Dustin McDaniel

Jonesboro Police Department

After college, McDaniel joined the Jonesboro Police Department (JPD) in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He attended the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy (ALETA) in Camden, Arkansas. He is a graduate of ALETA Class 94-D. He served as a full-time patrolman with JPD from 1994-1996. From 1996-2000, he served as a part-time uniformed officer while attending law school. From 2000–present, McDaniel has been assigned to the Department’s Training Division as a Part-Time Category II member of the force.

In 1998, a mass school shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas at Westside Middle School killed 4 students and 1 teacher and wounded 10 other students.

McDaniel saw the news breaking on CNN and drove to Jonesboro to report for duty and go to the scene. He spoke of it often in his public life. McDaniel’s father, Bobby McDaniel, filed suit on behalf of the families of the dead against the shooters and the manufacturers of the firearms used. The suit was filed before Dustin McDaniel had a law license, but nonetheless it was used by former Senator Gunner DeLay in 2006 as evidence of McDaniel’s lack of trustworthiness on Second Amendment Issues. McDaniel fought back by touting his law enforcement background and that he was an avid hunter. In 2017, the families were awarded an uncollectable judgment of $150 million against Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson.

Private Practice

After law school, McDaniel joined his father’s law firm, McDaniel & Wells, P.A. (now McDaniel Law Firm^[2]) in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He remained at McDaniel & Wells from 1999-2007.

McDaniel received several awards during his private practice career, including a Golden Gavel Award from the Arkansas Bar Association for serving as Chair of the Consumer Law Handbook Committee in 2000 and a Distinguished Service Award from the Arkansas Bar Association for overseeing the Consumer Law Handbook’s translation into Spanish in 2001. He also received the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law Young Alumnus Award in 2002. In 2002, he was appointed to the Arkansas Bar Association Law School Committee and admitted into the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. In 2003, McDaniel was the only attorney in Arkansas to serve on the Legislation committees of both the Arkansas Bar Association and the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association.

McDaniel served as Legal Counsel for Craighead County Democratic Central Committee and as a member of the Democratic Party of Arkansas State Committee from 2002-2005.

Under Arkansas law, the Attorney General is prohibited from engaging in the private practice of law. McDaniel left McDaniel & Wells in January 2007 and formed McDaniel, Richardson & Calhoun in 2015 after he was term limited.

First Term

During his first term as Attorney General, McDaniel expanded consumer protection litigation, Medicaid fraud enforcement and established the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office as a law enforcement agency. He also instigated the "Be Street Smart" Program to raise consumer awareness of scams and cybercrimes.

McDaniel reorganized the Criminal Department of the Attorney General’s Office to better address an increase in case load of habeas corpus and 1983 civil rights cases brought by or on behalf of death row inmates.

In 2007, McDaniel helped resolve Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, a fifteen-year-old case filed by the Lake View School District that examined the structure for the funding of Arkansas schools. This case led to the subsequent overhaul of public school funding with the aim to be more fair and exact and to benefit all Arkansas students equally. McDaniel worked closely with legislators during his first two years as Attorney General, and in April 2006, the Arkansas General Assembly passed legislation that gave the public schools additional funding, and the special masters’ final report in 2007 was positive, leading the court to declare the funding program for education to be constitutional. Through a final series of reforms, the Lake View School District was consolidated with the Barton-Lexa School District.

McDaniel demanded that payday lenders in Arkansas shut down or face legal action, ordering nearly 156 outlets shut down and stating: "In addition, I hereby demand you void any and all current and past-due obligations of your borrowers, and refrain from any collection activities related to these payday loans". More than $7 million was awarded through litigation on behalf of payday loan customers.

In 2009, after a year debate and discussion between agriculture advocates and animal welfare organizations, McDaniel brokered a successful bill to address animal cruelty. The bill, SB 77, called for a felony charge of aggravated animal cruelty for a first offense when committed against a dog, cat, or horse. The bill defined animal cruelty as mistreating an animal, killing or injuring an animal that is not your own, abandonment, starvation, failure to provide adequate shelter, or dragging an animal behind a vehicle. SB 77 included stiffer penalties when the abuse is committed in front of a child, increased penalties for subsequent misdemeanor charges (the fourth misdemeanor charge would result in a felony) and required psychological evaluations for offenders. The bill also outlawed all animal fighting as at the time, only dog fighting was illegal. The bill became Act 33 of 2009.

McDaniel passed legislation empowering the Attorney General’s Office as the statewide law enforcement agency, allowing for the creation for a cyber division that pursued online sex offenders.

Second Term

McDaniel was unopposed in the 2010 Democratic Party Primary. During the general election, he again faced Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy. McDaniel easily defended his seat, capturing 72.8% of the vote to secure a second term.^[4]

Dustin McDaniel presenting his arguments to the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in Blueford v. Arkansas.

During his second term, McDaniel became the first Arkansas Attorney General to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court in nearly 16 years, successfully arguing the State's position in Blueford v. Arkansas (2012).^[5]

The term also included multiple settlements he procured on behalf of the State of Arkansas. In March 2013, McDaniel announced an arbitration panel issued a ruling that allowed a settlement to proceed between Arkansas and the tobacco companies that signed the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement. Arkansas received the entire amount of settlement money that was in escrow, which amounted to $22.7 million. That November, McDaniel successfully negotiated a settlement agreement with North Little Rock School District, Pulaski County Special School District, and the Little Rock School District that phased out millions in ongoing, annual desegregation payments. The state would pay the districts $65.8 million for four years with the final year's funds used only for construction of academic facilities. In January 2014, U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall accepted the agreement.

Positions held as Attorney General

• National Association of Attorneys General's Tobacco Committee, Co-chairman
• National Association of Attorneys General's Energy and Environment Committee, Co-chairman
• National Association of Attorneys General's Public Safety and Health Committee, Co-chairman
• National Association of Attorneys General's Southern Region, Chairman
• Democratic Attorneys General Association, Co-chairman
• Democratic Attorneys General Association’s DNC representative
• State chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign
• Rodel Fellow, The Aspen Institute

In June 2012, McDaniel filed paperwork to start raising money for his 2014 campaign for Governor of Arkansas. In the first six months, McDaniel raised over $1.5 million. Early polling showed McDaniel as an overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination. However, in 2010 and 2012, Republicans took over Arkansas politics and early polling showed McDaniel as a long shot against Republican opponent Asa Hutchinson. After admitting to “an inappropriate relationship” with a Hot Springs attorney, McDaniel withdrew from the race in January 2013.

After McDaniel’s withdrawal, former Congressman Mike Ross entered for the Democratic nomination. In 2014, Asa Hutchinson defeated Mike Ross to become the 46th Governor of Arkansas.