Bill Clinton served two tenures as governor of Arkansas. Elected in 1978, Clinton first served as governor for a single term from 1979 until 1981, losing his bid for re-election in 1980. After a two-year interregnum, Clinton returned to the governorship after winning the 1982 election. Clinton would be elected to five further terms (terms were extended from two years to four years beginning with the 1986 election), serving until mid-December 1992, when he resigned amid his transition into the U.S. presidency after having been elected president in the 1992 presidential election. Clinton was the second-longest serving governor in the state's history, after Orval Faubus.
Clinton's first governorship (1979–1981) saw him pursue many liberal policies. He had some successes, including successes with a rural healthcare reform effort by a taskforce that he had appointed his wife, Hillary, to lead. However, his term also saw the implementation of an unpopular motor vehicle tax. After Clinton returned to office for his second governorship in 1983, he was more centrist and was more selective as to what battles he pursued, zeroing in on particular priorities. One main priority was the state's economy, with Clinton providing tax incentives to businesses. Another priority was education, with Clinton and his wife, Hillary, overseeing the creation of significant education reforms. Other matters Clinton addressed included healthcare and lobbying reforms.
Leadership style Arkansas' state government was weaker than those of most other states. In addition, at the time Clinton was governor, the state government raised less revenue and spent less money per capita than any other U.S. state government, even after several tax increases over the course of Clinton's governorship. In addition, the state constitution permitted the legislature to overturn gubernatorial vetos with a simple majority. These factors meant Clinton had fewer tools at his disposal than governors of many other states.
In May 1992, amid Clinton's presidential candidacy, David Lautner of the Los Angeles Times wrote,
Lautner also observed that Clinton "often made compromise his hallmark."
Clinton attained the nickname "Slick Willie" from critics during his governorship for his alleged ability to use charisma as a tool for political trickery.
In his first governorship, Clinton sought to implement a large number of liberal policies. After he returned to the governorship in 1983, Clinton was more narrowly focused on specific issues, limiting which battles he fought.
In 1992, Dan Fesperman of The Baltimore Sun characterized Clinton's approach to governing in his first governorship as undiplomatic and bullying. He observed that Clinton learned from his failed re-election, providing more sharply focused leadership during his second governorship. Fesperman observed that, in his second governorship, Clinton obtained a "too nice image" but still demonstrated a willingness to flex his power.
In his second governorship, Clinton used opinion polling to inform what policy positions he chose to prioritize, effectively running his gubernatorial administration somewhat like a political campaign, effectively running a permanent campaign. He relied on Dick Morris for polling expertise. Clinton was centrist in his positioning and policy during his second governorship.
In 1991, a Newsweek poll of U.S. governors saw Clinton's fellow governors rank him as the "most effective" U.S. governor.
Scandals and accusations
During his time as governor in the 1980s, Arkansas was the center of a drug smuggling operation through Mena Airport. CIA agent Barry Seal allegedly imported three to five billion dollars' worth of cocaine through the airport, and the operation was linked to the Iran-Contra affair. Clinton was accused of knowing about this operation, although nothing could be proven against him. Arkansas journalist Sam Smith tied him to various questionable business dealings, including having ties to convicted cocaine distributor and bond trader Dan Lasater and having abused the Arkansas Development Finance Authority as his personal piggy bank. Clinton was also accused by Gennifer Flowers to have used cocaine as governor and his half-brother Roger was sentenced to prison in 1985 for possession and smuggling of cocaine, but was later pardoned by his brother after serving his sentence. During his time in Arkansas, there were also other scandals such as the Whitewater controversy involving the Clintons' real estate dealings and Bill Clinton was accused of serious sexual misconduct in Arkansas, including allegations of using the Arkansas State Police to gain access to women (Troopergate affair). The killing of Don Henry and Kevin Ives in 1987 started various conspiracy theories that accused Clinton and the Arkansas state authorities of covering up the crime.
First governorship (1979–1981)
In 1978, Clinton entered the Arkansas gubernatorial primary. At 31 years old, he was one of the youngest gubernatorial candidates in the state's history. Clinton was elected governor of Arkansas in 1978, having defeated the Republican candidate Lynn Lowe, a farmer from Texarkana. Clinton was 32 years old when he took office, the youngest governor in the country at the time and the second-youngest governor in the history of Arkansas, after John Selden Roane. Due to his youthful appearance, Clinton was often called the "Boy Governor". He worked on educational reform and directed the maintenance of Arkansas's roads, with wife Hillary leading a successful committee on healthcare reform. However, his term included an unpopular motor vehicle tax and citizens' anger over the escape of Cuban refugees (from the Mariel boatlift) detained in Fort Chaffee in 1980.
Clinton pursued an agenda with a broad array of liberal policies. In May 1992, David Lautner wrote in the Los Angeles Times,
The biggest act of Clinton's first governorship was a highway program. The expensive program was paid for with increases to fees and taxes, including an increase in fuel taxes, registration fees on trucks and automobiles, and other vehicles fees. The increases to fees and taxes hurt Clinton politically, and he would personally blame his defeat for re-election on backlash regarding vehicle registration fees.
In the first year of the governorship, Clinton appointed his wife, Hillary, to serve as the chair of the state's Rural Health Advisory Committee, tasked with working on the issue of providing healthcare to the more isolated areas of the state.
As Governor, Clinton supported the death penalty. According to some sources, Clinton had previously been an opponent of the death penalty in his early years, but changed his position by the time that he was governor.George Stephanopoulos, All Too Human: A Political Education, 1999, In 1979, Clinton commuted the death sentence of convicted murderer James L. Surridge. Surridge later committed another murder after being released from prison. Clinton would claim that he had been told by prison officials that Surridge, then 73 years of age, was sick and nearing his death at the time his sentence was commuted. Clinton commuted several long prison sentences as governor. In his first governorship, Clinton commuted 70 sentences. Forty of the commuted sentences had been life sentences.
Clinton proposed modest reforms to the state's education system. He also proposed regulation on pollution and opposed the timber industry's practice of clearcutting. Clinton floated the idea of determining the distribution of state funds to banks by using an assessment of the lending practices of banks. This move angered bankers. Clinton also sought to strengthen regulations on the ability of utility providers to increase their rates. This angered the utility companies. He also fought against the successful effort by Arkansas Power and Light, the state's largest energy company, to garner state funding to pay for the costs of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, a nuclear power plant in Port Gibson, Mississippi.
Rudy Moore Jr. and Stephen Smith helped lead the staffing of Clinton's administration. Many of the lawyers and secretarial staff that worked Clinton's office while Clinton was attorney general of Arkansas were brought into his gubernatorial administration. They also brought in out-of-state talent. Clinton, hoping for a greater level of scientific management, looked nationally for administrators to head many state departments. Smith himself served as Clinton's chief of staff. Clinton believed in cabinet government, seeing each cabinet member's role as advocating for their department's role in the state government and implementing Clinton's vision within their department. He promoted a number of state agencies to the Cabinet-level that previously did not enjoy this status. Early into his governorship, Clinton appointed Jim McDougal as director of economic development, a cabinet position.
In terms of economic development, Clinton's first gubernatorial administration did not focus heavily on large industry, instead focusing on helping to generate new small businesses, as well as foster technological innovation and research and development. Clinton also sought to decrease regulation that impeded investment and sought to shape the marketplace so that larger banks and investment companies might fund new small business ventures. Clinton created state departments that assisted entrepreneurs through consultation. He sought to use research at state universities to spur related enterprises. Clinton also worked to provide some assistance the state's smaller communities in their efforts to generate local economic development. He also directed some funding to small businesses that were doing innovative work related to agriculture.
In 1979, Clinton founded the Arkansas Governor's School, which was modeled after the Governor's School of North Carolina.
During Clinton's first governorship, there was a prevailing public perception that Clinton's gubernatorial administration was clumsy and chaotic in their handling of state government.
Failed reelection and interval between tenures Clinton was renominated by the Democratic Party in 1980. However, Monroe Schwarzlose received 31 percent of the vote against Clinton in the Democratic gubernatorial primary of the 1980 Arkansas gubernatorial election. Some suggested that Schwarzlose's unexpectedly high performance foreshadowed Clinton's defeat by Republican challenger Frank D. White in the general election. Clinton narrowly lost the general election to White, a relatively unknown Republican political newcomer. This defeat was notable, as the Democratic gubernatorial primary election had previously been roughly tantamount to election in Arkansas. Energy interests, banking interests, and timber interests had backed White in the election due to Clinton's disputes with these industries. As Clinton once joked, he became the youngest ex-governor in the nation's history.
After leaving office in January 1981, Clinton joined his friend Bruce Lindsey's Little Rock law firm of Wright, Lindsey and Jennings.
Second governorship (1983–1992)
In 1982, he was elected governor a second time and retained the office for the next ten years. Effective with the 1986 election, Arkansas had changed its gubernatorial term of office from two to four years.
Clinton's final term as governor (1991–1992) was marked by a period of particularly extensive legislative success, due both to the resounding mandate he won from voters against a well-funded opponent in his preceding re-election, as well as the defeat of several major opponents of Clinton's in the state's legislature.
Economic policy