*Submitted for publication by Senator Bryan King, January 20, 2026
In my last column, I wrote about the revolving door of legislators and governors’ staff leaving state government only to personally profit by going to work directly for mega companies to which they gave contracts while in office.
Mega consulting companies like Deloitte and McKinsey have pocketed hundreds of millions of Arkansans’ hard-earned tax dollars and hired former high-level staff members such as Jamie Barker and legislators like Grant Hodges. They have also hired former governors’ staff like Jon Gilmore to lobby for them. Deloitte alone has pocketed over half a billion dollars.
Now Governor Sanders wants to appoint Jamie Barker, her former deputy chief of staff, to the Board of Corrections. Apparently, having real-world experience, such as working in construction or banking, or having any law enforcement or prison-related experience, is not a requirement.
To my knowledge, Jamie Barker’s only experience is being a politico. A politico is someone who jumps from politics to lobbying to government jobs. This 29-year-old politico is now set to be a member of a high-level governing body that provides oversight and policy direction for the state’s Department of Corrections and related divisions.
Despite the gross incompetence involved in choosing a site with no water infrastructure, and despite the appropriation bill being historically defeated five times for long-term funding, the Governor continues to push this mega prison catastrophe. If Jamie Barker is appointed to this board, Arkansas will be driven more quickly toward financial bankruptcy due to this incomprehensible site location.
After last month’s Legislative Council meeting, Deloitte was awarded another multi-million-dollar contract. That same afternoon, Jamie Barker left his job at the Governor’s office and joined Jon Gilmore’s lobbying firm as a “partner,” not a lobbyist. Arkansas has a law banning state legislators and high-level appointees from becoming lobbyists within a certain period after leaving a government position, generally one to two years. So instead of being registered lobbyists, they use titles such as consultant, account manager, or partner to get around the ban.
If this appointment goes through, it will be a disaster for this state. Personal profiteers are already bleeding us dry. This will damage not only the correctional system but also our budget in the years to come. It’s time to step up and demand qualified people who put the best interests of Arkansans first—not profiteers like Jamie Barker and Grant Hodges.
*These opinions are those of the author and not necessarily the publisher.
ICYMI: Op-Ed: The Revolving Door of Arkansas’s Consulting Game
