Gov. Mike Beebe today named his deputy chief of staff Grant Tennille as interim director of the Arkanas Economic Development Commission, succeeding the late Maria Haley. He’ll continue to handle some Beebe office duties, too.

I note the Beebe release makes no mention of Tennille’s shady past — he was once a newspaper reporter. And he worked for Mike Huckabee, too.

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“Grant has worked closely with the staff at AEDC for years, and has provided vital support for the agency after the sudden death of Maria Haley,” Governor Beebe said. “He will continue the agency’s aggressive agenda of job creation and industry support while we search for a new executive director.”

Tennille, 42, joined Beebe’s staff in the fall of 2007 as Interim Communications Director. He has also been Beebe’s liaison for economic-development issues for the past 15 months, and was part of the Arkansas economic-development delegation that visited Europe in 2009.

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