Mark McElroy was about 13 when he and his father Clifford McElroy traveled the dirt roads from the tiny community of Rohwer to Arkansas City. While at the Desha County Courthouse, the youngster was greeted by Dorothy Moore with a piece of candy. Moore, now deceased, worked in the county collector’s office at the time, and now at 64 he still remembers asking his daddy as they were leaving, “Is she kin?”
“No.”
Her small kindness later influenced his decision to enter politics and the way he treats his constituents, and says, “I want people to feel like they’ve been treated like family even if I can’t help them.”
In truth, McElroy’s career as farmer, county judge and state representative have been marked by ups and downs, successes and failures, but no matter the job, McElroy approached each with integrity and gave it all he had.
Now as he plans to run again, he says his priorities reflect the health and economic pain currently experienced in Southeast Arkansas, where COVID-19 cases are high and jobless rates are rising even faster.
“First and our most pressing issue, we all need to stay healthy and when we put COVID behind us, I want District 11 residents to be ready,” McElroy says.
“We need to work to get the economy back on track at the state and local levels and save the jobs we have while at the same time creating future business opportunities. But we need to think beyond the immediate and ultimately work with community and state leaders whether its education, more job creation and better employment opportunities.”
If reelected, McElroy says, “I want to focus on a reliable high speed internet in Southeast Arkansas. Just in case the new norm is learning or working from home. There/s no telling how far it could take Southeast Arkansas.”
His Capitol hill resume
In 2012, McElroy’s Legislative career got off to a rocky start but he turned it around during his six years there and gained perspective and focus. McElroy says he’s learned to pick his battles and successfully sponsored several legislative bills.
“The stakes are higher there,” but, he says, it’s not about him but the 30,000 people who live in District 11, which includes Desha and Chicot counties and a portion of Ashley County. McElroy is unashamedly Republican, pro second amendment and pro-life.
When still a freshman representative, McElroy managed appointments to the Joint Budget Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the City, County & Local Affairs Committee, the House Corrections & Criminal Law Permanent Subcommittee of Judiciary, the Joint Committee on Energy, and a non-voting of Public Health & Safety.
It was important to him that he earn a spot on the Agricultural Committee and he’s spent six years on the Budget Committee.
“Working on a committee is the only way to really understand what’s going on and what’s driving the issue, and it’s a great way to build relationships with other legislators.
“You can’t come here and learn the state’s busi-ness in four months, and I want to be the best informed legislator I can be,” McElroy says.
It also means he’ll spend two or three days a week away from home and the work is demanding, requires focus and determination.
Sure it’s tough, but he says, “You’re working for all the people and to do it right, you have to be willing to put in the time.”
The particulars
McElroy firmly believes his constituents sent him to the Capitol in Little Rock to facilitate job creation, so with that in mind, he supported the governor’s plan to provide a $140 million finance and infrastructure construction package for Big River Steel.
“The steel mill may keep a few kids at home,” instead of losing the next generations to states with better employment offerings, he says.
While many representatives sponsor 30 or 40 bills a session, McElroy usually only works on one or two. In 2015 he worked on a levee bill equalized the amount of money individuals paid within the levee district. Before this bill passed, people living in incorporated areas in southeast Arkansas paid about $200 in levee taxes while those living outside towns like Arkansas City, Lake Village and McGehee paid 30 cents per acre.
In 2017, he joined forces with 11-year-old Hannah Alder of Star City and they worked together on the passage of a bill that allowed districts to install seat belts on their buses and won.
“If we don’t need seat belts then why does the school bus driver get one?” Hannah says of the need. McElroy agreed.
Contrary to his usual approach, during the 91st General Assembly he included two bills, one that allows for districts to install seat belts on buses and a second that allows for exterior cameras.
More kids are killed outside the bus than inside so McElroy says sponsoring that bill was a “no brainer.”
Serving as Desha County Judge
Like his father, McElroy was a farmer, with its unpredictable ups and downs, but somewhere along the line, he decided he enjoyed politics more—funny and much like farming, it comes with exhilarating highs and depressing lows.
He served as a Desha County Justice of the Peace, he decided to run for County Judge against incumbent Bain Poole.
Perhaps at 36, McElroy was too young to comprehend the phrase, “a sitting Desha County Judge had never been defeated.”
However, he disproved that old adage wrong and held the office for 20 years until 2012 when he decided to run for the Arkansas House of Representatives and won.
As county judge, he says the job taught him one thing, “It’s impossible to make everyone happy.”
But that didn’t keep him from trying.
As county judge, he picked up trash, removed rundown shacks, even petitioned the state for funds that helped more than 100 Desha Country residents replace their old homes with new, modern ones. He secured 911 services, free landfill and recycling services for county residents, and all the while he managed to keep the county roads up to par. He applied for grants to renovate the old Arkansas City School, the Desha County Courthouse and the opera house.
After the 2007 tornado that devastated a large portion of Dumas, provided the city with county support.
“It was a hard time for many of Dumas’s residents and businesses, but we all pulled together,” McElroy remembers.
For more information, contact Mark McElroy at (870) 222-8217 or email him at mdmcelroy1@yahoo.com.
