Mike Beebe

Mike Beebe
45th Governor of Arkansas
Incumbent
Assumed office January 9, 2007
Lieutenant	Bill Halter Mark Darr
Preceded by	Mike Huckabee
54th Attorney General of Arkansas
In office January 3, 2003 – January 9, 2007
Governor	Mike Huckabee
Preceded by	Mark Pryor
Succeeded by	Dustin McDaniel
Member of the Arkansas Senate from the 21st district
In office 1983–2003
Preceded by	?
Succeeded by	?
Personal details
Born	Michael Dale Beebe (1946-12-28) December 28, 1946 Amagon, Arkansas, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Ginger Beebe
Residence	Governor's Mansion
Alma mater	Arkansas State University, Jonesboro University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Episcopalian
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1968-1974
Unit	Reserves

Michael Dale "Mike" Beebe (born December 28, 1946) is the 45th and current Governor of Arkansas, since January 9, 2007. He was elected to a second term in 2010. Beebe is a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life and education

Beebe was born in Amagon, a small town in Jackson County, Arkansas. He was raised by his mother, a waitress, and never met his father. As a child, he moved often with his family. They lived in Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Houston and Alamogordo, New Mexico. They returned to Arkansas, and he graduated from Newport High School in 1964.

Beebe received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Arkansas State University in 1968, where he was a member of Sigma Pi fraternity. He earned a law degree from the University of Arkansas in 1972. Beebe served in the U.S. Army Reserve. He practiced law in Searcy in White County for ten years after his graduation from law school.

Early political career

In 1982, he was elected to the Arkansas State Senate, where he would serve for 20 years. In 2002, he was elected Arkansas Attorney General, a position he held until getting elected Governor of Arkansas.

Governor of Arkansas

2006 election

Main article: Arkansas gubernatorial election, 2006

On June 14, 2005, Beebe announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party's nomination to run for Governor of Arkansas. Beebe defeated former Republican Congressman and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Asa Hutchinson as well as the Green Party candidate and independent candidate Rod Bryan in the general election on November 7, 2006, capturing 55 percent of the vote.

Beebe was sworn in as governor on January 9, 2007. He was elected to the Democratic Governors Association Executive Committee for 2008–2009.

First term

In his official website, Beebe outlines some of the policies he has pursued during his first term. He has outlined a plan for a balanced budget and attempted to cut middle class taxes by slashing in half the percentage of the state's grocery tax and increasing the Homestead Property Tax Credit, which can provide for the lowering of property taxes.

Beebe has focused heavily on education reform. He has called for an additional $19 million per year to be spent on assisting special needs students and has designed a program that attempts to increase the quality of teachers within Arkansas by providing alternative pay and mentoring to motivate bright students to enter education or young teachers to work in struggling rural schools. Beebe has rejected calls to allow for Social Security private accounts to be established. He has also made plans to phase out the tax on utilities for manufacturers.

He has also outlined a 12-point plan to make health care more accessible and affordable. Some of his proposals include using federal tax credits to make private insurance cheaper, promote the expansion of Medicaid, advocating preventive care to stop health concerns before they grow worse, expanding school health clinics, and using home or community based cares as an alternative to nursing homes.

In September 2008, Beebe's Commission on Global Warming voted 11-10 to adopt a moratorium on new coal plants in Arkansas. It was unclear whether he would support his commission's vote or whether the state legislature would even include it in future legislation.

2010 election

Main article: Arkansas gubernatorial election, 2010

Beebe was challenged by Republican nominee Jim Keet, a former state legislator from Little Rock. Beebe defeated Keet 64% to 34% He was sworn in on January 11, 2011, at the Arkansas State Capitol rotunda.

Second term

In January 2011, he said that he supported a tax increase for highway funding saying "If they pass a tax increase for highways and it was reasonable, I'd sign it. I don't think it's going to happen."

In January 2012, he proposed a $163 million funding increase in a $4.7 billion state budget. He called for $117 million increase in the Human Services Department and a $56 million increase in public schools. He also called for an audit of the state's Forestry Commission's finances after a $4 million shortfall and a layoff of 36 workers. In the 2012 midterm elections, Republicans gained control of both houses of the General Assembly for the first time since 1874 after making major gains two years earlier. This made Beebe the first Democratic Governor of Arkansas ever to face a Republican-controlled legislature. The GOP margin was 21 to 14 in the Senate, and 51 to 48 in the House(with one Green).

Personal life

Beebe and his wife, Ginger, have three children and seven grandchildren.

Electoral history

Inauguration, Little Rock, AR. January 9, 2007.

Arkansas Gubernatorial Election 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Mike Beebe (incumbent)	503,336	64.42
	Republican	Jim Keet	262,764	33.63
	Green	Jim Lendall	14,513	1.86

Arkansas Gubernatorial Election 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Mike Beebe	422,198	55.3
	Republican	Asa Hutchinson	312,644	41.0

External links

• Governor.Arkansas.gov - Mike Beebe's Official Website
• ArkansasFirstLady.com - Ginger Beebe's Official Website
• Biography at the National Governors Association
• Biography, interest group ratings, public statements, vetoes and campaign finances at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Appearances at the Internet Movie Database
• Collected news and commentary at The Washington Post
• Mike Beebe at the Encyclopedia for Arkansas

Legal offices
Preceded by Mark Pryor	Attorney General of Arkansas 2003–2007	Succeeded by Dustin McDaniel
Party political offices
Preceded by Jimmie Lou Fisher	Democratic nominee for Governor of Arkansas 2006, 2010	Most recent
Political offices
Preceded by Mike Huckabee	Governor of Arkansas 2007–present	Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Joe Biden as Vice President	Order of Precedence of the United States Within Arkansas	Succeeded by Mayor of city in which event is held
		Succeeded by Otherwise John Boehner as Speaker of the House of Representatives
Preceded by Jay Nixon as Governor of Missouri	Order of Precedence of the United States Outside Arkansas	Succeeded by Rick Snyder as Governor of Michigan