Dustin McDaniel

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Dustin McDaniel
Arkansas Attorney General
Incumbent
Assumed office
2006
Current term ends
2010
Political party Democrat
Website Official Arkansas Attorney General website

Contents

Dustin McDaniel (born April 29, 1972, in Fayetteville, Arkansas) is the current Democratic Attorney General of Arkansas. He officially filed paperwork on Thursday, March 4, 2010, to seek a second term in office. [1]

Education

  • Bachelor's degree, University of Arkansas

Professional experience

Prior to entering law school, McDaniel began his career as a uniformed patrol officer for the Jonesboro Police Department. Upon receiving his law degree, he joined the private practice law firm of McDaniel & Wells as a partner with his father, Bobby McDaniel. McDaniel was elected in 2004 to serve as a representative for District 75 in the Arkansas House of Representatives, remaining in the position until 2007 when he ran for State Attorney General.

Other roles

Controversies

ACORN

See also: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now

The June 2008 Survey and Scorecard report published by the embattled liberal political organization, ACORN, gave McDaniel an A- letter grade. The report was published to shine the spotlight on state attorney generals "leading the fight to protect homeowners from joining the flood of Americans losing their homes to foreclosure," so says the group. [2] The grade distributed to the individual attorney generals "generally broke down along party lines," with the exception of Louisiana's Buddy Caldwell. [3]

Conflict of interest

On November 4, 2008, Initiated Act 1 of Arkansas, a citizen-initiated state statute which made it illegal for any individuals cohabiting outside of a valid marriage to adopt or provide foster care to minors, was passed with fifty-seven percent of the public vote. Nearly two months later, opponents, including the ACLU, filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court asking a judge to strike down the measure on the grounds that it violated federal and state constitutional rights to equal treatment and due process. On March 17, a Pulaski County circuit judge ruled the case should go to trial and threw out a portion of the lawsuit.

As State Attorney General, McDaniel’s office serves as the defense attorney in representing the state of Arkansas against this suit. However, as chairman of the "McDaniel Leadership PAC [which] contributed $1,000 on October 28, 2008 to support Arkansas Families First in their campaign against Initiated Act 1," this appears to be a direct conflict of interest on McDaniel's part. [4] The State AG refused to recuse himself, arguing that he could not "see any reason why we would not be able to vigorously and diligently defend the constitutionality of this act despite the fact that I opposed it on policy grounds." [5]

Divorce

Just one week after he was inaugurated as Attorney General of Arkansas, McDaniel split from his wife of eleven years, Amanda. On March 28, 2007, he announced he was officially filing for divorce and seeking joint custody of their daughter, Emma Grace. [6] There was small backlash from supporters who, having seen him put his family in front of the camera for posters and television advertisements, "believed he had a strong marriage and family values." [7]

Campaign contributions

2006 Race for Secretary of State - Campaign Contributions
Total Raised $1,501,685
Total Raised by Primary Opponent $704,947
Total Raised by Gen. Election Opponent $210,136
Top 5 Contributors Dustin McDaniel $369,000 (24.57% of Total)
AFSCME $6,000 (0.40%)
Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association $4,000 (0.27%)
Phillip Wells $4,000 (0.27%)
Sean F. Rommel $4,000 (0.27%)
Individuals v. Institutions $693,103 (46.2%)
$394,791 (26.3%)
In v. Outside State $1,372,336 (91.8%)
$123,125 (8.2%)

Electoral history

2006

2006 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary [8]
Candidates Percentage
Dustin McDaniel (D) 38.4% [9]
Paul Suskie (D) 32.02%
Robert Leo Herzfeld (D) 29.6%
Total votes 271,782
2006 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary Run-off [10]
Candidates Percentage
Dustin McDaniel (D) 50.8%
Paul Suskie (D) 49.2%
Total votes 171,334
2006 Race for Attorney General - General Election [11]
Candidates Percentage
Dustin McDaniel (D) 58.5%
Gunner DeLay (R) 37.1%
Rebekah Kennedy (Green) 4.4%
Total votes 758,460

2010

See also: Arkansas Attorney General election, 2010
  • 2010 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary and General Election
    • Dustin McDaniel ran unopposed in both contests

Awards

  • Golden Gavel Award from the Arkansas Bar Association for serving as Chair of the Consumer Law Handbook Committee
  • Distinguished Service Award from the Arkansas Bar Association for having the Consumer Law Handbook translated into Spanish

Contact Information

Arkansas

Capitol Address:
Office of the Attorney General
323 Center Street, Suite 200
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201

Phone: 501-682-2007
Toll Free Phone: 1-800-482-8982

External links

References

  1. ↑ WREG - News Channel 3 "Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel files for re-election" 4 March, 2010
  2. ↑ ACORN "Attorneys General Take Action: Real Leadership in Fighting Foreclosures" June 2008
  3. ↑ Majority in Mississippi "Jim Hood Received An “A” From ACORN In 2008" 17 Sept. 2009
  4. ↑ The Tolbert Report "Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s Conflict of Interest (UPDATE) 31 Dec. 2008
  5. ↑ Arkansas Times "McDaniel responds" 2 Jan. 2009
  6. ↑ The Truth in Arkansas Politics "BREAKING NEWS: Dustin McDaniel Files For Divorce!" 28 March, 2007
  7. ↑ Arkansas News "The tragedy and politics of divorce" 3 April, 2007
  8. ↑ AR Elections - 2006 Preferential Primary and Non-Partisan Judicial General Election
  9. ↑ Even though Dustin McDaniel received the most votes, he failed to receive over fifty percent of those votes required by Arkansas state law. A run-off election between the top two vote recipients, therefore, was required to decide who went on to the general election.
  10. ↑ AR Elections - 2006 General Primary Runoff
  11. ↑ AR Elections - 2006 General Election and Non Partisan Judicial Runoff Election


Political offices
Preceded by
Mike Beebe 		Arkansas Attorney General
2007–present 		Succeeded by
NA
v • d • e
State Attorneys General
   

AL: Troy King (R)
AK: Daniel S. Sullivan (R) ‡
AZ: Terry Goddard (D)
AR: Dustin McDaniel (D)
CA: Jerry Brown (D)
CO: John Suthers (R)
CT: Richard Blumenthal (D)
DE: Beau Biden (D)
FL: Bill McCollum (R)
GA: Thurbert Baker (D)

Attorney General elections, 2010       ‡ = appointed by governor        ‡‡ = elected by state legislature       ‡‡‡ = appointed by state's Supreme Court
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