The Arkansas Ethics Commission on Friday condemned the use of campaign communications that mislead voters about complaints filed against candidates.
"The use of statements such as 'a sworn complaint has been filed against Candidate A' or 'the Arkansas Ethics Commission is investigating a complaint against Candidate A' are inappropriate attempts to mislead the public," the commission said in a resolution adopted Friday. "Accordingly, it is the unanimous opinion of the [Ethics Commission] that the use of that type of language in campaign communications is an unfair practice and should be viewed as such by voters."
Graham Sloan, the commission's executive director, said on Friday in an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that commissioners Tony Juneau of Rogers, Sybil Jordan Hampton of Little Rock and Ashley Driver Younger of Little Rock attended Friday's meeting and each voted for the resolution.
"We are not the only state to have such a resolution," he said, adding Texas also has approved one. "Hopefully, it will discourage someone from filing a complaint and trying to use the fact that a complaint has been filed against a candidate. The outcome of a case is what matters."
Sloan said no case in particular in Arkansas triggered the commission's approval of the resolution.
"People do tend to file complaints and then immediately try to generate publicity over the fact that a case has been filed. Or they'll make a big point of the fact that someone is 'under investigation.' It has been going on for a long time," he said. "The resolution is an effort to address something that's been going on for a long time. It would give the respondent something to point to in response to someone who is seeking to generate negative publicity over the fact that a complaint has been filed or an investigation is being conducted."
During this year's regular session, the Legislature voted to give the commission two more positions in the fiscal year starting July 1. The agency asked for more staff members in order to keep up with the rising number of ethics complaints and investigations against candidates and officials that Sloan said had pushed the agency to the "breaking point." The commission has had nine positions since 1999.
The commission received 146 complaints filed against candidates and others during the 2018 election cycle -- a 45% increase since 101 complaints were filed in the 2012 election cycle -- according to Sloan.
Under state law, the commission is required to accept every sworn complaint for filing, whether it has merit or not, the commission said in its resolution.
"Likewise, any citizen of the state of Arkansas has the right to file a sworn complaint, whether it has merit or not. The fact that a complaint has been filed or that the [commission] is conducting an investigation provides no meaningful information to the voting public. Anyone can file a complaint and the [commission] must investigate the complaints it receives," the commission said.
"If a violation of one or more of the statutes under the [commission's] jurisdiction is found, the proper way to inform the public of these violations is to describe the facts of the violation of the actual findings of the [commission] after the conclusion of an investigation," according to the commission.
The commission directed that its resolution be posted on the agency's website.
Metro on 06/22/2019