A Pulaski County jury will have to decide whether state Treasurer Dennis Milligan had the authority to commit to a $450,000 contract with a company to establish a statewide financial-literacy program for elementary school students, a circuit judge ruled on Wednesday.
A fired aide, David Singer, has sued Milligan, claiming that the first-term Republican exceeded his authority by hiring EverFi Inc. in 2015 for his online AR Finance AR Future program for fourth- through sixth-graders. The trial is set for March 2018.
Singer, 54, of White Hall was fired by Milligan in April 2015. He lost a subsequent federal discrimination and defamation lawsuit over his termination.
His other, state-court lawsuit, which claims he was fired for complaining about how Milligan’s office was spending tax money, is on hold until the Arkansas Supreme Court can rule on whether the state Constitution shields the treasurer from such lawsuits.
Singer’s illegal-exaction lawsuit over the EverFi contract calls for Milligan to be forced to repay the $75,000 his office spent on the program its first year.
Act 324 of 2017, sponsored by state Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, and state Sen. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, in the past legislative session, expressly granted the treasurer the authority to conduct such programs.
Wednesday, Judge Chris Piazza denied Singer’s summary judgment motion, rejecting arguments by his attorney, Luther Sutter, that the arrangement was so obviously illegal that the judge didn’t need to conduct a trial on the issue.
The judge, instead, sided with Assistant Attorney General Billy Bird, who argued that jurors should decide the scope of the treasurer’s duties. The state’s constitutional officers, who include the governor, the attorney general and the secretary of state, have traditionally been recognized as having “broad authority,” Bird told the judge.
Prior treasurers have similarly operated educational programs, which sets a historical precedent as well, he said.
Bird also said Sutter had mischaracterized how Milligan allocated funds to come up with the money to hire the firm in the first place.