Supporters and opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment to allow statewide alcohol sales have both filed complaints about each other's bookkeeping with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
The Families First Foundation, Keep Independence Dry and Safe, and the Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission on Tuesday afternoon alleging that the ballot-question committee Let Arkansas Decide, the major sponsor of the alcohol amendment, had failed to report promised contributions or loans in its Aug. 15 financial report.
Let Arkansas Decide filed a complaint of its own against the alcohol sales opposition group They Win, You Lose Committee on July 2.
Commission Director Graham Sloan said the agency does not comment on complaints or say if they're being investigated. Sloan said the commission generally receives an increased number of complaints in the months leading up to an election but does not have a provision that allows those complaints about election matters to be expedited.
Larry Page, a member of the Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council, said Wednesday that the complaint deals with several omissions in the Aug. 15 financial report.
"The whole point of disclosure requirements are transparency," he said. "Arkansans have the right to know who is supporting these initiatives, and who's financing them."
The report shows that the group Let Arkansas Decide had spent $193,749 in July and $224,107 since it was formed. The report also shows that the group raised $90,000 in July and $110,000 overall.
Page said he wants to know how a group with $110,000 in contributions was able to spend $224,107.
"From what I can understand, it's permissible to show deficit spending, but to do that there had to be a pledge, a forbearance of credit, a promise to pay or something of that nature," he said. "Those are considered contributions. There's no indication that there is a loan, or a promise to pay."
Page also said Let Arkansas Decide's financial report does not have much detail about the expenditures. The sheet includes an overall amount paid for categories of spending such as $2,028.77 for car rental. Page argued that those expenditures should include individual purchases, including date and company.
David Couch, chairman of Let Arkansas Decide, said late Wednesday that he hadn't received notice of the complaint. Couch said he believes Page is wrong about how to report the deficit spending, but he would amend his reports if the Ethics Commission decides Page is right.
"This last legislative session they changed the reporting requirements for ballot question committees," Couch said. "We're all kind of muddling through this right now. But they've changed the rules so if you're a ballot committee, a consulting firm, whatever, you have to report your expenditures as they're incurred, not as they're paid."
Couch said he reported all of the expenses incurred during the gathering of petition signatures, but some of those expenses have yet to be paid. He also said he believes that the group had revealed sufficient details about its expense categories to comply with Arkansas law.
According to Act 1085 passed by the Arkansas Legislature in 2013, ballot question committees and legislative question committees are required to report, "A list of all expenditures by category ... made during the period covered by the financial report."
"If they call and tell me I need to do it differently, I will," Couch said. "I have all the documentation, so I'm not worried. It's just those bills haven't been paid yet."
Couch said he also received a letter notifying him that the Ethics Commission will hear a complaint against one of his opponents on Sept. 19. In July, Couch filed the complaint against the They Win, You Lose Committee, which has since filed paperwork to dissolve, alleging that the group did not report expenditures as they were incurred.
"They didn't report any expenditures on their first report, and I had seen their blockers [paid campaign workers] out when we were gathering signatures," Couch said.
Metro on 09/11/2014