Kelley Linck

Kelley J. Linck (born November 10, 1963) is a tourism official from Yellville in Marion County in northern Arkansas, who is a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives. District 99, which he has represented since 2013, includes parts of Marion, Searcy, Boone, and Baxter counties. From 2011 to 2013, he represented District 86, now held by the Democrat Greg Leding of Fayetteville.^[1]

Background

A native of Flippin in Marion County, Linck is the son of Ike and Velma Linck. His grandfather operated the White River ferry crossing near Cotter in Baxter County before the building of the R.M. Ruthvin Rainbow Arch Bridge.^[2]

Linck graduated c. 1981 from Yellville–Summit High School in Yellville. In 1986, he procured a bachelor's degree in business administration from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville in Pope County. He is the executive director of the Ozark Mountain Region Tourism Association, Inc., having been affiliated with the organization since 2001. From 1992 to 2005, he operated Rivercliff Cabins and Fishing Service. He has also been a manager for J. B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.^[3] He has served on the North Central Arkansas Regional Economic Development Committee. Linck was formerly the president of the White/Norfork Rivers Outfitters Association and the Chamber of Commerce in Bull Shoals.^[1]

.^[2]He is United Methodist and affiliated with Rotary International.^[1][3]

Political life

Linck lost a bid for the District 86 House seat in 2006.^[2] In 2010, however, he defeated the Democrat Wesley Smith, 6,835 (66 percent) to 3,510 (34 percent) for the right to succeed the term-limited Democrat Monty Davenport.^[4] In 2012, Linck was switched to District 99 for his second legislative term. He defeated the Independent candidate, Anton Such, 8,892 (77.9 percent) to 2,528 (22.1 percent). No Democrat contested the seat. ^[5]

Linck serves on the Arkansas Legislative Council and the House committees on (1) Public Health, Welfare and Labor, (2) State Agencies, and (3) Rules.^[1][3]

Representative Linck in 2013 co-sponsored the proposed spending cap on the state budget, but the bill failed by a two-vote margin in the House. He joined the majority to override the vetoes of Democratic Governor Mike Beebe to enact legislation to require photo identification for casting a ballot in Arkansas and to ban abortion after twenty weeks of gestation. He was a co-sponsor of both of these measures. Linck also supported related pro-life legislation to outlaw abortion whenever fetal heartbeat is detected and to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange. He did not vote on the measure to make the death of an unborn child a felony in certain cases. He co-sponsored allowing university officials to engage in the concealed carry of firearms in the name of campus safety. He supported a law giving the same power of concealed carry to officials of religious institutions. He voted against reducing the application fee for obtaining a concealed carry permit. Linck voted to prohibit the governor from regulating firearms during an emergency. He voted to prohibit the closing of schools based on a two-year pupil enrollment analysis.He voted to establish a tiered system of lottery scholarships. Linck voted for legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan. He voted for the bill, signed by Governor Beebe, to permit the sale of up to five hundred gallons per month of unpasteurized whole milk directly from the farm to consumers.^[6]

In 2011, Linck voted to allow state standards for biblical instruction and the authorization of school dress codes. He voted to require that driver's license tests be administered only in the English language. He voted for the Capital Gains Reduction Act and for the reduction of taxes on manufacturers' utilities. He voted for the congressional redistricting act.^[6]

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