AAC
COVER STORY
Top left: AAC board members and county officials take a photo in front of the AAC building as it’s seen today. Above: Jim Baker and county officials rally on the state Capitol steps in support of four-year terms for county officials. Far left: Former U.S. Senator David Pryor speaks at AAC’s 1996 annual conference. Left: Former Ar- kansas Governor and U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks at an AAC event.
Bill 142 was filed by Sen. John Bearden and Sen. Olen Hendrix that would create the Association of Arkansas Counties legisla- tively. Te legislation passed through the Senate, but was then held up in the House. It appeared that it would come down to a tie vote in the House, and the Speaker would have to vote to determine the outcome of the legislation. It was also heard that the Speaker’s support for the counties was wavering and that the vote might go against the county officials. A delegation was quickly put together and they paid a visit to the Speaker of the House — Judge Ray Sikes of Little River County and Judge Banks. Te story goes that the Speaker was rumored to be consid- ering a run for the Governor’s office. With this knowledge in hand and being the consummate politician, Judge Sikes re- minded the Speaker that “a person who supports you might figure you have the election won and decide to stay home on election day and mow his yard instead of going to the polls to vote. But a person who opposes you will swim a river to vote against you.” Upon contemplating this sage advice, the Speaker wisely voted for the legislation and the rest is history. It became Act 92 of 1969 codified as ACA 14-20-107. AAC became the official voice for Arkansas counties. Te first AAC Annual Conference was in 1972 and was de- scribed as “only somewhat successful.” Te conference was a one-day affair at the old Lafayette Hotel in Little Rock. Semi- nars were held during the day, and a banquet was scheduled for that night. Back then, most county officials were not accus-
COUNTY LINES, SUMMER 2018
tomed to over-night meetings in Little Rock so they went home after the seminars.
Te banquet was set up to accommodate about 200, but since most officials had already gone home, only 25 showed up. To make matters worse, Congressman Bill Alexander was the keynote speaker and had flown in from Washington specifically for the banquet. It may seem funny now, but it seemed quite a disaster at the time. Tis is a marked contrast from our annual conferences of to-
day. It is worth noting that for many years AAC has had 600 to 700 county and district officials in attendance at the annual AAC conferences, which run from Wednesday through Friday. Te differences in the quality and attendance during the confer- ences are not the only differences between the AAC of old and the AAC we all know now. Most current officials would not recognize the Association of
Arkansas Counties in its infancy compared to the 50-year-old organization. AAC now has a nice headquarters and provides many services it did not and could not provide in those early years. In the beginning the association was primarily a lobbyist organization for county government with only three staff per- sons and a small rented office. In the beginning, as might be imagined, our lobbying efforts
were nowhere near as successful as they are now. It took several years to bring all the county official associations together as a
See “HISTORY” on Page 36 >>> 35
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