Milligan ethics-complaint filer retracts special-ad-rate claim

Attorney Matt Campbell of Little Rock has submitted a revised ethics complaint against state Treasurer Dennis Milligan and removed his allegation that Milligan's campaign got special newspaper advertising rates that were lower than those offered to other candidates.

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Campbell, who is also a left-leaning blogger, submitted a wide-ranging complaint to the Arkansas Ethics Commission last week and said he submitted a revised complaint on Tuesday. The revised complaint is 107 pages, six fewer pages than the original one.

Milligan is a Benton Republican, former Saline County circuit clerk and a former chairman of the state Republican Party.

The revised complaint comes as Milligan is reshuffling his legal team.

Attorney Jonathan Camp of Benton said Tuesday night that he's advised Milligan that he will no longer be able to represent him in the current ethics case because "it is likely there will be conflict of interests with other clients that I have represented."

In a written statement, Camp said that he had represented Milligan in the past and was unaware of the conflicts when he initially agreed to handle the case.

In his wide-ranging ethics complaint, Campbell alleged that Milligan illegally hired two spouses of state lawmakers, promised jobs in the state treasurer's office in exchange for campaign work to more than seven people, failed to report in-kind services and office space use from the American Cancer Society Action Network, where two campaign workers were employed, and used campaign carryover funds to repay a loan that was not reported in campaign documents or known to the campaign's treasurer.

Camp said Friday that "upon an initial review of the document provided to us by a blogger, we have found many untrue and frivolous accusations. We are confident Mr. Milligan will be vindicated at the end of the day."

In his initial complaint, Campbell alleged that the Arkansas Press Association had helped Milligan get special advertising rates at Arkansas newspapers that were "not extended on an equal basis to all candidates for the same office."

The discount, Campbell said, amounted to an in-kind campaign contribution that Milligan failed to report.

Campbell also alleged that an Arkansas Press Association employee who later became the sister-in-law of a Milligan campaign official had helped broker the deal.

Campbell said Wednesday that the association-related claims were wrong, based on inaccurate information provided to him.

In an interview Wednesday, Tres Williams, the association's director of communications, said the Milligan campaign "got the same exact terms as any other political candidate" in purchasing newspaper ads, and "we have a policy against disparate treatment."

Williams said the association contacted Campbell to point out "inaccurate elements" in one section of his ethics complaint and Campbell has corrected the errors in the amended complaint.

Campbell said he spoke to the association and "confirmed that the discount Milligan's campaign received was the same as any other campaign.

"It appears that someone in the campaign was 'bragging' to campaign staffers about having a connection for a discount on advertising, when, in reality it was just the standard discount," he said in a written statement.

Campbell said in an interview that he received what turned out to be the inaccurate information about the ad buy "from two different people close to the campaign."

He declined to name them.

Campbell said his amended complaint also "fleshes out the allegation about the 'loan repayment' on [Milligan's] July 2015 carryover reporting form." In the complaint, Campbell said Milligan reported a $1,500 loan repayment to a Benton advertising agency YAT (Your Ad Team) in his July 14 campaign carryover report, but none of Milligan's primary or general election campaign reports reported receiving a loan from YAT or its owner, Shaun McFarland.

Campbell said the rest of his ethics complaint "is pretty solid."

Grant Wallace, a spokesman for the treasurer, said he's not sure whether Milligan has hired an attorney to represent him before the state Ethics Commission.

In 2013, Campbell filed an ethics complaint against former Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Darr of Springdale, which ultimately led to his resignation in February 2014. In December 2013, Darr agreed to pay an $11,000 fine to the state Ethics Commission for various violations of state ethics rules and regulations.

Metro on 08/27/2015

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