The Arkansas Ethics Commission staff found sufficient evidence for the commission to find probable cause that state Treasurer Dennis Milligan violated state law at least a handful of times in attorney Matt Campbell's wide-ranging ethics complaint against Milligan, Campbell said Tuesday.
Milligan's attorney, Byron Freeland of Little Rock, declined to comment about what the commission's staff reported to the commission, saying he doesn't think it is appropriate to make comments about the confidential meeting.
In an interview, Campbell said he expects the commission to make a settlement offer to Milligan, who would have the choice of either accepting the offer to be sanctioned for violating the state's ethics laws or asking for another hearing to dispute these allegations before the commission.
"That's someone marketing a business plan," Freeland told reporters regarding Campbell. "I am not marketing anything."
Freeland said, "It is pretty obvious there is not a whole lot there" in Campbell's ethics complaint against Milligan.
Milligan is a Benton Republican, a former Saline County circuit clerk and a former chairman of the state Republican Party. Campbell is a Little Rock attorney and left-leaning blogger.
The Ethics Commission met for about two hours in its Little Rock office to determine whether probable cause exists for finding that Milligan violated state ethics law in one or more of three positions: as state treasurer, as a candidate for the office in 2014 and as a circuit clerk from 2011 to 2015. Campbell, Freeland and Milligan attended the closed meeting. Campbell and Freeland were interviewed afterward by reporters.
Campbell alleged in his 107-page complaint that Milligan illegally hired two spouses of state lawmakers, promised jobs in the state treasurer's office to more than seven people, had several employees in the Saline County circuit clerk's office perform campaign duties during business hours, and accepted campaign contributions of more than $2,000 per election from certain individuals. Milligan has disputed Campbell's charges.
The commission didn't dismiss or take final action on Campbell's complaint against Milligan on Tuesday after its closed-door hearing.
Campbell said the commission's investigators told the commission that they had "four or five [instances] where they argued that yes, they found enough probable cause" to find that Milligan violated state law, but the final decision ultimately is up to the commission. He said he didn't recall the allegations for which the staff found probable cause.
There "were another four or five [instances] where it was sort of iffy" on whether there was sufficient evidence for the commission to find probable cause that Milligan violated state law, Campbell said.
"I think there were about 11 [instances] where they said there wasn't sufficient evidence in their opinion to find probable cause," he said. "You are looking at up to up as many nine or 10 out of the 21 [instances] or so that they really looked at."
Campbell said, "There were statements from people who came in, and I guess testified as part of the investigation [that] 'Yes, I overheard conversations where jobs were promised and things like that.'
"So if that's not enough to get you past the the probable cause hurdle then we are putting the burden a little high," he said. "The entire defense that they offered on almost everything was Mr. Milligan didn't know. Nobody told him. He couldn't have known because that was somebody else's computer."
Freeland said, "That's partially true. There are solid legal defenses."
The amount of campaign funds that Milligan's campaign incorrectly reported involves "a minuscule amount of money," Freeland said.
Campbell said Milligan "is trying to argue that ... since the candidate isn't the one who signs [the campaign finance reports] he can't be liable for misstatements that are on there," and the instances that Milligan knew about only involved a few hundred dollars.
The commission may sanction a state or local elected official or candidate with fines ranging from $50 to $2,000 per violation of state law; issue a public letter of caution, warning or reprimand; or both.
In March, Milligan agreed to pay Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office a $1,000 penalty for violating the state's nepotism law after he hired his cousin for a $63,000-a-year job at the treasurer's office. He also reimbursed the state $6,941.62 for the pay earned by his cousin, Sam Swayze.
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 the commission found probable cause that he had violated 11 state campaign and ethics rules.
Since May, Milligan's office has been facing a legal challenge from a former treasurer's office employee. Milligan fired David Singer from a $65,000-a-year job as outreach manager on April 27. Singer later filed a defamation lawsuit against Milligan and Jim Harris, Milligan's chief of staff. Milligan and Harris have disputed Singer's allegations.
Metro on 01/27/2016