Dustin McDaniel
From Ballotpedia
| Dustin McDaniel | ||
 | ||
| Attorney General of Arkansas | ||
| Incumbent | ||
| In office | ||
| 2007 - present | ||
| Term ends | ||
| January 2015 | ||
| Years in position | 1 | |
| Party | Democratic | |
| Compensation | ||
| Base salary | $72,794 | |
| Elections and appointments | ||
| Last election | November 2, 2010 | |
| First elected | November 7, 2006 | |
| Next election | November 4, 2014 | |
| Term limits | 2 terms | |
| Education | ||
| Bachelor's | University of Arkansas-Fayetteville | |
| J.D. | University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law | |
| Personal | ||
| Birthday | April 29, 1972 | |
| Place of birth | Fayetteville, Arkansas | |
| Websites | ||
| Office website | ||
| Personal website | ||
Contents |
Biography
Arkansas' 55th Attorney General was born in Fayetteville but grew up in Jonesboro, where he attended public schools through high school graduation. McDaniel decided to pursue higher education in state, earning both this Bachelor's degree and J.D. from the University of Arkansas, though not consecutively. Before entering law school, McDaniel began his career as a uniformed patrol officer for the Jonesboro Police Department. Upon receiving his law degree in Little Rock, the lifelong Arkansan returned to Jonesboro and joined the private practice law firm of McDaniel & Wells as a partner with his father, Bobby McDaniel.[2] McDaniel has received several award during his career, including a Golden Gavel Award from the Arkansas Bar Association for serving as Chair of the Consumer Law Handbook Committee, and a Distinguished Service Award from the Arkansas Bar Association for having the Consumer Law Handbook translated into Spanish.
Prior to becoming Attorney General of Arkansas, McDaniel served as legal Counsel for Craighead County Democratic Central Committee, and as a member of the Democratic Party of Arkansas State Committee.
Education
- Bachelor's from University of Arkansas-Fayetteville
- J.D. from University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law
Political career
Attorney General (2007-present)
McDaniel won his second race for Attorney General in the 2010 general election by a substantial margin over Green Party Candidate Rebekah Kennedy.
Consumer protection lawsuit
- McDaniel's suit against pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly won Arkansas over $18.5 million dollars, marking the largest pharmaceutical settlement in state history.[2]
Cyber-crime
- He founded the Office’s first cyber crimes unit to address the growing threat to children posed by internet predators.[3]
Second Amendment
- McDaniel, an avid hunter, has expressed his support of Second Amendment rights on behalf of Arkansas at the U.S. Supreme Court.[2]
Controversies
Redistricting threat
On May 9, 2012 McDaniel was prompted to give testimony in response to fellow Democrat, Sen. Jack Crumbly's, lawsuit against Arkansas' Board of Apportionment, made up of the governor, secretary of state, and the attorney general, for allegedly "improperly diluting the black vote in their district".[4] The African-American Senator and other district residents who brought the suit are seeking to have the district boundaries redrawn to rectify said dilution. McDaniel testified in court that in 2011, Sen. Crumbly threatened to sabotage the attorney general's presumed 2014 gubernatorial run if McDaniel would not help him redraw the new Senate electoral map to increase the percentage of voting-age blacks in his eastern Arkansas district. Crumbly denied the conversation ever took place. Because of the Board's redrawn map, Crumbly's district ended up with a black voting-age population dropping from 55% to just less than 53%- Crumbly wanted 60%. In addition to defending the Board against accusations that it violated the Voting Rights Act, McDaniel said of the map he helped create: “Is it drawn such that an African-American candidate can be elected and that the citizens in that district can vote for the candidate of their choice? Absolutely...I think it was a fair district at 55 percent, and I think it’s a fair district for Mr. Crumbly at 53 percent.”[4]
Arkansas House of Representatives (2004 - 2007)
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.
Elections
2010
- See also: Arkansas Attorney General election, 2010
- 2010 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary [5]
- Dustin McDaniel ran unopposed in this contest
| 2010 Race for Attorney General - General Election [6] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party |  a Dustin McDaniel
| 72.8% | |
| Green Party | Rebekah Kennedy | 26.8% | |
| Write-In | Marc Rosson | 0.4% | |
| Total Votes | 722,814 | ||
2006
| 2006 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary [7] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party | a Dustin McDaniel
| 38.4% [8] | |
| Democratic Party | Paul Suskie | 32.0% | |
| Democratic Party | Robert Leo Herzfeld | 29.6% | |
| Total Votes | 271,782 | ||
| 2006 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary Run-off [9] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party | a Dustin McDaniel
| 50.8% | |
| Democratic Party | Paul Suskie | 49.2% | |
| Total Votes | 171,334 | ||
| 2006 Race for Attorney General - General Election [10] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party | a Dustin McDaniel
| 58.5% | |
| Republican Party | Gunner DeLay | 37.1% | |
| Green Party | Rebekah Kennedy | 4.4% | |
| Total Votes | 758,460 | ||
Campaign contributions
Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. The following table offers a breakdown of Dustin McDaniel's donors each year.[11] Click [show] for more information.
| Dustin McDaniel's Campaign Contributions | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 Arkansas Attorney General | 2010 Arkansas Attorney General | ||||||||||||||||||
| Total Raised | 1,501,685 | $1,405,030 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total Raised by General Election Opponent | $210,136 | $0 | |||||||||||||||||
| Top 5 contributors | Dustin McDaniel | $369,00 | Wilson & Associates | $6,400 | |||||||||||||||
| American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees | $6,000 | Wall-Mart and Tyson Foods | $6,000 each | ||||||||||||||||
| Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association | $4,000 | Meredith Catlett and Graham S Catlett and Bobby Ray McDaniel | $6,000 each | ||||||||||||||||
| Phillip Wells and Sean F Rommel and Bobby McDaniel and Michael S. Morton | $4,000 each | AT&T and Grant & Eisenhofer and Hewlett Packard | $6,000 each | ||||||||||||||||
| International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Force Consulting and Jack Wagoner III | $4,000 each | Bobby Ray McDaniel and Ark Monroe III | $6,000 | ||||||||||||||||
| Individuals | $693,103 | $533,635 | |||||||||||||||||
| Institutions | $377,456 | $438,658 | |||||||||||||||||
| In-state donations | $1,372,336 | $754,194 | |||||||||||||||||
| Out-of-state donations | $123,125 | $241,284 | |||||||||||||||||
Controversies
Consumer Protection Division campaign
On March 5, 2012, McDaniel announced a $350,000 campaign to promote his office's consumer protection division, settlement money leftover from a 2010 lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company. This campaign to broadcast the division's achievements, dubbed "Got Your Back, Arkansas," is composed of print ads, television and radio spots, has a website-nucleus featuring several photos of McDaniel. Despite consumer advocacy being at the heart of the AG's office, the campaign, which pays substantial attention to McDaniel, drew dubious reviews from predicted 2014 gubernatorial competitor Lt. Gov. Mark Darr. Darr responded bitterly to the announcement on Twitter, posting his suspicion that McDaniel is exploiting his office's access to state funds for political gain, calling the campaign "self-serving". McDaniel maintained that "Got Your Back, Arkansas's" only purpose is "to better equip Arkansans to avoid pitfalls and we want them to know we can help each of them as consumers in the marketplace today."[12]
ACORN
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 attorneys general "leading the fight to protect homeowners from joining the flood of Americans losing their homes to foreclosure," so says the group. [13] The grade distributed to the individual attorneys general "generally broke down along party lines," with the exception of Louisiana's Buddy Caldwell. [14]
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. [15] 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." [16]
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. [17] 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." [18]
Personal
After a highly-publicized divorce, McDaniel got remarried to a woman named Bobbi McDaniel. McDaniel and his ex-wife share custody of their daughter, Emma Grace, and he now has two stepchildren, CJ and Alex Fowler through new wife Bobbi. McDaniel is a private pilot and self-described "avid hunter."[2]
Contact Information
Capitol Address:
Office of the Attorney General
323 Center Street, Suite 200
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
Phone: (501) 682-2007
Toll Free Phone: (800) 482-8982
See also
- Attorney General of Arkansas
- Governor of Arkansas
- Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas
- Arkansas Secretary of State
External links
- Official Arkansas Attorney General website
- Dustin McDaniel's Facebook profile
- Dustin McDaniel's Twitter account
- Dustin McDaniel for Arkansas Attorney General Campaign website
- Campaign contributions: 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004
References
- ↑ Arkansas Office of the Attorney General, "About the AG", accessed February 7, 2012
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Dustin McDaniel, "About Dustin", accessed February 7, 2012
- ↑ Office of the AG, "Cyber Safety", accessed February 7, 2012
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Courier, "Attorney general Crumbly made political threats over lines," May 9, 2012
- ↑ AR Elections - 2010 Preferential Primary Election and Non Partisan Judicial General Election
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State - 2010 General Election Results
- ↑ AR Elections - 2006 Preferential Primary and Non-Partisan Judicial General Election
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ AR Elections - 2006 General Primary Runoff
- ↑ AR Elections - 2006 General Election and Non Partisan Judicial Runoff Election
- ↑ Follow the Money.org
- ↑ The Northwestern, "Ark. AG's office ads spark criticism from Lt. Gov.," March 5, 2012
- ↑ ACORN "Attorneys General Take Action: Real Leadership in Fighting Foreclosures" June 2008
- ↑ Majority in Mississippi "Jim Hood Received An “A” From ACORN In 2008" 17 Sept. 2009
- ↑ The Tolbert Report "Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s Conflict of Interest (UPDATE) 31 Dec. 2008
- ↑ Arkansas Times "McDaniel responds" 2 Jan. 2009
- ↑ The Truth in Arkansas Politics "BREAKING NEWS: Dustin McDaniel Files For Divorce!" 28 March, 2007
- ↑ Arkansas News "The tragedy and politics of divorce" 3 April, 2007
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mike Beebe | Arkansas Attorney General 2006–present | Succeeded by NA |
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