plow Award; The Friend of the Farm Bureau Award; the Distinguished Alumni
Award from the University of Nebraska at Omaha; an Honorary Doctorate of
Public Service degree from the College of William and Mary; an Honorary
Doctor of Laws degree from Creighton University; an Honorary Doctorate of
Commerce from Bellevue University; the Secretary of Defense's Medal for
Outstanding Civic Achievement, the first World USO Leadership Award; the
University of Nebraska-Kearney George W. Norris Distinguished Lecturer
Award; and the Small Business Administration’s Nebraska Veterans Advocate
of the Year Award.
A fourth generation Nebraskan, Hagel was born in North Platte, Nebraska on
October 4, 1946. He graduated from St. Bonaventure High School, Columbus,
Nebraska, the Brown Institute for Radio and Television, Minneapolis,
Minnesota, and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Hagel and his wife,
Lilibet, have two children, daughter Allyn, 16, and son Ziller, 14.
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