1 PAC in probe of judge is refiled

Attorney says it’s unrelated to case

CONWAY - One of the political action committees at the center of two state investigations of Circuit Judge Michael Maggio will not be terminated, as the others have been, because it was unrelated to the other PACs except for being created by the same lawyer, another attorney said Wednesday.

Little Rock lawyer Randy Coleman filed an amended registration form Tuesday for the D. Bruce Hawkins 2 PAC. Chris Stewart, the lawyer who had originally formed that PAC, said on April 2 that he was shutting down all of the committees that have come under the scrutiny of two state agencies.

Stewart has since filed termination forms for the remaining seven PACs, said Alex Reed, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office.

“Mr. Hawkins’ [PAC] doesn’t have anything to do with the others,” said Coleman, who has replaced Stewart as that PAC’s resident agent. “That was just a matter of coincidence of representation [by Stewart] and the time.

“I know everybody has kind of lumped them [the PACs] together,” but Hawkins’ is separate, Coleman added.

As a result, Coleman said, “We amended some of the financials that were in there and changed over and [it] will continue in existence.”

Stewart, citing attorney-client confidentiality, has never said who asked him to form any of the PACs. He did not return phone or email messages seeking comment on the latest developments.

The PACs became contentious because nursing-home operator Michael Morton of Fort Smith gave each of them thousands of dollars in checks dated July 8. That same day, Maggio heard a plea from one of Morton’s 32 nursing homes to reduce a Faulkner County jury’s judgment in a negligence lawsuit over the 2008 death of patient Martha Bull, 76, of Perryville. Three days later, Maggio cut the award from $5.2 million to $1 million.

Later, after the period began for judicial campaigns to legally seek and accept donations, seven of the eight PACs - including the Hawkins one - donated money to Maggio’s since-halted campaign for a seat on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

Morton has said he believed the PACs were created for Maggio and that Linda Leigh Flanagin, who worked for a consulting company started by former state Sen. Gilbert Baker of Conway, asked him to support Maggio during the May trial of the lawsuit against Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center or during the subsequent effort to lower the jury’s award.

Morton said someone later faxed him one sheet that listed the PACs and that “said this was the Maggio campaign.”

It was unclear Wednesday if all eight PACs’ names were on that sheet. Morton, who has said he no longer has the sheet, did not return phone messages seeking further comment.

Asked whether the July 8 timing of Morton’s check to the Hawkins PAC and its donations to Maggio were also coincidences, Coleman said he didn’t know.

“I wasn’t there” and “can’t account for it,” he said.

“All I know is that Mr. Hawkins’ organization and entity is separate and distinct from the others,” Coleman said.

The Hawkins PAC got a $3,000 check dated July 8 from Morton’s Central Arkansas Nursing Centers Inc., and it gave Maggio $3,000, state records show. The Fort Smith company was originally a defendant in the lawsuit over Bull’s death but was dismissed from the case.

Stewart later amended the dates the PACs got Morton’s donations from July 8 to other dates, which he said reflected the date the donations were received instead of the dates on the checks.

The Hawkins PAC’s only other donation as of the latest PAC filings is $5,000 from the Morrilton-based Conway County Legal Beverage Association in September.

In addition to Maggio, records show other candidates who got money from the Hawkins PAC include:

Stacy Hurst, a Little Rock Republican candidate for the state House of Representatives, $450, on Jan. 28. She has returned the money.

Asa Hutchinson, Republican candidate for governor, $2,000.

State Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, $1,500.

State Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, $250.

State Rep. Andrea Lea, a Republican candidate for state auditor, $250.

Questions surrounding the PACs arose after records showed that six of them were financed by Morton or his business interests and gave money almost exclusively to Maggio. Another, the now-terminated Red Arkansas PAC, did not give Maggio anything but gave Hurst $2,000, which she also has since returned, records show.

The Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission and the Arkansas Ethics Commission are investigating allegations surrounding the PACs and Maggio, who also is under investigation for online comments he made about a wide range of topics, including sex, women, race and a confidential adoption case.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has stripped him of all of his cases pending further notification.

The registration form Coleman filed Tuesday for the amended Hawkins PAC left blank a section labeled “Interests Represented” and gave neither a phone number for the PAC nor for Hawkins, its only listed officer.

The omission of a phone number must have been an oversight, Coleman said.

In addition to information on the candidates getting money from a PAC, Arkansas Annotated Code 7-6-215 says approved PACs are to disclose on their registration forms:

“(1) The name, address and, where available, phone number of the committee and the name, address, phone number, and place of employment of each of its officers. …

“(2) The professional, business, trade, labor, or other interests represented by the committee, including any individual business, organization, association, corporation, labor organization or other group or firm whose interests will be represented by the committee.”

Coleman said he didn’t know of any requirement that an interest be stated on the form. Besides, he said, “That may change over time. I’m not sure that it was Mr. Hawkins’ intention to dedicate this to one particular purpose.”

The registration form’s Section Four has blanks for up to four “Interests Represented”along with their addresses.

Hawkins, of Morrilton, did not return phone messages seeking comment.

Speaking in general about the “Interests Represented” portion of the form and not about a specific PAC, Ethics Commission Director Graham Sloan said, “I don’t think leaving that section blank is an option.”

But Sloan said some PACs - such as a theoretical one aimed at stamping out smoking, for instance - may not represent a specific organization or company. “Not every PAC would have a specific client,” he said.

In those cases, Sloan said, he would advise the person completing the registration form to put something in that section to give “at least just some general indication of what” its interest is.

The original registration forms that Stewart filed for the eight PACs, including the Hawkins one, also did not list any interests represented.

Arkansas, Pages 7 on 04/17/2014

Upcoming Events