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Mike Ross Donates Papers to Ouachita Baptist

2 min read

ARKADELPHIA – Retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Ross is donating his papers from more than two decades in public office to Arkansas’ Ouachita Baptist University, the Democrat said Friday.

The material destined for the Arkadelphia college will include documents from Ross’ 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and 10 years in the state Senate, Ross said.

“I think it’s important all these papers be maintained and preserved for research 50 or 100 years from now,” Ross told The Associated Press. “For me, Ouachita Baptist University made sense because it’s the only college within the boundaries of the Arkansas 4th Congressional District that has an archive department.”

Last year, Ross announced that he would not to seek a seventh term representing south Arkansas’ 4th District. Republican Tom Cotton won that congressional seat in the November election as the GOP swept the state’s four U.S. House districts.

Ross also said earlier this year that he’d pass on a widely expected 2014 run for governor. He has said he plans to take a job next year with the Little Rock-based Southwest Power Pool, a nonprofit that manages electric services for 65 utilities in a nine-state area.

More than 200 boxes of and more than 16,000 digital photos will end up at Ouachita Baptist, Ross said. Those documents will include congressional and campaign photos, videos, audio files, legislative material and emails he’s received from constituents, Ross said. There will also be working papers about health care reform, along with handwritten notes Ross took in meetings with presidents.

“I’ve had the privilege and the honor of serving in Congress during a very historic time,” Ross said. “Just after eight months on the job, 9/11 happened. That was followed by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the worst economic recession since World War II.”

Ross’ papers will join documents at the school from former Gov. Mike Huckabee, former U.S. Rep. Jay Dickey and the late U.S. Sen. John McClellan, Ouachita Baptist University president Rex Horne Jr. said.

“Anytime you get the papers from someone as significant in their political life and public service as Congressman Ross, it’s something that’s really special and important to the university,” Horne said.

Neither Horne nor Ross laid out a specific timeline Friday for when the papers would be available to the public.

“But my hope is in the not too distance future that anyone will be able to access all these documents at Ouachita,” Ross said.

Horne said it will take months to process and catalog the documents.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, broadcast or distributed.) 

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