The Arkansas Ethics Commission voted Friday to dismiss complaints against North Little Rock's mayor and six aldermen over a resolution that the City Council approved to accept as a city-employee benefit the value of paid trips to Dallas Cowboys football games.
The trips were provided by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to North Little Rock police officers.
But blogger Russ Racop of Little Rock, who filed the ethics complaints on Nov. 2, said the commission decided "to move forward" with his complaints against Michael Gibbons, president of the North Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5, and Jones. The commission didn't take final action Friday on the complaints against Gibbons and Jones.
Racop's ethics complaint said the free Cowboys tickets and other largesse provided to North Little Rock police officers violated Arkansas Code Annotated 21-8-801. That provision of state law states that a public servant cannot receive a gift for performance of the duties and responsibilities of his office or position. It also says that gifts valued at more than $100 are generally prohibited.
Jones, who grew up in North Little Rock, has indicated that he made the offer to North Little Rock officers to show support for police in his hometown.
On Oct. 24, the North Little Rock City Council voted 6-0 to approve Resolution 16-165, which accepted the value of Jones' offer on the city's behalf and passed that value along to police officers as an employee benefit. Officers and their families were able to pick a game to attend from the Cowboys' last five home games.
With commissioner and attorney Ashley Driver Younger of Little Rock absent, the Ethics Commission voted 4-0 Friday to dismiss the complaint against North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith, ethics Director Graham Sloan said in a letter to Smith.
The other commissioners include the chairman, former state Sen. Sharon Trusty, R-Russellville; retired educator Sybil Jordan Hampton of Little Rock; Wal-Mart Stores Inc. attorney Tony Juneau of Rogers; and Wal-Mart Stores' senior director of international ethics Alice Eastwood of Bentonville.
Sloan said the evidence showed that Smith's role was limited to introducing the resolution to the North Little Rock City Council and presenting it at the Oct. 24 meeting. The commission determined that such conduct did not constitute a violation of Arkansas Code Annotated 21-8-801 (b) or 21-8-304 (a), Sloan said.
Under statute 21-8-304, a public official is barred from using or trying to use his official position to secure special privileges or exemptions that are unavailable to others for himself, relatives or those with whom he has a substantial financial relationship.
Sloan said the commission voted 4-0 to dismiss the complaints against North Little Rock Aldermen Steve Baxter, Linda Robinson, Beth White, Debi Ross, Bruce Foutch (who is now deceased) and Murry Witcher because the evidence showed their role was limited to voting on the resolution. The commission determined that such conduct did not constitute a violation of either 21-8-801 (b) or 21-8-304 (a).
Smith said Friday, "Our City Council was being as transparent as possible when we accepted the very generous donation from Mr. Jones and we were always confident the Ethics Commission would come to the same conclusion.
"North Little Rock police officers deserve every benefit we can possibly provide and we are grateful Jerry recognizes their positive impact on his hometown," Smith said in a written statement.
But Racop said in a written statement that: "I think the commission did not want to open a Pandora's box by questioning the actions of a municipal entity, but several expressed concerns regarding the ordinance NLR passed to sanction the obvious illegal gift.
"From questions asked by commission members and the documents prepared by [Ethics Commission] staff, I felt that they would not vote to go forward," Racop wrote. "Based on comments Graham Sloan made, he appeared to be more concerned about the actions of NLR city government than was his staff attorney and investigator Drew Blankenship."
Metro on 04/22/2017