Treasurer, aide offer to redress nonprofit

Milligan: Didn’t know of activity

State Treasurer Dennis Milligan and his deputy chief of staff, Jason Brady, will make a contribution to Brady's old employer to compensate for any costs that it incurred from Brady also working as Milligan's campaign manager, Milligan said Wednesday.

Milligan said he's sending a personal letter to the charitable agency where Brady previously worked, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, along with "a contribution from myself and Jason Brady for any harm this situation has caused their organization."

"If ACSCAN conducts their own internal review and finds costs associated with my campaign, I have asked they let me know and they will be made whole. We cannot see where any campaign or ethics laws were violated, maybe only an internal company policy of ACSCAN."

Milligan spokesman Grant Wallace said Milligan hasn't decided how much he and Brady will contribute to the organization.

The cancer-fighting group is a nonprofit that doesn't endorse political candidates.

Brady makes $81,600 a year in his state job.

Brady worked for the nonprofit for seven years until January, and Wallace worked for it for six years until January, said Ray Carson, associate director of media advocacy for the organization's Southern region in Tampa, Fla.

The Arkansas News Bureau reported Sunday that emails Brady sent in 2013 and 2014 indicate he conducted business for Milligan's campaign using the organization's email account during regular business hours on numerous occasions.

The emails also show Brady made plans for a conference call using the organization's phone system and told fellow campaign workers in an email seeking reimbursement for an expense, that "for job security, my name can NOT be listed anywhere on a campaign contribution report," according to the Arkansas News Bureau.

Carson said Tuesday that Brady violated the nonprofit group's internal policies.

"ACSCAN has strict policies in place with regard to personal political campaign activity. We educate our staff regularly on these policies and take violations very seriously," he said.

Brady was placed on paid leave for three days this week while Milligan looked into the allegations, according to the treasurer's office.

Similar problems haven't occurred during Brady's employment with the state's treasurer's office, Milligan said.

"We made sure Brady was not conducting any political activity on state time or using state equipment, and he was fully cleared," he said.

Milligan said Brady "has not violated any state laws or ethical guidelines while employed in my office."

"This issue is about what he did or did not do while he was a private citizen in the private sector," Milligan said.

As for the email in which Brady, seeking reimbursement for an expense, allegedly told fellow campaign workers that "for job security, my name can NOT be listed anywhere on a campaign contribution report," Milligan said Brady worked with a vendor hired by his campaign to manage "our Facebook page."

"We reviewed what Brady did on behalf of my campaign and have seen where it was done so with his personal/private funds," Milligan said in his written statement. "He turned the bills over to and was reimbursed by the vendor. Those expenditures were included in the vendor's bill submitted to my campaign, paid for with campaign funds and reported on my campaign expenditure and contribution reports."

Wallace said the vendor is YourAdTeam.com LLC, and it paid Brady about $308.

The authenticity of the emails may never be established, Milligan said.

"We have tried to recoup that email account to find the emails in question. But we no longer have access to them. We cannot validate the paper copies of the emails given to the media as far as time stamps nor from what email account might they have been sent."

Milligan said his campaign had both a conference call number and equipment that Brady had access to, "so there would have been no need or reason for him to have [to] utilize any other conference call number.

"Again, if he used resources outside the campaign, it was beyond my knowledge," he said.

Milligan, a former Saline County circuit clerk and former chairman of the state Republican Party, said he wants to return "back to the work the people of Arkansas elected me to do and to continue the success of my Investments Department and reviewing new technologies for continued transparency."

Carson on Wednesday declined to comment about Milligan's written statement.

Brady could not be reached for comment by telephone on Wednesday night.

Milligan issued this statement two days after he fired his former outreach manager, David Singer, from his $65,000-a-year job. Singer said he was never told why he'd been terminated. Wallace has declined to say why Singer is no longer employed.

This is the second time since taking office Jan. 13 that Milligan has agreed to pay money after having an employee scrutinized.

Several weeks ago, Milligan signed an agreement with Attorney General Leslie Rutledge to pay a $1,000 civil penalty for violating state law by hiring his first cousin for a treasurer's office job paying $63,000 a year.

He paid the $1,000 fine upon signing the three-page agreement and also voluntarily reimbursed the state for Sam Swayze's gross salary of $6,941.62 for the period the relative worked for Milligan's office.

On March 13, Milligan said he apologized to his family, his staff and the people of Arkansas for that mistake.

Metro on 04/30/2015

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