Preston Bynum
Encyclopedia
Preston Conrad Bynum is a high-powered lobbyist in Little Rock
, Arkansas
, who served as a Republican
member of the Arkansas House of Representatives
from January 1969 to December 1980. On his first election, Bynum was one of only four Republicans in the 100-member House; when his party's delegation numbered five or six, he became, as senior member, the minority leader. Bynum succeeded fellow Republican James Lee "Jim" Sheets, then of Siloam Springs
in Benton County
, who did not seek a second term. At the time, Bynum was an automobile
dealer in Siloam Springs in a business begun by his father, Homer F. Bynum (1911–2004). Siloam Springs is one of the northwestern Arkansas towns in Benton County receptive the Republican political message.
He did not seek reelection in 1980 but instead became chief of staff to Republican Governor Frank D. White
. He now represents a number of major Arkansas clients through his Phoenix Investment Group, Inc., of Little Rock.
in the same election which sent Bynum to the legislature. In 1974, Bynum said that Watergate
revelations put him and other Nixon backers in a tense position: "I accepted his statements on true face value. So naturally, I'm disappointed he didn't tell me the truth."
Nevertheless, Bynum called Nixon "the greatest President this country's ever had." Bynum calculated Nixon's greatness on having disengaged from the Vietnam War
, dismantling some federal agencies that reduced the size of the bureaucracy, and "being known as a world leader."
Bynum said that impeachment
by the House and conviction by the U.S. Senate was a foregone conclusion. Bynum did not suggest that Nixon resignation, "In the past I've been right down the line with him, but the presidency is crumbling," Bynum said in a Time magazine
interview.
of Fort Smith
, the seat of Sebastian County, prepared the 1981 budget while White went on a post-election vacation
to celebrate his defeat of incumbent Governor Bill Clinton
. Bynum and Pollan kept the current budget figures but with 5 percent across-the-board cuts. Pollan continued to serve in the House but also functioned as White's legislative counsel.
Len E. Blaylock
, a former partisan of Winthrop Rockefeller
who had himself lost the 1972 gubernatorial general election
to the Democratic
incumbent Dale Bumpers
, joined the new administration as appointments secretary. Bynum coordinated who would see White, for how long, and what issues the new governor would address.
in Bentonville. The NWACC president said that she "sought and received nothing but positive feedback" before the institution hired Bynum: "He is very well respected in the halls of the State Capitol, he is an effective lobbyist, and he will do a good job representing the college's interests."
Bynum encountered serious legal problems in the middle 1990s. While employed by the Little Rock investment banking firm Stephens, Inc., he was indicted
by a federal grand jury
on charges of bribery
and falsifying tax returns. He was charged with having bribed Terry D. Busbee (born 1942), a county official in Pensacola
, Florida
, in an effort to obtain a bond underwriting deal for Stephens. Bynum arranged four loans to Busbee from the Worthen National Bank
in Little Rock. Bynum subsequently repaid the loans. Bynum was convicted, fined, and imprisoned. He was forbidden to represent clients in the securities business for the rest of his life. According to the SEC 6/20/95 report: "The Commission's complaint, filed in January 1995, alleged that Bynum, formerly an employee of the public finance dpeartment of Stephens Inc., defrauded the Escambia County Utilities Authority (ECUA) and investors in three offerings of municipal securities issued by the ECUA. (Rel. 34-35870)."
Bynum and Busbee were both imprisoned. Bynum was released by the Bureau of Prisons on July 1, 1998.
Bynum quickly resumed his lobbying activities. He has been credited with obtaining the passage of legislation, approved by law enforcement in general, to make it legal for Arkansans to be in possession of knives used for self-defense.
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, who served as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
member of the Arkansas House of Representatives
Arkansas House of Representatives
The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the state. Each district has an average population of 26,734...
from January 1969 to December 1980. On his first election, Bynum was one of only four Republicans in the 100-member House; when his party's delegation numbered five or six, he became, as senior member, the minority leader. Bynum succeeded fellow Republican James Lee "Jim" Sheets, then of Siloam Springs
Siloam Springs, Arkansas
Siloam Springs is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 13,990...
in Benton County
Benton County, Arkansas
Benton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2000 census, the population was 153,406. The U.S. Census Bureau 2010 population is 221,339. The county seat is Bentonville. Benton County was formed on 30 September 1836 and was named after Thomas Hart Benton, a U.S...
, who did not seek a second term. At the time, Bynum was an automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
dealer in Siloam Springs in a business begun by his father, Homer F. Bynum (1911–2004). Siloam Springs is one of the northwestern Arkansas towns in Benton County receptive the Republican political message.
He did not seek reelection in 1980 but instead became chief of staff to Republican Governor Frank D. White
Frank D. White
Frank Durward White was the 41st Governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas since Reconstruction. He served a single two-year term from 1981 to 1983. He is one of only two people to have defeated President Bill Clinton in an election. Frank Durward White (June 4, 1933 – May 21, 2003) was...
. He now represents a number of major Arkansas clients through his Phoenix Investment Group, Inc., of Little Rock.
Byum and Nixon
During Bynum's third term in the Arkansas House, he was the chamber's only Republican representative. He was a vocal supporter of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, who was elected to the White HouseWhite House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in the same election which sent Bynum to the legislature. In 1974, Bynum said that Watergate
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
revelations put him and other Nixon backers in a tense position: "I accepted his statements on true face value. So naturally, I'm disappointed he didn't tell me the truth."
Nevertheless, Bynum called Nixon "the greatest President this country's ever had." Bynum calculated Nixon's greatness on having disengaged from the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, dismantling some federal agencies that reduced the size of the bureaucracy, and "being known as a world leader."
Bynum said that impeachment
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
by the House and conviction by the U.S. Senate was a foregone conclusion. Bynum did not suggest that Nixon resignation, "In the past I've been right down the line with him, but the presidency is crumbling," Bynum said in a Time magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
interview.
In the Frank White administration
After the election of Frank White as governor in November 1980, Bynum and a House colleague, Carolyn PollanCarolyn Pollan
Carolyn Joan Clark Pollan is an American politician and former Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives who served for twelve consecutive two-year terms from 1975-1999 from a portion of Sebastian County, which includes the state's second largest city of Fort Smith...
of Fort Smith
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...
, the seat of Sebastian County, prepared the 1981 budget while White went on a post-election vacation
Annual leave
Annual leave is paid time off work granted by employers to employees to be used for whatever the employee wishes. Depending on the employer's policies, differing number of days may be offered, and the employee may be required to give a certain amount of advance notice, may have to coordinate with...
to celebrate his defeat of incumbent Governor Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. Bynum and Pollan kept the current budget figures but with 5 percent across-the-board cuts. Pollan continued to serve in the House but also functioned as White's legislative counsel.
Len E. Blaylock
Len E. Blaylock
Len Everette Blaylock, Sr. , is a retired farmer, educator, small businessman, and Republican politician from tiny Nimrod in Perry County in northwestern Arkansas. He was state welfare commissioner under Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, the GOP gubernatorial nominee , the U.S...
, a former partisan of Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller was a politician and philanthropist who served as the first Republican Governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. He was a third-generation member of the Rockefeller family.-Early life:...
who had himself lost the 1972 gubernatorial general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
to the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
incumbent Dale Bumpers
Dale Bumpers
Dale Leon Bumpers is an American politician who served as the 38th Governor of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975; and then in the United States Senate from 1975 until his retirement in January 1999. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Senator Bumpers is currently counsel at the Washington, D.C...
, joined the new administration as appointments secretary. Bynum coordinated who would see White, for how long, and what issues the new governor would address.
Lobbying career
After White left the governorship, Bynum began a successful business and lobbying career. He is a member of the Association of General Contractors, and he has many clients, including Northwest Arkansas Community CollegeNorthwest Arkansas Community College
Northwest Arkansas Community College is a public two-year college located in Bentonville, Arkansas.- History :NWACC was founded in 1989 when Bentonville and Rogers Public School Districts passed a 3-mill property tax. It opened its doors in August, 1990. 1,200 students attended at the founding of...
in Bentonville. The NWACC president said that she "sought and received nothing but positive feedback" before the institution hired Bynum: "He is very well respected in the halls of the State Capitol, he is an effective lobbyist, and he will do a good job representing the college's interests."
Bynum encountered serious legal problems in the middle 1990s. While employed by the Little Rock investment banking firm Stephens, Inc., he was indicted
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
by a federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
on charges of bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
and falsifying tax returns. He was charged with having bribed Terry D. Busbee (born 1942), a county official in Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, in an effort to obtain a bond underwriting deal for Stephens. Bynum arranged four loans to Busbee from the Worthen National Bank
National bank
In banking, the term national bank carries several meanings:* especially in developing countries, a bank owned by the state* an ordinary private bank which operates nationally...
in Little Rock. Bynum subsequently repaid the loans. Bynum was convicted, fined, and imprisoned. He was forbidden to represent clients in the securities business for the rest of his life. According to the SEC 6/20/95 report: "The Commission's complaint, filed in January 1995, alleged that Bynum, formerly an employee of the public finance dpeartment of Stephens Inc., defrauded the Escambia County Utilities Authority (ECUA) and investors in three offerings of municipal securities issued by the ECUA. (Rel. 34-35870)."
Bynum and Busbee were both imprisoned. Bynum was released by the Bureau of Prisons on July 1, 1998.
Bynum quickly resumed his lobbying activities. He has been credited with obtaining the passage of legislation, approved by law enforcement in general, to make it legal for Arkansans to be in possession of knives used for self-defense.