State Forestry chief resigns after audit
By The Associated Press
This article was published February 10, 2012 at 8:48 a.m.
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LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas state Forester John Shannon has announced his resignation after a legislative audit questioned financial practices at the Arkansas Forestry Commission that led to the layoff of 34 employees.
Shannon announced his resignation to the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee. He said he submitted his resignation Thursday and it will be effective at the end of business Friday.
A legislative audit released earlier Friday found the commission improperly borrowed more than $6.4 million from federal grants to prop up its strained budget, according to a legislative audit to be presented Friday to lawmakers who are studying the commission’s finances.
The Division of Legislative Audit found 59 instances since September 2007 in which money was transferred from federal grants to pay for the commission’s operations.
The agency's shortfall led to 34 layoffs and raised questions about who was responsible for that happening. Gov. Mike Beebe said Shannon's resignation does not change the supplemental request for the rest of the fiscal year, nor will it alter plans to rehire 15 firefighters with re-allocated Agriculture Department funds.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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Comments on: State Forestry chief resigns after audit
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fjm347 says... February 10, 2012 at 9:46 a.m.
Something has to be done. We are not talking small money here and how could anyone be so careless. Is no one watching who is doing what.? It seems to me that as in other issues once again people in high places do what they want, borrow what they want and spend what they want and no one seems to be responsible or punished. It seems that there are so high up individuals that need to loose their jobs and be replaced by responsible people.
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RBBrittain says... February 10, 2012 at 10:23 a.m.
@fjm347: The man responsible was the one who just resigned. He ignored the warning signs from his CFO, then even after the CFO went to another agency he still tried to blame the CFO when things came crashing down. The audit proved the CFO was right.
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GAITOR says... February 10, 2012 at 10:28 a.m.
Well...It's about D time!!!
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MenLR2 says... February 10, 2012 at 10:37 a.m.
That took long enough....
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Walter says... February 10, 2012 at 10:49 a.m.
When are we going to start holding these people responsible for what happens in their departments? I guess he thinks if he resigns, maybe they won't continue to audit his department and perhaps find out where he has the money hidden.
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NONSHEEPLE says... February 10, 2012 at 10:53 a.m.
Take a look at what has been said.. This man was faced with a choice. The money is scarce to sustain the current employee load. Federal money is there and available BUT was not intended for paying staff wages. He COULD have LAYED OFF all those people a long time ago but instead chose to keep going by using available money. If not there'd have been a lot of families last fall missing holiday cheer. Remember this was NOT about corp. greed or CEO's bilking funds. This is about a man doing what he could to keep Arkansan's on the job and parks open. Could it have been done differently? Sure and we can play the "what SHOULD have been done game" forever
Just saying lighten up onthe guy. What he did helped US and not THEM..
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mr6pkcuda says... February 10, 2012 at 11:17 a.m.
time to put a fat cat in jail.......... Lets follow the money trail and see where it leads. Once again nobody held responsible. Heads need to roll!!!!!
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TheBatt says... February 10, 2012 at 11:41 a.m.
The Forestry Commission is broken. The number one issue is that the entire commission is made up of representatives from the timber industry, even though they are not the only ones served by this commission. This commission gets to set the severance tax that funds the Forestry Commission - is this not a conflict of interest? So they have allowed the budget to grow, but have not allowed revenue to grow along with the budget. Add to it a serious downturn in the timber industry as a whole, and you have a political hot potato.
The Governor knew the score long before this all came tumbling down - as do those who have been involved in the Forestry Commission. The Governor needs to appoint an interim head of the commission who has been there in the past and who has answers on how to FIX this once and for all. Let him come in and put the pieces back together, then appoint a new permanent head.
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dman says... February 10, 2012 at 12:45 p.m.
@Smarter than most..you're not. "Gee whiz, I knew it was wrong, but hey, my employees had a good Christmas!" Guess what, your tax money gets to help pay for it.
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StrayGoose says... February 10, 2012 at 12:46 p.m.
And, nobody believes Beebe didn't know about this shell game? Shannon is just being a good soldier, falling on his sword.
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Que2 says... February 10, 2012 at 1:24 p.m.
I often wonder why charges aren't being brought against these people who "mis-manage" millions and then resign their post and live happily ever after. Shoplifting at Dillards can bring up to five years in jail, but these people play with millions, and WHAT? Loose that job and start over somewhere else. Ex: The UCA guy resigned and took the same position in FL for more money...no jail. PCSSD is still paying past Sups, still in fiscal distress...no jail. I can go on and on!!! It seems the state PA only wants to prosecute blue-collar crime and take the blindfold off Lady Justice when it comes to those "Friends" doing money crimes.
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mr6pkcuda says... February 11, 2012 at 11:16 a.m.
Enough said...que2 is spot on!! Wake up arkansas.
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