A Little Rock lawyer and blogger says Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Treasurer Dennis Milligan broke state law when they traveled to Iowa to support Mike Huckabee, the former Republican governor who is running for president.
And on Monday, Matt Campbell said he filed complaints with the Arkansas Ethics Commission against both Republicans.
Under Arkansas law, "It shall be unlawful for any public servant ... to devote any time or labor during usual office hours toward the campaign of any other candidate for office or for the nomination to any office," according to Arkansas Code Annotated 7-1-103(a)(2)(A).
However, a 2002 Arkansas Ethics Commission advisory opinion states "that the prohibition does not apply to situations in which a public servant has taken vacation or other personal leave to devote time or labor to campaign activities."
In response to questions from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, spokesmen for Rutledge and Milligan said the constitutional officers were on personal leave.
In an interview, Campbell questioned the meaning of personal leave for constitutional officers, who receive a salary set by law and don't accrue time off.
"Since they're elected officials, they don't have any ability to track leave time. They don't have to turn in leave time. They get paid their constitutional amount," he said. "They couldn't have turned in a leave slip to even halfway justify it."
Campbell's complaints include a copy of an article that appeared in Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as well as social media postings. The article quoted both Milligan and Rutledge stumping for Huckabee.
Campbell has filed ethics complaints against Rutledge and Milligan in the past.
In August, Campbell filed a wide-ranging complaint against Milligan that accused him of promising employment in the treasurer's office to several people who worked on his campaign, using several Saline County Circuit Court employees for campaign purposes, filing campaign reports to conceal certain donations, subverting disclosure requirements under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, and using campaign funds to repay an unreported loan.
A week ago, Campbell said the Ethics Commission staff found sufficient evidence for the commission to find probable cause that Milligan violated state law at least a handful of times.
In 2014, Campbell filed a complaint against Rutledge for appearing in a TV advertisement where she vowed to continue to fight federal regulation. The sponsors of the ad, the Republican Attorney Generals Association, paid more than $300,000 to air the ad, which suggested that viewers call Rutledge and tell her to continue her fight against Washington, D.C.
Campbell claimed that Rutledge violated state campaign finance laws by appearing in an advertisement paid for by an outside organization and not reporting the ad as a contribution to her campaign. The Arkansas Ethics Commission voted to dismiss the complaint in 2015.
In 2013, Campbell filed an ethics complaint against Lt. Gov. Mark Darr of Springdale, which led to his resignation in February 2014. In December 2013, Darr agreed to pay an $11,000 fine to the Ethics Commission after it found probable cause that he had violated 11 state campaign and ethics rules.
Metro on 02/02/2016