Dustin McDaniel

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Dustin McDaniel
Image of Dustin McDaniel

Democratic Party

Prior offices
Attorney General of Arkansas

Education

Bachelor's

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Law

University of Arkansas, Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law

Dustin McDaniel (born April 29, 1972, in Fayetteville, Arkansas) was the 55th Attorney General of Arkansas, serving from 2007-2015. A Democrat, McDaniel was first elected to the position in 2006 and took office the following January. He won re-election in 2010, defeating Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy on November 2, 2010. Due to term limits, McDaniel was ineligible for re-election 2014, and he left office when his second term expired in January 2015. He was succeeded by Republican Leslie Rutledge.

The youngest attorney general in the nation as of Febraury 2012, McDaniel's tenure in the role of chief law enforcement officer for Arkansas included milestones such as the founding of the office’s first cyber crimes unit and winning the largest pharmaceutical settlement in state history.[1][2]

Before becoming attorney general, McDaniel was a partner in the law firm of McDaniel and Wells, P.A. He also served one term in the Arkansas House of Representatives, from 2005 to 2007. He served as chair of the southern region of the National Association of Attorneys General and co-chair of the Democratic Association of Attorneys General. He was formerly a police officer in his hometown of Jonesboro, Ark.

McDaniel was barred by term limits from running for a third consecutive term as attorney general in the 2014 elections. He had long been preparing to seek the 2014 Democratic nomination for governor, but a scandal in his personal life induced the former frontrunner to drop out of the race on January 25, 2013.[3][4]

Biography

Arkansas' 55th Attorney General was born in Fayetteville but grew up in Jonesboro, where he attended public schools through high school. McDaniel decided to pursue higher education in state, earning both his 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.[5] Dustin McDaniel has received several awards 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 (2007-2015)

McDaniel was first elected attorney general in November 2006, and he won re-election in the November 2010 general election over Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy. He was ineligible to run for a third term in 2014 and was succeeded by Republican Leslie Rutledge in January 2015.

Issues

Protecting Financial Aid for Students and Taxpayers Act

On March 11, 2013, McDaniel, together with 12 other state attorneys general, sent a letter to Congress in support of the Protecting Financial Aid for Students and Taxpayers Act, a bill that sought to ban for-profit colleges from using federal funds for marketing and recruiting techniques.[6] Senators Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chaired the chamber's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, sponsored the bill. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) stated that the proposed law aimed to “ensure that scarce federal education dollars will be used to serve and educate students rather than to finance advertising campaigns, recruitment operations, and aggressive marketing.”[7]

In the letter, the attorneys general wrote, “Federal taxpayers should not be asked to foot the bill for aggressive recruiting and deceptive sales tactics of colleges that have placed profits ahead of ensuring student success.”[7] At the time, there were an estimated 3,000 for-profit schools nationwide, though neither the letter nor the bill cited the name of any specific institutions.[8]

On March 12, 2013, the bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, but no subsequent action was taken and the bill died in committee.[9] On April 23, 2013, a related bill—HR 340—was referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce's subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, but it also died in committee.[10]

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.[5]

Cyber-crime

McDaniel founded the office’s first cyber crimes unit to address the growing threat to children posed by internet predators.[11]

Second Amendment

McDaniel, an avid hunter, has expressed his support of Second Amendment rights on behalf of Arkansas at the U.S. Supreme Court.[5]

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

2014

See also: Arkansas Gubernatorial election, 2014

In June 2012, McDaniel filed paperwork to start raising money for his 2014 campaign for Governor of Arkansas.[12] He dropped out of the race on January 25, 2013. McDaniel had been considered the Democratic frontrunner, but reports that he had engaged in extra-martial relations with a Hot Springs attorney, Andi Davis,[13] whom he met around his 2010 re-election, affected his gubernatorial campaign. His official statement announcing his withdrawal from the race was sent to supporters through email the morning of January 25. McDaniel's statement explained, "I had hoped that I could shape the 2014 gubernatorial debate with my vision for the future. Unfortunately, I am now convinced that if I run for Governor, this campaign would be about me personally, rather than Arkansas' future."[4]

2010

See also: Arkansas Attorney General election, 2010
  • Dustin McDaniel ran unopposed in this contest
2010 Race for Attorney General - General Election[15]
Party Candidate Vote Percentage
     Democratic Party Approveda 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[16]
Party Candidate Vote Percentage
     Democratic Party Approveda Dustin McDaniel 38.4%[17]
     Democratic Party Paul Suskie 32.0%
     Democratic Party Robert Leo Herzfeld 29.6%
Total Votes 271,782
2006 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary Runoff[18]
Party Candidate Vote Percentage
     Democratic Party Approveda Dustin McDaniel 50.8%
     Democratic Party Paul Suskie 49.2%
Total Votes 171,334
2006 Race for Attorney General - General Election[19]
Party Candidate Vote Percentage
     Democratic Party Approveda Dustin McDaniel 58.5%
     Republican Party Gunner DeLay 37.1%
     Green Party Rebekah Kennedy 4.4%
Total Votes 758,460

Campaign contributions

BP-Initials-UPDATED.png The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may not represent all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer, and campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Dustin McDaniel campaign contribution history
Year Office Result Contributions
2012 Attorney General of Arkansas Not up for election $0
2010 Attorney General of Arkansas Won $1,405,030
2008 Attorney General of Arkansas Not up for election $299,390
2006 Attorney General of Arkansas Won $1,501,685
2004 Arkansas House of Representatives, District 75 Won $107,367
Grand total raised $3,313,472
Source: [[20] Follow the Money]

2014

According to an end-of-the-year finance disclosure report, McDaniel raised about $410,500 in the final quarter of 2012, leaving his campaign with around $1.1 million cash on hand going into 2013.[21] The report, running from October 1 to December 31, was his first since McDaniel admitted on December 18 to having an extramarital affair.[21] The report listed about $386,027 raised for the primary and $24,500 raised for a potential runoff.[21] A spokesperson for McDaniel's campaign confirmed that the campaign reached its fundraising goals for 2012.[21]

2006

Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. See the table below for more information about the campaign donors who supported Dustin McDaniel.[22] Click [show] for more information.


Noteworthy events

Redistricting threat

On May 9, 2012, McDaniel gave 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."[23] The African-American Senator and other district residents who brought the suit sought to have the district boundaries redrawn to rectify the alleged 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 that dropped from 55 percent to just less than 53 percent; Crumbly had wanted 60 percent. 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.”[23]

Consumer Protection Division campaign

On March 5, 2012, McDaniel announced a $350,000 campaign to promote his office's consumer protection division, using settlement money leftover from a 2010 lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company. This campaign to broadcast the division's achievements, dubbed "Got Your Back, Arkansas," was composed of print ads, television and radio spots and had a website-nucleus featuring several photos of McDaniel. Despite consumer advocacy being at the heart of the AG's office, the campaign, which paid 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 was exploiting his office's access to state funds for political gain, calling the campaign "self-serving." McDaniel maintained that the only purpose of "Got Your Back, Arkansas" was "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."[24]

ACORN

See also: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now

The June 2008 Survey and Scorecard report published by liberal political organization ACORN gave McDaniel an A- letter grade. According to the group, 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."[25] The grade distributed to the individual attorneys general "generally broke down along party lines," with the exception of Louisiana's Buddy Caldwell.[26]

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 served 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 appeared to be a conflict of interest on McDaniel's part.[27] The State AG did not recuse himself, saying 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."[28]

2016 Democratic National Convention

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
After a highly-publicized divorce in 2007, McDaniel faced a small backlash from supporters who, having seen him put his family in front of the camera for posters and television advertisements, had "believed he had a strong marriage and family values" and felt they had been misled.[39] McDaniel later got remarried to a woman named Bobbi McDaniel.

In 2012, his name was cited in the divorce proceedings of an attorney he met during his 2010 attorney general campaign. In December 2012, McDaniel confirmed in an interview with Talk Business to having had an “inappropriate relationship” with the woman, however, he denied all other allegations made against him in the related court documents and reaffirmed that his marriage to Bobbi McDaniel was going strong.[40][41]

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."[5]

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: (800) 482-8982

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Dustin McDaniel Arkansas Attorney. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Dustin McDaniel - Google News

See also

External links

The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine was used to recall this version of the website from February 17, 2010.


Footnotes

  1. ↑ Press Release, "ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE LAUNCHES CYBER CRIMES UNIT," June 02, 2011
  2. ↑ Arkansas Office of the Attorney General, "About the AG," accessed February 7, 2012 (dead link)
  3. ↑ The Republic, "Arkansas attorney general announces bid for Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2014," June 13, 2012
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Arkansas Times, "McDaniel officially announces he's out of governor's race," accessed January 25, 2013
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Dustin McDaniel, "About Dustin," accessed February 7, 2012
  6. ↑ The Library of Congress, "Bill Text 113th Congress (2013-2014) S.528.IS," March 12, 2013
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Boston Globe, "Attorney generals to Congress: Don’t let for-profit colleges use federal grants and loans for advertising," March 17, 2013
  8. ↑ Commonwealth of Kentucky Office of the Attorney General, "Letter to Congress," March 11, 2013
  9. ↑ Congress.gov, "All Bill Information (Except Text) for S.528 - Protecting Financial Aid for Students and Taxpayers Act," accessed August 7, 2015
  10. ↑ Congress.gov, "All Bill Information (Except Text) for H.R.340 - Protecting Financial Aid for Students and Taxpayers Act," accessed August 7, 2015
  11. ↑ Office of the AG, "Cyber Safety," accessed February 7, 2012 (dead link)
  12. ↑ Arkansas News Bureau, "McDaniel raises $1 million for governor’s race," October 15, 2012
  13. ↑ Arkansas Times, "McDaniel admits 'inappropriate interaction' with Hot Springs lawyer," December 18, 2013
  14. ↑ AR Elections - 2010 Preferential Primary Election and Non Partisan Judicial General Election
  15. ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State - 2010 General Election Results
  16. ↑ AR Elections - 2006 Preferential Primary and Non-Partisan Judicial General Election
  17. ↑ Even though Dustin McDaniel received the most votes, he failed to receive over fifty percent of those votes required by Arkansas state law. A runoff election between the top two vote recipients, therefore, was required to decide who went on to the general election.
  18. ↑ AR Elections - 2006 General Primary Runoff
  19. ↑ AR Elections - 2006 General Election and Non Partisan Judicial Runoff Election
  20. ↑ Follow The Money, "Career fundraising for Dustin McDaniel," accessed June 25, 2013
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 National Journal, "Embattled McDaniel Raises More Than $400,000," accessed January 16, 2013
  22. ↑ Follow the Money.org, "Home," accessed May 7, 2021
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 The Courier, "Attorney general Crumbly made political threats over lines," May 9, 2012
  24. ↑ The Northwestern, "Ark. AG's office ads spark criticism from Lt. Gov.," March 5, 2012
  25. ↑ ACORN "Attorneys General Take Action: Real Leadership in Fighting Foreclosures," June 2008
  26. ↑ Majority in Mississippi, "Jim Hood Received An 'A' From ACORN In 2008," 17 Sept. 2009
  27. ↑ The Tolbert Report, "Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s Conflict of Interest (UPDATE)," December 31, 2008
  28. ↑ Arkansas Times, "McDaniel responds," January 2, 2009
  29. ↑ Ballotpedia's list of superdelegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention is based on our own research and lists provided by the Democratic National Committee to Vox.com in February 2016 and May 2016. If you think we made an error in identifying superdelegates, please send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.
  30. ↑ Arkansas Online, “Arkansas’ superdelegates plan to back Clinton next year,” November 13, 2015
  31. ↑ To find out which candidate a superdelegate supported, Ballotpedia sought out public statements from the superdelegate in other media outlets and on social media. If we were unable to find a public statement that clearly articulated which candidate the superdelegate supported at the national convention, we listed that superdelegate as "unknown." If you believe we made an error in identifying which candidate a superdelegate supported, please email us at editor@ballotpedia.org.
  32. ↑ Congressional Research Service, "The Presidential Nominating Process and the National Party Conventions, 2016: Frequently Asked Questions," December 30, 2015
  33. ↑ CNN, "2016 Election Center," March 1, 2016
  34. ↑ The New York Times, “Election 2008: Arkansas Primary Results,” accessed February 29, 2016
  35. ↑ CNN, "Arkansas Exit Polls," March 1, 2016
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Democratic National Committee, "2016 Democratic National Convention Delegate/Alternate Allocation," updated February 19, 2016
  37. ↑ The Green Papers, "2016 Democratic Convention," accessed May 7, 2021
  38. ↑ Democratic National Committee's Office of Party Affairs and Delegate Selection, "Unpledged Delegates -- By State," May 27, 2016
  39. ↑ Arkansas News, "The tragedy and politics of divorce," April 3, 2007
  40. ↑ Politico, "Arkansas attorney general Dustin McDaniel admits inappropriate relations," December 19, 2012
  41. ↑ Talk Business.net, "Stars aligning for Mike Ross to reconsider running for governor," December 20, 2012


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Mike Beebe (D) 		Arkansas Attorney General
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