Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's former chief of staff, Carl Vogelpohl, will manage the campaign by a committee of business interests to persuade Arkansans to vote for a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit certain damage awards in lawsuits, the committee announced Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Republican attorney general announced that the office's legislative director, Cory Cox, has assumed duties as the chief of staff to succeed Vogelpohl.
Cox will be paid a salary of $138,000 a year -- up from Vogelpohl's salary of $125,841 a year -- and Cox's responsibilities will include oversight of the entire office, including legislative affairs, said Rutledge spokesman Judd Deere. Vogelpohl's last day with the attorney general's office was Monday, Deere said.
Arkansans for Jobs and Justice is the committee of business interests promoting the proposed constitutional amendment known as Senate Joint Resolution 8 on the 2018 general election ballot. Vogelpohl was hired as a full-time manager under a consulting contract, said Holly Wilson, a spokesman for the committee.
Vogelpohl had served as Rutledge's chief of staff since her election in 2014, according to a news release issued by Arkansans for Jobs and Justice. He has served as chief of staff, deputy chief of staff and district director for then-U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, who is now the state's Republican lieutenant governor. He also was president of Split Rail Consulting, and advised both Griffin and Rutledge in their successful bids for office.
Rutledge said in a news release that "since his instrumental work on my 2014 campaign, I knew that at some point Carl would want to return to political consulting and with the 2018 election season approaching, the time has come."
But, she said, "there is no one better prepared to serve as my chief of staff than Cory Cox."
Cox served an attorney to then-Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee before serving as director of the state Insurance Department's Criminal Investigation Division, starting in 2005, according to a news release issued by Rutledge's office.
He subsequently was a partner in the law firm of Hiland, Thomas and Cox from 2009-11 before he served stints as staff attorney and legislative affairs liaison for Republican Land Commissioner John Thurston and then as managing attorney for the Department of Human Services' Division of Policy and Legal Services. Cox also serves on the Perryville School Board.
Metro on 10/18/2017