Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones appeared before the Arkansas Ethics Commission on Friday to tell a story that, he said, had already been told to millions of television viewers watching his team's games.
Jones, who grew up in North Little Rock, had paid for North Little Rock police officers and their families to attend a Cowboys home game of their choice late last season, with travel and lodging accommodations included. The gifts were in recognition of police service and volunteer work in the community.
During the nationally televised football games, the officers' presence drew attention for their off-duty work in the North Little Rock Police Athletic League, which provides opportunities for children to participate in sports and other activities at no cost to them.
But Jones' action also drew attention as a possible violation of state ethics laws. Russ Racop, a Little Rock blogger, filed the ethics complaint Nov. 2.
After Friday morning's closed hearing, the Ethics Commission voted 3-2 that Jones had committed "an unintentional violation" by conferring a gift to North Little Rock police detective Michael Gibbons and other officers. Gibbons is president of the North Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police, and it was with him that Jones arranged the gifts of game tickets and free trips for dozens of police officers.
The violation requires only that Jones receive a warning letter. No sanction was imposed because of "good cause" shown by the reliance on "the erroneous conclusion" in a North Little Rock City Council resolution passed Oct. 24. Through that resolution, the council accepted the gifts and subsequently passed them along to the officers as an employee benefit.
City Attorney Jason Carter said after the ethics complaint was filed that the City Council "is authorized to accept donations and routinely does so," and therefore he believed that the vote by the council to accept Jones' gift on the city's behalf "was squarely within the sole legislative authority" of council members.
Ethics Commissioners Sybil Jordan Hampton, a retired educator from Little Rock; Ashley Driver Younger, a Little Rock attorney; and Alice Eastwood of Bentonville, Wal-Mart Stores' senior director of international ethics, voted for the violation order when the commission reconvened in public session Friday.
Former state Sen. Sharon Trusty, R-Russellville, who is the panel's chairman, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. attorney Tony Juneau of Rogers voted against the order.
The commission announced last week that Gibbons had violated a state ethics law when he accepted the free trips to Cowboys games. He also doesn't face any sanction because he accepted the gifts based on the invalid resolution previously approved by the City Council.
The violation falls under Arkansas Code Annotated 21-8-801(b)(1) that prohibits "any person to confer a gift or compensation" to public servants for the performance of their duties and responsibilities. Gifts valued at more than $100 are also generally prohibited, according to the state law.
After speaking to the commissioners in the closed hearing, Jones said he wanted to show "before millions of people" that North Little Rock's police officers knew "a way to do the right thing," not only while on-duty but also in their off-duty time volunteering with area children.
"You take a story like this and you have [TV sportscasters] Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels talk about it in front of millions of people," Jones said outside the meeting. "I totally disagree there was any violation. I do understand the decision the ethics board has to look at here."
Jones said he offered the gift partly because of the memories he retains from his childhood in North Little Rock, when police officers helped him and others as youngsters.
"My baseball experience, in particular," Jones said. "North Little Rock police were the groundskeepers, coaches and helpers. So they were very influential to me, not only as mentors, but people who helped to form my interest in athletics."
Racop, who also was in the closed hearing, said afterward that Jones told the commission he wanted to "get the message out there" about how the police officers were working in their community outside of their regular duties.
Racop, though, referred to a reported statement by Gibbons last fall about officers asking, "how do we pay him back?"
"You do not want a situation of reciprocity or a quid pro quo," Racop said. "Clearly, Mr. Jones didn't expect anything back in return. But you can't open the floodgates of gifting to public servants."
Racop's complaint had also named North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith and the six aldermen who voted to approve the city's resolution in October. The Ethics Commission dismissed the complaint against Smith and the aldermen last month after finding that none of them violated the ethics laws at issue.
A Section on 05/20/2017