Arkansas Democratic Party leaders on Saturday formally called for a outside audit of the party’s finances at a meeting held to address a series of blog posts alleging mismanagement by the party chairman.
The series of articles by Little Rock attorney and blogger Matthew Campbell on his Blue Hog Report blog over the past two weeks had roiled the party’s membership in the lead-up to Saturday night’s Clinton Dinner, the party’s biggest annual fundraiser.
No motion was made any member of the party’s State Committee to make changes to the party leadership, including Chairman Michael John Gray.
Gray called the audit an “appropriate” step in the wake of accusations about his leadership.
The party has struggled with lingering debt that dates back a decade, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported last week after reviewing years worth of financial statements.
[RELATED: Records lay bare party's debt load]
The debt dates back to election cycles when the party spent massive sums of money trying to hold on power as Republicans won control of the Legislature and other state and federal offices.
Gray asked that the audit cover his tenure, as well as the several years before he took over as party chairman in March 2017, a request that the committee approved.
Read more in Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.