A legislative panel rejected a proposal Tuesday that would have eliminated former Corrections Secretary Joe Profiri's job as an adviser to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
A top lawmaker also suggested that Profiri may return to his job overseeing the state prison system, two years after he was fired by the state Board of Corrections as part of a dispute with Sanders.
The proposal rejected by the Joint Budget Committee's personnel subcommittee would have written into the appropriation for Sanders' office language eliminating Profiri's position from the Republican governor's staff. Subcommittee members voted 9-6 against the amendment, with Rep. Lane Jean not casting a vote.
Republican Sen. Terry Rice introduced the proposal last week, a little over six months after Profiri didn't appear at a hearing on the now-stalled Franklin County prison project before a committee that Rice co-chairs.
Rice called this a "major trust-breaker."
"The Board of Corrections members asked Mr. Profiri to share his intended plans as secretary, and they would work with him. He ignored multiple attempts," Rice said. "I was told during that meeting, he was in the Capitol, had been seen in the hall at the...
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