Beebe: No rush to replace slain Ark. party leader

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said he won't recommend a replacement for slain state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney before delegates gather in Denver next week for the Democratic National Convention.

"It's important to do it relatively quickly, but you don't want to rush to it," Beebe said Tuesday. "It's the kind of decision that can be long-lasting, so you want to make sure you take enough time so you can make the correct and proper choice."

Beebe said he will take the next several weeks to look at possible replacements for Gwatney, who was shot and killed in his office at the party headquarters last week. The gunman, Timothy Dale Johnson, was shot dead by police after leading them on a 30-mile chase.

Members of the state party's executive committee said they will follow tradition and allow Beebe, a Democrat, to recommend a new chairman.

"There's really been no discussion because this is one of those things that the party leadership takes the cue from the governor on, when there's a Democratic governor," said Jay Barth, a member of the committee and a political science professor at Hendrix College. "There's really no question that this is one person's decision and that's Governor Beebe's decision."

Under party rules, the party's vice chairman must call a meeting of the party's state committee within 60 days of the vacancy. Darinda Sharp, party spokeswoman, said a date has not been set yet for the state committee.

Beebe, who served in the state Senate with Gwatney, said he would like to find a new chairman who could work with the different constituencies of the state's Democratic party. The party holds a majority of seats in the Legislature, all but one of the state's congressional seats and all the statewide offices.

"It's a big tent, and it's tough sometimes to bring all the competing constituencies together. But Senator Gwatney had an ability to do that," Beebe said. "Obviously, if I had my druthers, it would be somebody with those same characteristics. How close we'll be able to do that is problematic because he was a pretty unique individual."

Gwatney, who would have turned 49 during next week's Democratic National Convention, was to have been a superdelegate at the convention in Denver. He had supported Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid after Arkansas' primary but switched his support to Sen. Barack Obama when Clinton left the race.

Sharp said party leaders also have not decided whether to fill Gwatney's vacancy in the delegation to the convention.