Denny Altes

Robert Dennis Altes, known as Denny Altes (born May 12, 1948) is a former state representative for Arkansas House District 76. A Republican, he is also the former Minority Leader of the Arkansas Senate. From 1999 to 2003, he served previously in the state House from District 14.

Altes served on a number of committees in the Arkansas General Assembly. Altes was the chairman of the Joint Performance Review committee and also served on the Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC) – Senate, Joint Budget Committee, Joint Revenue & Tax – Senate Rules committee, Senate Transportation and Technology committee and the Insurance and Commerce committee during his time in the Senate.

Before the start of his legislative career, Representative Altes was a justice of the peace for the Sebastian County Quorum Court, equivalent to county commission in other states. In January 1999, he won a special election to serve the remainder of the term of former State Representative W. K. "Mac" McGehee's term in the Arkansas House. In 2000, he sought re-election unopposed for House District 14.

In 2002, Representative Altes ran for the vacated District 13 Senate seat and was re-elected in 2006. In the 86th General Assembly, he served as Senate Minority Leader and Assistant President Pro Tempore.

Representative Altes graduated first in his class at Southside High School in Fort Smith, Arkansas before attending Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. In college, he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and was stationed in Panmunjom, Korea, where he served in the military police. Upon his return he completed a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and later attended graduate school at the University of Mississippi in Oxford and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He is a member of the American Legion and the Disabled American Veterans.

In 1974, Representative Altes founded Altes Company and Environmental Systems, of which he was the president. From 1982 until 2007, he was president and CEO of Resourect Recycling Inc., which merged with Fibresource, Inc., in 1991. He and his wife, Susan, have two children, Bobby and Ana, and two grandchildren, Cole and Caroline. Representative Altes and his wife are members of First Baptist Church in Fort Smith, where he serves as a deacon.

In the Republican primary held on May 20, 2014, Mathew Pitsch, with 1,715 votes (53 percent), defeated Altes's son, Bobby, 1,502 votes (47 percent) for the party's nomination to succeed Altes in the November 4 general election for the District 76 House seat.