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Coon resurfaced politically in 1981, not as a candidate, but as the appointee of newly-elected Republican Governor [[Frank D. White]] to head the Arkansas Employment Security Division in Little Rock. He served until White was unseated after a single term in 1982 by former Governor [[Bill Clinton]]. Mrs. Troxell, his former ticket-mate, had held the same position for a time in the Rockefeller administration.<ref>''Arkansas Outlook,'' December 1980.</ref>

Coon resurfaced politically in 1981, not as a candidate, but as the appointee of newly-elected Republican Governor [[Frank D. White]] to head the Arkansas Employment Security Division in Little Rock. He served until White was unseated after a single term in 1982 by former Governor [[Bill Clinton]]. Mrs. Troxell, his former ticket-mate, had held the same position for a time in the Rockefeller administration.<ref>''Arkansas Outlook,'' December 1980.</ref>

   

   

Coon's chairmanship of the Arkansas party, which was considered quite successful overall, coincided with a heated 1990 Republican gubernatorial primary between then U.S. Representative Tommy Robinson, a controversial former Democratic [[sheriff]] known for shoot-at-the-hip remarks, and the more conventional  Sheffield Nelson, also a former Democrat and the favorite of the business establishment. The Robinson-Nelson contest was believed to have so divided the minority GOP that once again it could not compete effectively, with Nelson as the nominee in 1990 against Governor Clinton, who appeared on an Arkansas ballot for the last time as a candidate for governor.<ref> [http://www.thevanguard.org/thevanguard/columns/rpa_1990.shtml].</ref> The primary even split many Republican families. Coon himself insists that he has never told anyone how he personally voted in the Robinson-Nelson contest.

Coon's chairmanship of the Arkansas party, which was considered quite successful overall, coincided with a heated 1990 Republican gubernatorial primary between then U.S. Representative Tommy Robinson, a controversial former Democratic [[sheriff]] known for shoot-at-the-hip remarks, and the more conventional  Sheffield Nelson, also a former Democrat and the favorite of the business establishment. The Robinson-Nelson contest was believed to have so divided the minority GOP that once again it could not compete effectively, with Nelson as the nominee in 1990 against Governor Clinton, who appeared on an Arkansas ballot for the last time as a candidate for governor. The primary even split many Republican families. Coon himself insists that he has never told anyone how he personally voted in the Robinson-Nelson contest.

In 1996, Coon ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the Little Rock-based open 2nd congressional district seat, which was ultimately won by the liberal Democrat Victor F. Snyder. Later GOP efforts to topple Snyder failed.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/states/AR/CQ.preview.shtml], "Arkansas Times", July 5, 1996.</ref>  

In 1996, Coon ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the Little Rock-based open 2nd congressional district seat, which was ultimately won by the liberal Democrat Victor F. Snyder. Later GOP efforts to topple Snyder failed.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/states/AR/CQ.preview.shtml], "Arkansas Times", July 5, 1996.</ref>