Preceded by Claude M. Wade Name Jim Smithson Residence Marshall, Arkansas | Political party Republican Succeeded by Billy Joe Purdom | |
Born September 15, 1943 (age 80)
Marshall, Searcy County, Arkansas, USA ( 1943-09-15 ) Spouse(s) Divorced from Beverly Smithson Children Kimberly Ragland
Kristie Ragland | ||
Jimmy Lee Smithson, known as Jim L. Smithson (born September 15, 1943), is a conservative Republican former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives who is remembered for cosponsoring legislation in his state to allow generic substitution of prescription medications. A registered pharmacist from Marshall in Searcy County in northwestern Arkansas, Smithson served in the House from January 1, 1975, to December 31, 1984. He represented then District 43, created in 1970, which included his own Searcy, Marion, and a part of Baxter counties. Later the district was numbered 40 and then 39.
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Background
Smithson was born in Marshall to Jack Smithson (1908–1973) and the former Ola Francis (1912–2003). In 1960, he graduated from Marshall High School. In 1971, he obtained his pharmacy degree from the University of Louisiana at Monroe (then Northeastern Louisiana University). For a time in the early 1970s he had a pharmacy in Marshall. From 1981 to 2006, Smithson was a pharmacist at Jefferson Regional Hospital in Pine Bluff. Divorced from Beverly Smithson (born 1949), he has two daughters, Kimberly Ragland of Marshall and Kristie Ragland of Conway, and four grandchildren.
Political life
Never a runaway winner in his House district, Smithson in his first election in 1974 only narrowly unseated the Democratic incumbent Claude M. Wade (January 7, 1918 – December 13, 2001) of Yellville in Marion County. His closest contest was in 1982, when he defeated—by forty-three votes by Billy Joe Purdom (born July 6, 1947), a Democrat also from Yellville strongly supported by future U.S. President Bill Clinton, who staged a gubernatorial comeback in 1982. Smithson did not seek a sixth term in the legislature in 1984; instead he ran unsuccessfully for county judge of Searcy County. Purdom succeeded Smithson in the state House and was subsequently term-limited, and the seat went to the Republican Roy Ragland of Marshall.
Smithson once made an issue of the legitimacy of the Federal Reserve Board, established by the United States Congress in 1913. At the request of several conservative organizations in his district, Smithson called a committee hearing to allow opponents of the Federal Reserve to air their objections. However, he lacked the votes to take the matter to the House floor.
Smithson also tried to prevent law enforcement officers from establishing "speed traps" during the era of the 55-mile-per-hour limit. He introduced a bill, borrowing from the example of Nevada, to allow citations beyond 55 m.p.h. to be given for "wasting energy", rather than for actual "speeding". The distinction would have kept speeding violations off insurance records. Arkansas newspapers editorialized against Smithson's bill by claiming that it would cause motorists not to take speed limits seriously.
Smithson also cosponsored the bill to allow optometrists to use diagnostic drugs to dilate the pupils of patients' eyes. Ophthalmologists strongly objected, but the measure passed.
Smithson's GOP colleagues included Carolyn Pollan of Fort Smith, C. W. Melson of Johnson County, Richard L. Barclay of Rogers, Jerry King of Greenwood, Jerry E. Hinshaw of Springdale, and Judy Petty Wolf of Little Rock.
After retiring from Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Smithson returned to Marshall full-time and once again became involved in politics. In November 2010, he was elected mayor, in which capacity he worked alongside his former wife, Beverly, the city recorder/treasurer until her retirement in 2012 because of health reasons.
Just a few days before he left office as mayor, the city council stripped Smithson of his power over city spending. He was forbidden to spend municipal funds or conduct any city business without council approval, and he lost his right to bank signature cards. "I got shafted," Smithson said after the council decision. Smithson was succeeded as mayor on January 1, 2015, by Kevin J. Elliott.