CONWAY -- Lobbyist Gilbert Baker helped attorney Chris Stewart get an $8,000 bonus from Arkansans for Lawsuit Reform -- a gift that enabled Stewart and his wife to give $6,000 to former Circuit Judge Michael Maggio's final judicial campaign, Stewart testified under oath.
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Stewart testified during the first of two depositions he had in August 2015 with attorneys in a lawsuit accusing Baker and nursing-home owner Michael Morton of conspiring to funnel contributions to Maggio's campaign. Filed by the family of a woman who died in Morton's Greenbrier nursing home in 2008, the lawsuit says the donations were in exchange for Maggio's reducing a $5.2 million judgment to $1 million in the family's earlier negligence lawsuit against the home.
Maggio has since been sentenced to 10 years in prison for federal bribery. His case is on appeal.
Stewart, a former legal counsel for the Arkansas Republican Party, gave $2,000 to Maggio's campaign for the Arkansas Court of Appeals on Dec. 20, 2013, Maggio's campaign-finance records show. Stewart's Little Rock law firm gave $2,000 on Dec. 5, 2013, and his wife, Julie, gave $2,000 on Dec. 31, 2013, the records show.
Attorney Thomas Buchanan asked Stewart if it was his understanding that the $8,000 was to help fund the Maggio contributions, according to a transcript of Stewart's testimony.
Stewart replied, "My understanding -- ... I can't speak to what Mr. Baker's understanding was -- from that bonus was understood that I would make donations, contributions to Maggio from that."
In a March court filing in Maggio's case, federal prosecutors said evidence shows that in November and December 2013 a fundraiser for Maggio "orchestrated straw donations" and was "urgently seeking PAC [political action committee] funds for" Maggio's campaign for the Arkansas Court of Appeals. The filing did not say who authorities believe made the straw donations or who provided the money for them.
Though Baker and Morton deny the bribery allegations in Maggio's plea agreement, Baker said during a deposition that he believes Individual B, a fundraiser, refers to him and Morton said he believes Individual A, a nursing-home owner, refers to him.
"Evidence shows that Individual A's money was funneled to Maggio's campaign through the use of PACs orchestrated by Individual B and through straw donations," the filing said.
A straw donor is a "person who donates someone else's money to a political party or candidate using his or her own name," according to The Free Dictionary, an Internet site.
During Stewart's deposition, Buchanan, an attorney for the family of the late Martha Bull of Perryville, asked if there was a reason the Stewart donations totaled $6,000.
Stewart said Baker had asked him to make the contributions.
"Did he help secure those funds to where you could make those donations?" Buchanan asked.
"Yes," Stewart replied.
"OK. How so?"
"I was written a check from the Arkansans for Lawsuit Reform as a bonus for working on, you know, a lot of work, [for] that organization, and that's what I was told," Stewart said.
"What was ... the amount of the bonus?"
"$8,000."
Stewart is the attorney who, working for Baker, created eight political action committees at the heart of the federal bribery investigation.
Neither Morton nor Baker has been charged with a crime. Both have denied wrongdoing.
Their full depositions, along with others, were made public for the first time last week when attorneys for Bull's family filed them in Faulkner County Circuit Court.
Morton, in his own deposition, testified that he mailed 10 checks totaling $30,000 on July 8, 2013, to the eight PACs and two already-existing PACs with the understanding that the money would later go to Maggio's campaign. That also is the day Maggio heard the Greenbrier nursing home's request to lower the $5.2 million judgment. The FedEx package arrived at Baker's home the next day. On July 10, 2013, Maggio cut the judgment.
Not all of the $30,000 made its way to the campaign before it was halted over an unrelated issue. Previous news reports have referred to only eight PACs.
Morton said the FedEx package also contained numerous other checks, among them two $25,000 checks for Arkansans for Lawsuit Reform, an organization favoring additional restrictions on damages state courts can award in lawsuits. Morton said he and Baker had worked together to form that group.
Buchanan also asked Stewart if he knew who authorized the $8,000 bonus.
"Not exact -- no, I don't think so. I mean, Mr. Baker -- the treasurer was Marvin Parks, but I know that ...," Stewart replied.
"OK. Did Mr. Parks sign the check?"
"Yes."
Stewart said the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office had interviewed him two or three times.
Stewart said he "felt sick" when he learned about the timing of the PAC contributions. He said he did not know about that until a newspaper article appeared in March 2014.
"I can't testify as to what anybody's intentions were, but it just didn't -- did not look right and didn't smell right, just as an attorney looking at it," Stewart said.
Later, during questioning by Morton attorney John Everett, Stewart was asked which came first -- the bonus or his donations.
"The check to me came first," Stewart replied.
In a July 2015 deposition, Baker said his now-defunct company, LRM Consulting, was at one time a paid consultant to Arkansans for Lawsuit Reform. Baker said Morton had contributed $100,000 to help start the lawsuit organization.
Others who were involved with Arkansans for Lawsuit Reform and who also contributed to Maggio's campaign included Parks and Morrilton lobbyist Bruce Hawkins.
In late December 2013, Hawkins' DBH Management Consultants, his Hawkins Insurance Agency and his wife Phyllis also gave $2,000 each, Maggio's campaign finance records show. DBH Management's clients in 2013 included Arkansans for Lawsuit Reform, and Baker's cellphone number was given as the contact for that organization on a lobbyist registration form filed with the state that year.
Hawkins, in his deposition, said Baker asked him to contribute to the campaign of Maggio even though Hawkins said he knew "absolutely" nothing about Maggio's abilities as a judge.
"He [Baker] said, 'I have a dear friend running for -- whatever he ran for -- and I need you to help me.' Gave me a money figure of what you could -- I did the maximum that I could do," Hawkins told attorneys.
Hawkins also said he has talked with either the FBI or the U.S. attorney's office three times.
On Dec. 9, 2013, Parks and his wife Kristi gave $2,000 each to Maggio's campaign, and his KASSL Inc. consulting business gave $2,000, the records show.
The Arkansas Supreme Court ordered Maggio removed from office in 2014 over unrelated issues, including online comments he made about women, sex, divorce, bestiality and a legally confidential adoption case involving actress Charlize Theron.
State Desk on 07/04/2016