Kelley Linck

A resident of Flippin in Marion County, Linck is the son of Ike and Velma Linck. His grandfather operated the White River ferry crossing near Cotter in Baxter County before the building of the R.M. Ruthvin Rainbow Arch Bridge.[3]

Linck graduated c. 1981 from Yellville–Summit High School in Yellville. In 1986, he procured a bachelor's degree in business administration from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville in Pope County. He is the executive director of the Ozark Mountain Region Tourism Association, Inc., having been affiliated with the organization since 2001. From 1992 to 2005, he operated Rivercliff Cabins and Fishing Service. He has also been a manager for J. B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.[4] He has served on the North Central Arkansas Regional Economic Development Committee. Linck was formerly the president of the White/Norfork Rivers Outfitters Association and the Chamber of Commerce in Bull Shoals.[2][3] He is United Methodist and affiliated with Rotary International.[2][4]

Linck lost a bid for the District 86's House seat in 2006.[3] He ran again for that seat in 2010 and defeated the Democrat Wesley Smith 6,835 votes to 3,510 votes for the right to succeed the term-limited Democrat Monty Davenport.[5] In 2012, Linck was redistricted to District 99 for his second legislative term. He defeated the Independent candidate, Anton Such, 8,892 votes to 2,528 votes. No Democrat contested the seat in 2012.[6]

Linck served on the Arkansas Legislative Council and the House committees on (1) Public Health, Welfare and Labor, (2) State Agencies, and (3) Rules.[2][4]

In 2013, then-Representative Linck co-sponsored the proposed spending cap on the state budget, but the bill failed by a two-vote margin in the House. He joined the majority to override the vetoes of Democratic Governor Mike Beebe to enact legislation to require photo identification for casting a ballot in Arkansas and to ban abortion after twenty weeks of gestation. He was a co-sponsor of both of these measures. Linck also supported legislation to outlaw abortion whenever fetal heartbeat is detected and to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange. He did not vote on the measure to make the death of a fetus a felony in certain cases. He co-sponsored allowing university officials to carry concealed weapons on campus. He supported a law permitting religious institutions to allow the carrying of concealed weapons in places of worship. He voted against reducing the application fee for obtaining a concealed carry permit. Linck voted to prohibit the governor from regulating firearms during an emergency. He voted to prohibit the closing of schools based on a two-year pupil enrollment analysis. He voted to establish a tiered system of lottery scholarships. Linck voted for legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan. He voted for the bill, signed by Governor Beebe, to permit the sale of up to five hundred gallons per month of unpasteurized whole milk directly from the farm to consumers.[7]

Linck resigned from the Arkansas House of Representatives on June 3, 2016 to join the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services.

In September 2019, Linck announced that he would be stepping down from his post at Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services effective October 4, 2019 to allow him to take a position with Little Rock lobbying firm Mullenix & Associates. Mullenix & Associates are based in Little Rock and assist corporate clients (e.g. Blue Cross & Blue Shield) who serve Medicaid recipients in Arkansas. It was not immediately clear whether Linck's new position with the lobbying firm Mullenix & Associates would represent a conflict of interest in view of his previous position with the state's Department of Human Services. Chief Counsel David Sterling suggests that Linck should avoid all involvement with cases involving clients of Mullenix & Associates during his remaining tenure with the state (through October 4, 2019).

Further, 2015 Arkansas Code § 19-11-709 places restrictions on the employment of former employees and has been cited in this case as well as another concurrent case of another Arkansas DHS official who is leaving for private sector employment. § 19-11-709 prohibits a state employee from acting "as a principal or as an agent for anyone other than the state" in connection with any matter in which the employee participates "personally and substantially." The law also prohibits former employees and partners of former employees from being involved as a "principal or agent for anyone other than the state" regarding any state contract in which that employee provided "decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise while an employee." The law also bars former state employees for one year from acting for a private company in connection with contracts that were within the person's "official responsibility" while employed by the state. It is unclear whether

Linck is quoted as promising to "have that discussion" with his new employers once he begins his tenure with them. Legislators in Arkansas face a two-year cooling off period before becoming lobbyists. Linck left his previous position as a Legislator in June 2016 to work for the Department of Human Services until October 2019, when he will become a lobbyist.