Preceded by Stan Berry Spouse(s) Lawanda Dale Political party Republican | Succeeded by Trevor Drown Succeeded by David Meeks Name Robert Dale | |
Preceded by Andrea Lea (moved to District 71) | ||
Robert E. Dale (born 1946) is a retired banker from Dover in Pope County in western Arkansas, who is a Republican former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives. His District 68, which he represented from 2013 to 2015, includes Pope and Van Buren counties. From 2009 to 2013, he represented House District 70, a seat now held by Republican David Meeks of Faulkner and Van Buren counties.
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Background
Dale graduated from Dover High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville in Pope County. He has a cattle and quail ranch. He and his wife, Lawanda, have two grown sons. He is Baptist.
Dale is a former member and president of the Dover School Board. He is a former president of the Dover Chamber of Commerce and his local Lions International. He formerly chaired the Tri-County Water Board and is a member of the Pope County Ambulance Board. In 2013, he was named Assistant Speaker Pro Tem under Speaker Davy Carter.
Political life
In 2008, Dale was elected in House District 70 with 52.31 percent of the vote over a Democrat, J. Patrick Bewley, and two Independents for the seat vacated by the Republican Stan Berry. He was unopposed for his second term in 2010.
In 2012, he was switched to House District 68 and again ran without opposition.
Dale is a member of the House committees on Education and Insurance & Commerce. He also sits on the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
Representative Dale in 2013 voted 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. Dale supported or co-sponsored related pro-life legislation to ban abortion whenever fetal heartbeat is detected, to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange, and to make the death of an unborn child a felony in certain cases. He co-sponsored a spending cap in the state budget, but the measure failed to gain approval by two votes in the House. Dale voted to empower university officials to carry weapons in the name of campus safety. Similarly, he co-sponsored legislation to permit concealed weapons in religious institutions. He voted to prohibit the governor from regulating firearms in an emergency. Dale supported legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas nonpartisan. He supported 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. He did not vote on a failed proposal to prohibit the closure of schools based on declining enrollments over a two-year period.
In 2011, Dale in District 70 supported a dress code for public schools and backed curriculum standards for biblical instruction in the schools. He voted for the Capital Gains Reduction Act and for a tax reduction on manufacturers' utilities. He voted to permit driver's license tests only in the English language. On January 31, 2011, Dale voted for legislation to prohibit cell phone use in school zones. He also supported the congressional redistricting bill.
In 2009, Dale voted for an increase in the state minimum wage and for the expansion of eligibility for the children's health insurance program. Dale opposed a bill seeking direct popular election of the U.S. President.
term-limited, Dale was ineligible to have sought a fourth term in the state House in 2014.United States Army veteran Trevor Drown, with 2,371 votes (64 percent), won the Republican nomination to succeed Dale over two intra-party rivals, Ingram Philips, also a retired Army officer, and Zachary Tyler Sellers.Drown then won the general election with 78 percent of the vote over the African-American Democrat Tachany Evans.