Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin
16th Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas
Incumbent
Assumed office January 13, 2015
Governor	Asa Hutchinson
Preceded by	Mark Darr
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 2nd district
In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2015
Preceded by	Vic Snyder
Succeeded by	French Hill
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas
In office December 20, 2006 – June 1, 2007
Preceded by	Bud Cummins
Succeeded by	Jane Duke
Personal details
Born	John Timothy Griffin (1968-08-21) August 21, 1968 Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Griffin
Children	2
Alma mater	Hendrix College Tulane University
Religion	Southern Baptist
Awards	Meritorious Service Medal Army Commendation Medal (6) Army Achievement Medal (5) Combat Action Badge
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army Reserve
Years of service	1996–present
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Unit	172nd Infantry Brigade[1]
Battles/wars	Iraq War

John Timothy "Tim" Griffin (born August 21, 1968) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party who is the 16th and current Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas of the state of Arkansas, since 2015. He also served as U.S. Representative for Arkansas's 2nd congressional district from 2011 to 2015. As the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in 2014 he defeated Democrat John Burkhalter. He was interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas from December 2006 to June 2007 but never confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Early life and education

Griffin was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and raised in Magnolia, Arkansas. He graduated from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, and in 1994 from Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Early political career

Prior to 2004

Griffin worked from September 1995 to January 1997 with Special Prosecutor David Barrett and his investigation of former Secretary of HUD, Henry Cisneros. For two years after that he was Senior Investigative Counsel for the House Committee on Government Reform.

In September 1999 he became Deputy Research Director for the Republican National Committee (for George W. Bush's election campaign); while in that position, he was a legal advisor for the "Bush-Cheney 2000 Florida Recount Team" (see Bush v. Gore). From March 2001 through June 2002 he was Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, (i.e. Assistant's Assistant).

2004 presidential election

From June 2002 to December 2004, Griffin was Research Director and Deputy Communications Director for Bush's 2004 reelection campaign, a high-ranking position within the RNC.

In June 2007, Senators Edward Kennedy and Sheldon Whitehouse asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether Griffin led a Republican National Committee effort to suppress the African-American vote in Jacksonville, Florida through caging during the 2004 election. Griffin called the allegations of voter suppression "absolutely, positively false" and there was no finding of any wrongdoing.^[2][3]

White House (2005–2006)

In April 2005, Griffin began working at the White House as Karl Rove's aide, with the title of Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director in the Office of Political Affairs.^[4]

U.S. Attorney (2006–2007)

Portrait of U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin

In September 2006, after ending a one-year military mobilization assignment, Griffin began working as a special assistant to Bud Cummins, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.^[5]

On December 15, 2006, the Justice Department announced that Griffin would be appointed interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, effective December 20, 2006, the date when the resignation of Cummins took effect.^[6][7][8][9]

Before a March 2006 revision to the PATRIOT Act, interim U.S. Attorneys had a 120-day term limit, pending confirmation by the Senate of a Presidential nominee. The Attorney General makes interim appointments; after the revision, the Attorney General's interim appointees had no term limit, effectively bypassing the Senate confirmation process if the President declined to put forward a nomination. Griffin was among the first group of interim attorneys appointed by the Attorney General without a term limit.^[10] Gonzales's decision to bypass confirmation for Griffin particularly angered Arkansas's two U.S. Senators, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. Lincoln and Pryor both stated that Gonzales promised them Griffin would go before the Senate for confirmation. Gonzales's decision not to do so prompted Lincoln and Pryor to join many of their Democratic colleagues in demanding Gonzales's resignation or firing.^[11]

On May 30, 2007, Griffin resigned from his position effective June 1, 2007^[12] with a tearful speech declaring that public service "not worth it. I'm married now and have a kid. I'm sorry I put my wife through this and I'm trying to move on."^[13]

Documents released by a subsequent Congressional investigation showed that, in the summer of 2006, White House officials wanted a vacant slot in Little Rock, Arkansas, so Griffin could fill it. Prior to this, he was a top Republican researcher and aide to Rove.^[14] On February 16, 2007, 10 days after McNulty testified that Cummins was dismissed to create a vacancy for Griffin's appointment, Griffin announced he would not seek the presidential nomination to be U.S. attorney in Little Rock.^[15]

In September 2008, the Office of the Inspector General in the Department of Justice issued a report concluding that Cummins had not been removed for any reasons related to his performance, but rather to make a place for Griffin.^[16][17]

On August 11, 2009, the New York Times reported that previously classified White House emails showed Karl Rove had lobbied for Griffin to be appointed Cummins's successor.^[18]

2008 presidential election

On May 31, 2007, the Washington Post reported speculation that Griffin was in discussions with the then-nascent Presidential campaign of Fred Thompson for a top-level post.^[19] Instead, Griffin set an office in Little Rock, Arkansas, for Mercury Public Affairs, a New York City-based firm, part of the Omnicom Group, where he had worked as general counsel and managing director. (The Thompson campaign paid Mercury Public Affairs to have Griffin as an advisor.^[20]) Then, after a short period with Mercury, he started Griffin Public Affairs and the Griffin Law Firm.^[21]

In late May 2008, columnist Robert Novak reported that Griffin had been named as the Republican National Committee's Director of Research for the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain, to direct opposition research, "although final arrangements have not been pinned down".^[22] But Griffin said he was not going back to the Republican National Committee (RNC), and that he had not talked to anyone in the GOP's leadership structure or with the McCain campaign about that role.^[21]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2010

On September 21, 2009, Griffin announced that he was running for Congress, to replace Democrat Vic Snyder who stepped down after 14 years in Congress.^[23] He defeated the Democratic nominee Joyce Elliott, Majority Leader of the Arkansas Senate. Elliott's campaign highlighted Griffin's past controversies such as the Bush campaign's voter caging efforts and his being named one of the "Crooked Candidates of 2010" by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.^[24]

Griffin won with 58% of the vote.^[25]

2012

Griffin won re-election with 55% of the vote, over former state representative Herb C. Rule III.^[26]

Tenure

In 2009 Griffin signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any Global Warming legislation that would raise taxes.^[27]

Legislation sponsored

• Authority for Mandate Delay Act (H.R. 2667; 113th Congress) (H.R. 2667) – Rep. Griffin introduced this bill on July 11, 2013 in response to a July 2, 2013 announcement from the Obama Administration that they would be delaying one of the key requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly known as "Obamacare").^[28] Their decision was that the requirement that all companies which employed more than 50 workers must offer an employee health insurance plan or pay a fine, scheduled to begin January 1, 2014, would now be delayed until 2015.^[29] This decision was immediately criticized for exceeding executive authority.^[30]

In response to the Obama Administration's decision, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced that Congress would need to formally approve any delay.^[28] When he explained why he had introduced the bill, Griffin argued that, although he believed the Obama Administration's unilateral decision to delay the mandate was illegal, he still believed delaying the mandate was a good idea in order to save jobs and protect workers.^[28]

• Griffin, along with Rep. Ander Crenshaw and Rep. Candice Miller, introduced the Save Our Military Shopping Benefits Act in 2014. The bill would prohibit the military from closing or cutting commissary stores and exchanges on bases in the United States.^[31]

Committee assignments

Congressman Griffin serves on the following committees and subcommittees:

• Committee on Ways and Means
  • Subcommittee on Human Resources
  • Subcommittee on Social Security
• Republican Study Committee

On January 16, 2014, House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security held a hearing with the head of Social Security and the Social Security inspector general. During the hearing, Congressman Griffin challenged statistics presented by the Social Security Administration Acting Commissioner Carolyn Colvin. In her testimony, Acting Commissioner Colvin said that 99% of all Social Security disability payments are correctly made without fraud.^[32]

Lieutenant Governor

2014 election

Griffin was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas in the 2014 elections. He defeated two Republican challengers in the primary election, both outgoing members of the Arkansas House of Representatives, Andy Mayberry and Debra Hobbs, taking 63% of the vote to Mayberry's 21% and Hobbs' 16%.^[33]

In the general election on November 4, 2014, Griffin defeated in the lieutenant governor's race the Democrat John Burkhalter, the former chairman of both the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, a post once held by later Republican Governors Winthrop Rockefeller and Frank D. White, and the Arkansas Highway Commission. In the last week of the campaign, news broke that Burkhalter as a young man had worked many temporary jobs, including that of a male stripper in Little Rock using the designation "Metro Express". Burkhalter is since the owner of a piping company, with a wife and two daughters, both involved in competitive dance.^[34]

Personal life

Griffin attends Immanuel Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church in Little Rock.^[35] Griffin also currently serves as a senior advisor for communications and growth strategies at Purple Strategies, an Alexandria, Virginia based communications and marketing firm whose clients have included BP and McDonald's.^[36]

Electoral history

References

External links

• Tim Griffin at DMOZ
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress

Lieutenant Governors of Arkansas
Parnell Cazort Wilson Cazort Bailey Shaver Gordon Britt Riley Purcell Bryant Tucker Huckabee Rockefeller Halter Darr Griffin

Current statewide elected officials and legislative leaders of Arkansas
U. S. Senators	John Boozman Tom Cotton
State government	Asa Hutchinson, Governor Tim Griffin, Lieutenant Governor Mark Martin, Secretary of State Leslie Rutledge, Attorney General Dennis Milligan, Treasurer Andrea Lea, Auditor John Thurston, Land Commissioner
Senate	Jonathan Dismang, President pro tempore Jim Hendren, Majority Leader Keith Ingram, Minority Leader
House	Jeremy Gillam, Speaker Ken Bragg, Majority Leader Eddie Armstrong, Minority Leader

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas
Territory Bates Conway Sevier At-large Yell Cross Yell Newton Johnson Hynes Breckinridge
1st district Greenwood Hindman Roots Hanks Hodges Gause Dunn Cate Featherstone Cate McCulloch Macon Caraway Driver Gathings Alexander Lincoln Berry Crawford 2nd district Warren Rust Warren Rust Hinds Elliott A. Rogers O. Snyder Slemons Jones Breckinridge Little Brundidge W. Oldfield P. Oldfield Miller Mills Tucker Bethune T. Robinson Thornton V. Snyder Griffin Hill 3rd district Boles Edwards Boles Wilshire Gunter Wilshire J. Cravens J. Rogers McRae Dinsmore Floyd Tillman Fuller Ellis Fulbright Trimble Hammerschmidt T. Hutchinson A. Hutchinson Boozman Womack 4th district Gunter Peel J. Rogers Terry Reid Little W. B. Cravens O. Wingo E. Wingo W. B. Cravens W. F. Cravens Tackett Harris Pryor Thornton Anthony Dickey Ross Cotton Westerman 5th district Peel Dinsmore Reid Jacoway Ragon Terry Hays Alford 6th district Neill Brundidge J. Robinson S. Taylor C. Taylor Sawyer Reed Glover McClellan W. Norrell C. Norrell 7th district Wallace Goodwin Parks Kitchens Harris