Catholic legislators are not as well represented at the State Capitol as they are in the general Arkansas population.
While Catholics make up 5.5 percent of the state, in the State Legislature it is only 4.4 percent.
No Catholics serve in the 35-member Senate. Among the ranks of the 100-member House of Representatives, six are Catholic. Of these, three are in their freshman year in state politics. While their backgrounds are as varied as their legislative agendas, they share a desire to improve the lives of their constituents and the state of Arkansas as a whole.
LESLEE MILAM POST, District 83
Serving in her first legislative term, Post hails from Ozark and is a member of St. Mary Church in Altus. A graduate of the Univesity of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Post is married and her husband, Andrew Post, is president of Post Winery of Altus. The couple has four children.
Post said she first got interested in legislative issues when, at just 23 years old, she served as executive director for the Crisis Center for Women in Fort Smith. There, she saw daily the real face of women’s issues and where she worked within the political process for the first time on behalf of the victims of domestic abuse and assault.
“I went into the interview for the executive director not even sure that I wanted the job,” she said. “After just a few minutes, I knew this was what I was meant to do. It was a true calling, I just knew that this was where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to be doing with my life.”
She said her faith plays a major part of her life as mother, wife, advocate and legislator.
“Being Catholic is who I am and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my faith,” she said. “I don’t make any bones about it.”
Post sits on the House Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology, House Committee on City, County and Local Affairs and House Committee on Public Transportation.
JON WOODS, District 93
Looking back, Woods admits he was destined for a life in politics from a very early age. The son of a librarian mother, he spent much of the free time of his youth reading. After stumbling onto books about John F. Kennedy and articles on Ronald Reagan, the seed of public service was planted. Later, when former U.S. Sen. Blanche (Lambert) Lincoln visited his school in Blytheville, the die was cast.
Today, Woods is in his third and final term in the House. The 33-year-old Springdale resident is a member of St. Raphael Church there.
He sits on the House Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology, House Committee on Insurance and Commerce, House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor, Legislative Joint Auditing Committee and State Agencies Subcommittee of Legislative Audit.
During his time in the legislature, Woods has been a champion for the Umbilical Cord Blood Bank, a pro-life stem-cell alternative. He said one of his priorities for the current session was to help ensure funding for the bank continues.
He said while he and Bishop Anthony B. Taylor haven’t always agreed on legislative issues — most recently on immigration bills — he maintains an open dialogue with the diocese and has voted in accordance with his faith on more than one controversial bill.
“My values are not for sale,” he said. “In politics it is important to remember who you are — I’m proud to be Catholic.”
BARRY HYDE, District 40
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Hyde came to Arkansas in 1975 and grew a successful business in North Little Rock. A member of Immaculate Conception Church in North Little Rock, the Air Force veteran and his wife Jeanne are the parents of three and the grandparents of five.
In 2007, having never held elected public office, he began the first of three terms in the House of Representatives on the platform of improving high school graduation rates and prison reform. He said the two are not mutually exclusive.
“More than 60 percent of the prison population, county jail inmates and those on Arkansas entitlement programs, excluding the disabled, do not have a high school education,” he said. “If you increase the number of people in Arkansas with a high school education, I believe we will see a proportional reduction in these three areas.”
As a ranking member of the House, Hyde’s door is open to all new members and he proactively works with the freshmen to help them get their bearings.
“The main point to remember is to leave the campaigns behind them and focus on the needs of the people, which is why they are here,” he said.
Hyde sits on the House Committee on Insurance and Commerce, House Committee on Public Health Welfare and Labor, House Management Committee, House Select Committee on Rules, Joint Budget Committee and PEER Review Subcommittee of the Joint Budget Committee.
TRACY PENNARTZ, District 65
A native of Charleston, Ark., Pennartz now makes her home in Fort Smith. The three-term representative is a Navy veteran and graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with a master’s degree in Communications in 1974. She is a member of St. Boniface Church in Fort Smith.
She sits on the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, Joint Budget Committee, Joint Performance Review Committee and Special Language Subcommittee of the Joint Budget Committee.
As the owner of Pernnartz & Associates, a health care consulting and management firm, health related issues have been an area of particular
interest. However, a particular priority for her this time out is HB1118, legislation aimed at attracting new business investment in the state through tax credit incentives.
“Downtowns are the core of any community.” she said. “Any vibrant community has a strong and invigorated downtown and this bill encourages economic development.
“The number one priority on the minds of my constituents is jobs. They want to have a job, feed their families and be part of a thriving community.”
Pennartz described herself as a strong advocate for the separation of church and state and therefore she tries to keep her own personal bias — religious or otherwise — out of her thinking when evaluating a bill. However, her faith is not entirely absent from her day-to-day life as a legislator.
“My faith tells me that I’m not here for my own personal enhancement, but in the interest of others,” she said. “As a member of the legislator, I am a public servant first.”
LORI BENEDICT, District 82
A desire to address government inefficiencies and cut waste was the motivation for Benedict to seek, at the age of 64, her first elected office. Her committees include Arkansas Legislative Council, House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs, House Committee on Public Transportation and the Joint Performance Review Committee.
The Chicago-born businesswoman, now a resident of Sturkie (Fulton County), landed in Little Rock skeptical about what she would find.
“I thought I wouldn’t like spending so much time in Little Rock — I’m a country person,” she said. “But it has been a really great experience and I have been impressed with how well people are working together.”
A member of St. Mary of the Mount Church in Horseshoe Bend, Benedict is blunt when it comes to what she stands for.
“My priorities are to protect children, the unborn and the aging,” she said. “I want to make sure our schools do not continue down the path where there is no reference to God, where students cannot pray, or where they can’t say ‘In God we trust’ or sing ‘God Bless America.’ “
She is a staunch defender of individual rights with limited government intervention. Benedict said as a legislator, her faith is the compass by which she makes decisions.
“I always pray that I may be guided to make the right decisions,” she said. “I don’t think you can take God out of government because there are some issues where you just can’t separate the two. I try to be balanced and I try to be fair, but if I’m going to err, it will be on the side of my religion.”
Benedict and her husband Don have two children and two grandchildren.
GREG LEDING, District 92
A freshman representative at just 32, Leding graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2001. He first experienced politics by volunteering on several local campaigns while still in college. In his first time out, he won the District 92 seat last fall.
Leding is a member of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Fayetteville and St. Raphael?Church in?Springdale. When he’s not in the legislature, he runs his own website design business.
He said while faith is an important part of who he is as a person, as a legislator, he tries to take each bill on its merit and not on theology.
“Sometimes my faith puts me at odds with a particular bill or even with the views of my constituents,” he said. “In those cases, I just try to serve the people as best I can while remaining true to my faith. It’s definitely a difficult area sometimes.”
Leding said navigating the legislative channels as a new face in the legislature took some getting used to, but that so far he was enjoying settling into his new role. He predicted long days ahead as the legislature gets into the meat of its 2011 agenda.
He sits on the Arkansas Legislative Council, Hospital and Medicaid Study Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council, House Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology, House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development, House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor and the Joint Committee on Energy.
“This is a job that will take up as much time as one is willing to give it,” he said. “I expect to stay very busy even after the session ends.”
