LITTLE ROCK — The state Republican Party has sent Freedom of Information Act requests to all seven state constitutional officers plus the House speaker over state-car use in preparation for a lawsuit that the GOP says it will file this week.
State GOP Chairman Doyle Webb and Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Keet have questioned whether state-vehicle use for personal purposes violated Amendment 70, which bans constitutional officers from receiving income beyond their salaries.
The amendment also has some provisions that apply to the House speaker.
The GOP announced plans Friday to file a lawsuit that would name the constitutional officers, who are all Democrats, as defendants.
“They should not be allowed another day to use these taxpayer-funded vehicles in violation of the constitution,” Webb said Tuesday.
Some of the requested information is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act’s disclosure requirements. For example, the GOP asked the officials to disclose their W-2s, which state their annual incomes.
A number of articles in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette this summer have dealt with the use and number of state vehicles, how some elected officials weren’t paying income taxes for the benefit of using them, and whether the vehicles were being used legally.
Initially this spring Lt. Gov. Bill Halter was the only constitutional officer paying taxes for the use of his state vehicles. Gov. Mike Beebe, who as governor is driven around by state police security officers, said he paid taxes on state-car use when he was attorney general.
Since the newspaper articles, the other five constitutional officers - Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, Treasurer Martha Shoffner, Land Commissioner Mark Wilcox, Auditor Jim Wood and Secretary of State Charlie Daniels - have said they will pay taxes on the vehicles’ use or stop using the vehicles. House Speaker Robbie Wills has said he is exempt from paying income taxes on driving a stateowned vehicle.
Webb said the party filed the Freedom of Information Act request letters to “hurry along” the planned lawsuit.
“We’re still doing the preparatory work on the lawsuit, and it’s just not ready to be filed at this time,” Webb said. He said the letters give constitutional offices more time to comply before the discovery process begins. During the discovery process, access may be gained to documents that do not have to be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act.
Staff members in the constitutional offices said the Freedom of Information Act request letters were hand-delivered either Monday or Tuesday. Each office was asked to sign a receipt confirming that they had received the request.
The letters ask for several kinds of information on state cars and how they are used, including car insurance policies, mileage reports, fuel purchase records and maintenance information.
The requests filed with Daniels and Wilcox also ask for similar information for any all-terrain vehicle or boat budgeted for the office.
“We have been given some information that those two offices may have other types of vehicles,” Webb said. “I don’t know that to be the case, but this is a way for people to discover that.”
Webb said each request was tailored to the individual constitutional office.
The letters also ask for tax information including W-2s, 1099s and other documents stating salaries, incomes and tax withholdings.
Arkansas Code Annotated 26-18-303 exempts confidential state tax records from the Freedom of Information Act, said Tres Williams with the Arkansas Press Association. A federal statute provides a similar exemption for federal taxes, he said.
Webb said none of the constitutional offices have complained about providing the information.
“If they choose not to, we will issue subpoenas to obtain that information,” Webb said. “At that point we should have the lawsuit filed.”
On Tuesday, staff members in some of the constitutional offices were gathering the information, which must be turned over as soon as possible, according to Arkansas law. Some staff members said much of the information had previously been requested by the Democrat-Gazette and had been released to the newspaper.
Webb said several offices said they would have the requested information by Friday.
Attorney general spokesman Aaron Sadler said “to the extent that the requested records are not exempt under the Freedom of Information Act, they will be made available.”
In July, McDaniel also questioned the legality of constitutional officers using the state-owned vehicles. He said he believes that having a state vehicle for personal use amounts to extra “income” in violation of Amendment 70.
Another suit has already been filed regarding use of the more than 8,000 vehicles the state owns. Attorney Eugene Sayre of Little Rock alleges on behalf of three taxpayers that state workers using state vehicles for personal trips have committed an illegal exaction and should reimburse the state.
Sayre has cited Arkansas Code Annotated 19-4-903, which says that all state-owned or leased vehicles may be used only for official business.
Webb said the Republican Party of Arkansas has been monitoring the existing case, but “we felt like that lawsuit is dragging, and we felt we needed to step in and file our own lawsuit. The lawsuit regarding state vehicles for employees may drag on for years.”
Beebe campaign spokesman Zac Wright saw Keet’s hand in the GOP move. He called him “a desperate candidate to retread an already debunked attack” that reminds voters of “a clear distinction between Beebe and Keet.”
“Mike Beebe paid his taxes, before it was a political issue or anyone was looking, unlike Jim Keet who didn’t pay his taxes and blamed everyone but himself for the mess he made,” Wright said.
Wright was referring to news reports that Keet received homestead-tax credits he did not legally deserve, was late paying other taxes, had not assessed an airplane for taxation, and was late assessing other property for taxes.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/22/2010