A Pulaski County circuit judge has dismissed attorney Matthew Campbell's appeal of a commission's decision in 2016 to reject an ethics complaint against Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Director Graham Sloan told the state Ethics Commission on Friday about Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen's dismissal of Campbell's lawsuit. Campbell sued after the commission rejected a complaint that accused Hutchinson of campaigning during office hours. Sloan also told the commission about another court case involving Campbell.
On Nov. 7, Griffen dismissed the lawsuit, filed in July 2016, because the court records indicated the case had been in a state of inactivity over the past 12 months.
Campbell originally filed the lawsuit against both the state Ethics Commission and Hutchinson, but the governor was dismissed as a defendant in September 2016 on a motion by Campbell, according to court records.
In an email to this newspaper, Campbell said Friday that he dropped that suit "a long time ago due to a lack of time on my end to devote to it. The dismissal was just a procedural step by the court to get it off the docket." Campbell, of Little Rock, is a left-leaning blogger as well as an attorney.
In his complaint against Hutchinson, Campbell said the Republican governor should not have appeared at two campaign events in support of then-Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, on Feb. 29, 2016, during office hours. Hutchinson campaigned for Williams and some other Republican lawmakers before the primary on March 1, 2016.
In his complaint, Campbell cited Arkansas Code Annotated 7-2-103, which states, "It shall be unlawful for any public servant ... to devote any time or labor during usual office hours toward the campaign of any other candidate for office or for the nomination to any office."
A 2002 Arkansas Ethics Commission advisory opinion states "that the prohibition does not apply to situations in which a public servant has taken vacation or other personal leave to devote time or labor to campaign activities."
In a letter to Hutchinson in July 2016, Sloan wrote: "Evidence gathered during the course of the investigation reflected that elected officials are not required to keep records of the time they work and that they do not actually accrue leave time. However, the evidence reflected that you notified your staff in advance that you would be out of office on the day that you attended the campaign events for the re-election of State Senator Eddie Joe Williams. In addition, those events were placed on your office calendar as personal meetings."
In February 2016, Campbell had filed a similar complaint against Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Treasurer Dennis Milligan, both Republicans, when they traveled to Iowa to support former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in his failed pursuit of the GOP presidential nomination. The Ethics Commission tossed those complaints because the state's definition of candidate does not include those running for federal office.
Sloan also told the commission Friday that the attorney general's office has a conflict of interest that precludes it from continuing to represent the commission in Campbell's appeal of another ethics decision. It concerns the decision in October 2016 to fine Terry Ott, county judge of Marion County, $250 and issue him a public letter of reprimand.
The commission found Ott violated Arkansas Code Annotated 21-8-304 (a) by using his position as county judge to hire Art Sasser, doing business as Sasser Bulldozing, to deliver dirt to the county fairgrounds. Sasser was paid $4,500 and then wrote checks of $250 each to Ott's wife, Darlene Ott, and sister-in-law, Alma Smith, according to commission records.
Sloan told the commission that Campbell's appeal was prematurely dismissed by a circuit judge but then reinstated. Then the attorney general's office cited its conflict of interest. Instead of asking the governor for permission to hire an attorney to represent the commission, Ethics Commission attorney Jill Barham will file a brief in the case instead, Sloan said.
In a filing in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Friday, Assistant Attorney General Karen Virginia Wallace said the Ethics Commission is investigating a complaint against Rutledge.
"The legal representation of the Ethics Commission by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's Office while the Ethics Commission is investigating a complaint against Ms. Rutledge results in a conflict of interest as set forth in the Arkansas Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.7," Wallace said in the court filing. "The Arkansas Attorney General believes the conflict cannot be waived.
"The situation also creates an appearance of impropriety as described in the Preamble to the Arkansas Rules of Professional Conduct. The appearance of impropriety cannot be waived," according to Wallace. Wallace asked that she be allowed to withdraw as counsel for the commission and that Barham be substituted.
Metro on 11/17/2018