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Eric Clark (politician)

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For other people named Eric Clark, see Eric Clark (disambiguation).
Eric Clark
34th Secretary of State of Mississippi
In office
January 4, 1996 – January 10, 2008
GovernorKirk Fordice
Ronnie Musgrove
Haley Barbour
Preceded byDick Molpus
Succeeded byDelbert Hosemann
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
from the 79th district
80th (1980-1984)
In office
January 1980 – January 16, 1996
Personal details
Born (1951-07-25) July 25, 1951 (age 73)
Mize, Mississippi, U. S.
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materMillsaps College (BA)
University of Mississippi (MA)
Mississippi State University (PhD)

Eric Charles Clark (born July 25, 1951) is an American politician and academic who served as the Secretary of State of Mississippi from 1996 to 2008.

Early life and education

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Eric Charles Clark was born on July 25, 1951, in Mize, Mississippi. Graduating from Taylorsville High School, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Millsaps College, Master of Arts from the University of Mississippi, and PhD in history from Mississippi State University.[1] His father, John Clark, served in the Mississippi House of Representatives in the 1930s and 1940s.[2]

Career

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Clark began his career as a high school and community college teacher. He was a history instructor at Mississippi College from 1989 to 1995. He was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, representing Smith County districts, for four terms from 1980 to 1996.[3][4][5][6] On January 3, 1984, he challenged the leadership of Speaker Buddie Newman by moving for the adoption of a set of House rules which unbundled some of the powers of the speakership. His proposal failed, but gained the support of 25 other representatives, leading to the collective label of the "Gang of 26". Newman responded to the challenge to his authority by assigning the 26 insignificant committee responsibilities.[7]

In 1987, reformist legislators succeeded in curbing some of the powers of the speaker. Following Newman's replacement by Tim Ford in January 1988, Clark was made chairman of the House Rules Committee.[8]

In 1995 Clark ran for the office of Secretary of State of Mississippi. He narrowly defeated Amy Tuck in the Democratic primary runoff and faced Republican state senator Barbara Blanton in the general election. He campaigned on his legislative record in the House of Representatives and defeated her in the November 7 contest.[9] He was sworn in on January 4, 1996.[10] He was re-elected in 1999 and 2003. He did not seek reelection in 2007[11] and was succeeded in office by Republican Delbert Hosemann on January 10, 2008.[12][13] He served as the interim Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives at the opening of its 2008 session on January 8 to swear in the legislators before allowing the body to elect its own leadership.[14]

In 2008 Clark was made executive director of the Mississippi Community College Board.[15] He retired in June 2015.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Legislative Handbook 1980, p. 30.
  2. ^ Nash & Taggart 2009, p. 330.
  3. ^ "SC 591 (As Adopted by Senate and House) - 2007 Regular Session". billstatus.ls.state.ms.us. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  4. ^ "house/1984-88 - House of Representatives (1948-2016)". MS Digital Archives. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  5. ^ "house/1988-92 - House of Representatives (1948-2016)". MS Digital Archives. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  6. ^ "house/1993-96 - House of Representatives (1948-2016)". MS Digital Archives. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  7. ^ Nash & Taggart 2009, pp. 193–194.
  8. ^ "Clark to lead Rules committee". The Scott County Times. January 20, 1988. p. 1.
  9. ^ Ragland, Lee (November 8, 1995). "Clark breezes into secretary of state's post". The Clarion-Ledger. p. 5A.
  10. ^ Holland, Gina (January 5, 1996). "State swears in seven Democrats to statewide offices". The Clarksdale Press Register. Associated Press. p. 5.
  11. ^ Wells, Valerie (January 19, 2008). "Clark picked to lead 2-year schools". Hattiesburg American. pp. 1A, 4A.
  12. ^ Lane, Sherra H.; Scott, Omeria (January 24, 2008). "A Weekly Summary Report For the Week Ending January 11, 2008". The Clarke County Tribune. p. 11.
  13. ^ Byrd, Shelia (January 11, 2008). "7 statewide officials take oath of office". Hattiesburg American. pp. 3A, 9A.
  14. ^ Nash & Taggart 2009, pp. 322–333.
  15. ^ "Community college board exec Eric Clark to retire". Mississippi Business Journal. Associated Press. September 21, 2014. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014.
  16. ^ Amy, Jeff (September 20, 2015). "Juco director glad to come home : Mayfield to start work Dec. 1 at $278K a year". The Greenwood Commonwealth. p. 4A.

Works cited

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Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for Secretary of State of Mississippi
1995, 1999, 2003 		Succeeded by
Robert H. "Rob" Smith
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