Officials waving off state cars

Until court ruling, they’re parking, selling, pooling the vehicles

— State Treasurer Martha Shoffner, who once defended her right to drive a tax-free state-funded vehicle for personal use, no longer drives a state car.

“She’s waiting on the court rulings,” said Shoffner’s chief deputy, Karla Shepard.

Two lawsuits are pending in Pulaski County Circuit Court regarding the use of state vehicles by elected officials and state employees.

Auditor Charlie Daniels, the former secretary of state, also gave up driving a state vehicle. That’s a change from his stance last summer when he said he would keep driving a state vehicle but keep trackof personal mileage.

“He decided to await the court’s ruling on the pending lawsuit,” said deputy auditor Janet Harris.

Last year, six of the state’s seven constitutional officers and the state’s House speaker commuted in state vehicles.

Now, none of them drives a state vehicle, according to their offices.

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The other constitutional officer, Gov. Mike Beebe, is driven by an Arkansas State Police security detail.

Some of the vehicles previously driven by elected officials have become pool vehicles for use by other agency employees for state business. Others have been traded in, or turned over tothe Department of Finance and Administration for sale or trade-in.

Among those are a 2007 Lincoln Town Car driven by former state Auditor Jim Wood, a 2008 Toyota Sequoia and a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado driven by former Land Commissioner Mark Wilcox, and a 2007 Ford Explorer driven by former Lt. Gov. Bill Halter.

The 2008 Chevrolet Suburban driven by Daniels remained in the secretary of state’s inventory when Daniels left that office, Harris said.

It is now a pool vehicle, said a spokesman for the current secretary of state, Mark Martin.

Shoffner and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel each previously drove 2009 Chevrolet Tahoes. McDaniel said in July 2010 that the vehicle was placed in the office pool.

Spokesman Aaron Sadler said last week that there have been no changes with the attorney general’s office vehicles since then.

Shepard said Shoffner’s Tahoe is being used as a pool vehicle in the treasurer’s office. She said Shoffner stopped driving it during her campaign last year while she drove a campaign vehicle, and she now drives a personal vehicle.

A 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe driven by former House Speaker Robbie Wills was also reassigned as a pool vehicle, a House spokesman said in December.

Current House Speaker Robert S. Moore Jr., D-Arkansas City, is driving his own vehicle and collecting mileage of 51 cents a mile. He said in December that “Cargate” led to him deciding to avoid accepting a state vehicle.

Since July, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has published a series of articles detailing how many vehicles the state owns, who uses them, whether the users pay income tax for the personal use of the vehicles, and other issues. Some readers have referred to the debate over state vehicles as “Cargate.”

Beebe in October issued an executive order that restricted state-vehicle commuting and required a more thorough and public listing of state vehicles.

Finance department officials told legislators Jan. 28 that they expect to have an updated accounting system for vehicles completed within a couple of months.

At the time, the department said the total state vehicles declined from 8,709 in fiscal 2009 to 8,565 in fiscal 2010. The agency’s most-recent vehicle count, in December, was 8,579. In July, the total was 8,653, and by September it was 8,771.

Richard Weiss, director of the department, said counts often vary depending on when vehicles are bought, sold or traded in.

In October, the Game and Fish Commission had more vehicles than state employees - 658 vehicles to 613 workers.

Beebe urged the commission, which isn’t under his direct authority, to reduce its fleet.

In November, 63 commission employees gave up commuting in a state vehicle and the commission sold 103 vehicles.

Commission spokesman Nancy Ledbetter said last week that the commission now has 543 vehicles and 636 employees.

“We have an additional 19 vehicles on the list to be sold,” she said.

In September, the state Republican Party filed suit in Pulaski County Circuit Court, naming the state’s seven constitutional officers and House speaker, who at the time were all Democrats, as defendants.

The party alleged they were violating Amendment 70, which bans legislators and constitutional officers from receiving income in addition to their salaries.

The suit is pending before Circuit Judge Tim Fox. There are pending motions to dismiss by the defendants.

The GOP is “preparing to amend the pleading to dismiss some defendants and request a hearing date,” said party spokesman Katherine Vasilos. She declined to say which defendants the party will drop. She said that would be revealed in the coming filing, which should be in a couple of weeks.

Another lawsuit, filed by Little Rock attorney Gene Sayre, doesn’t focus on elected officials. It alleges that the personal use of state vehicles by state employees is a violation of state law.

A hearing is set for March 23 in that suit, pending before Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen.

While campaigning last year, Republican Mark Darr,now the lieutenant governor, said he planned to use a state vehicle, but after taking office he changed his mind. He said he did so because he liked driving his own pickup.

His off ice no longer has any state vehicles, said spokesman Sarah Beth Lowe.

Land Commissioner John Thurston, a Republican, followed through with his campaign pledge of not driving a state vehicle, and no one in that office commutes, said spokesman Nikki Heck.

Martin, a Republican, said during the secretary of state campaign last year that he doubted he would drive a state vehicle.

Martin spokesman Alice Stewart said the only non-law-enforcement employees who drive vehicles home are five workers on the Buildings and Grounds staff “because they are on-call 24/7.”

Top administrators under former Secretary of State Daniels commuted in state vehicles. Those administrators still work for Daniels in the auditor’s office but no longer drive state vehicles, Harris said.

The finance department takes complaints from the public on the use of state vehicles. Recently, someone took a photograph of a state vehicle parked outside a Stein Mart department store in Little Rock and questioned why it was there.

The department tracked down which agency owned the vehicle and sought an explanation.

Parole Board member Richard Mays Jr. wrote the department Feb. 2 to say he had parked his state vehicle there but didn’t go to Stein Mart. Mays said he went to Subway, next door to Stein Mart, to get a sandwich after returning from parole hearings in Malvern. He said he then went to the Parole Board office.

Amid widespread public indications of concern about government spending, some of the state’s constitutional officers said last week that they have cut the budgets in their offices.

Darr announced he would cut 8.8 percent from the fiscal-2012 budget proposed by former Lt. Gov. Halter. Lowe, his spokesman, said that amounts to about $33,000 and comes from reducing the pay of an executive-assistant position from $51,000 to $28,000 and eliminating extra-help payments.

Martin has spent $12,000 less through Feb. 22 after taking office Jan. 11 than over the same period in the secretary of state’s office a year ago, Stewart said.

There have been no budget changes in the offices of the treasurer, auditor, land commissioner, attorney general and the governor, office spokesmen said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/27/2011

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