FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (Legal Newsline)-Longtime former Arkansas Attorney General Steve Clark, who was convicted in 1990 of misusing a state credit card, is running for mayor of Fayetteville, Ark.
Clark, 61, elected to his first term as attorney general in 1978 and re-elected to four more two-year terms, was nearly halfway through his fifth term when he announced his candidacy for governor in January 1990.
Weeks later, the Democrat abandoned his gubernatorial bid amid revelations that he was under investigation for using a state-issued credit card to make $115,000 in personal travel and meal purchases.
At his Saturday campaign announcement, Clark, 61, said his life has changed.
"If my life stands for anything, it stands for the proposition that when broken, battered or bruised in life by one's own reckless conduct or events beyond one's control, a person does not have to quit," Clark said at a news conference.
Clark was convicted of felony theft for misspending more than $20,000, and he resigned as attorney general.
He was pardoned in 2004 by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, which allows him to once again hold elective office.
"When broken, battered or bruised in life by one's own reckless conduct or events beyond one's control, a person does not have to quit," Clark said Saturday.
Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody is not seeking election to a third term. Others vying for the post are Walt Eilers, Alderman Lioneld Jordan and Jeff Koenig.
From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo by e-mail at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.