Jasper Packard: “I want to take this time to honor a dear friend and colleague of mine, Ray Thornton. Ray will be leaving this body soon…”

“I want to take this time to honor a dear friend and colleague of mine, Ray Thornton. Ray will be leaving this body soon and before he goes his dedication and fellowship deserves high praise. As chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee on Appropriations, I would like to thank him for his assistance as ranking member. Ray assumed the ranking member position this year with great enthusiasm and skill. I appreciated his input as well as his willingness to work in a friendly and bipartisan way. Together we accomplished a great deal. To date, the legislative branch is a full 12 percent leaner than it was 2 years ago and serves as the model for rightsizing the rest of Government. Ray contributed tremendously to this effort. He supported and advanced our efforts to find additional opportunities to save dollars and increase efficiencies here in the legislative branch. The Legislative Branch spending bill is primarily about people. Ray's administrative background, as a former University of Arkansas president, proved invaluable. As Ray and I worked together to rightsize this institution, time again he brought his management orientation to task. Unfortunately, we may be losing Ray to another branch of government as he works to assume a judgeship on the Arkansas Supreme Court. His dedication and enormous talents will certainly continue to prove beneficial to the people of Arkansas.”