Now-candidate Rutledge removes her name, image, voice from AG ads

In this file photo Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is shown during a news conference. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
In this file photo Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is shown during a news conference. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has changed her office's television ads to remove her name, image and voice to ensure that "the unfounded concerns of her political opponents" wouldn't stop her from carrying out the office's duties, Rutledge's spokeswoman, Amanda Priest, said Thursday.

Priest declined to specify to whom she was referring as Rutledge's political opponents.

"The Attorney General is hopeful that the effectiveness of the [public service announcements] will not be lost with the changes," she said in a written statement.

Priest said the office of the Republican attorney general spent a total of $2.2 million on radio and television ads from state funds obtained through lawsuit settlements in fiscal 2020, which ended June 30.

[RELATED » Full coverage of elections in Arkansas » arkansasonline.com/elections/]

That was $510,000 more than this newspaper previously reported. Priest said most of the $510,000 is for the office's digital and television ads for the rest of this calendar year.

Records in the attorney general's office show the previous highest amount that the office spent on TV and radio ads since at least fiscal 2008 was $459,200 in fiscal 2014, when Democrat Dustin McDaniel was the attorney general. That fiscal year started in July 2013; McDaniel withdrew from the 2014 governor's race in January 2013.

On July 1, Rutledge, of Maumelle, announced her bid for the Republican nomination for governor in 2022. She said her office's ad campaign in fiscal 2020 was "absolutely not" aimed at promoting her for governor.

Last August, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin of Little Rock said he's running for the GOP nomination for governor in 2022. Since October, Griffin has appeared in some ads financed with private funds through a nonprofit issue advocacy group called Arkansas Competes.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Little Rock, former press secretary of President Donald Trump, and Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren of Sulphur Springs have said they're considering running for governor too.

In mid-May, several state lawmakers questioned the ad spending by the attorney general's office.

Rutledge's chief of staff, Cory Cox, defended it, particularly in light of the covid-19 pandemic that started in March.

Priest has said Rutledge's office spent $1.1 million on three contracts with The Communications Group on March 31 for TV ads for the rest of the fiscal year.

The advertising expenses are paid out of the attorney general's consumer education and enforcement fund, which is funded by money obtained from lawsuits filed by the office.

In mid-May, state Sen. Jim Hickey, R-Texarkana, said the issue over the years with that office's ad spending always has been about promoting the individual.

"We can use an independent voice and we can say the Arkansas attorney general's office and use a 1-800 number, and we'll get the same message to the people," he said then.

Hickey said this week that Cox recently told him the TV ads would change in line with Hickey's suggestion.

"We need to do some type of legislation to make it consistent," Hickey said.

He said he and Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, are working on legislation for the 2021 regular legislative session.

Hammer said Thursday that he plans to ask the Legislative Council to refer his proposed interim study of the matter to the House and Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs committees.

As far as the recent changes in the office's ads, Hammer said Thursday in a text message to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "I believe the new approach is just as effective in communicating essential messages to [Arkansans] as previous approaches used by AGs both present and in the past."

As for what triggered the recent ad changes, Priest said in a written statement that "at no point has the purpose of the public service announcements changed.

"The Attorney General edited the public service announcements to remove her name, image and voice to ensure that the unfounded concerns of her political opponents would not prevent her from carrying out her responsibilities to protect and educate Arkansans on critical issues facing our state and services available to them," she said.

"There is absolutely no need to legislate when a duly elected official can use his or her name in media, or any form of communication including business cards or stationery," Priest said.

She said Rutledge doesn't consider lawmakers to be political opponents.

Hickey is the Senate president pro tempore-designate. He is in line to fill that leadership position from 2021-23, unless, during their organizational session after the Nov. 3 general election, senators elect someone else to fill the role.

In her written statement, Priest provided a detailed defense of the attorney general's office ad spending in fiscal 2020.

"From last August, the public service announcements were placed on television as a necessary tool to reach Arkansans in every corner of the state and raise the public's awareness on important issues," she said.

That's "just [like] we do through yearly mobile offices in all 75 counties and yearly roundtable meetings with the Attorney General in all 75 counties, numerous statewide and regional training as well as educational speeches by the Attorney General and staff around the State," Priest said.

"When COVID-19 struck Arkansas in March, additional spots were purchased to air the public service announcement on price gouging to ensure the Office reached every county of the State with the message while so many Arkansans were stuck at home," she said.

Then, Priest said, the office aired two public service announcements on child abuse and cybercrimes against children to address the concern of children not being in school and home all day with adults who may be abusing them.

Later public service announcements dealt with opioid abuse, and Medicaid and Social Security fraud, she said.

Arkansans had a resounding response to all of the ads, Priest said. In 2019, the attorney general's office received an average of 200 to 300 calls per week. Since mid-March of this year, "we now receive an astonishing 2,000-3,000 calls per week," she said.

Likewise, the emails received by the office in the first half of 2020 equaled the total number of emails received in all of 2019, she said.

"As the pandemic prolonged in April, an additional $510,000 was added to have the public service announcements run through the end of the calendar year to ensure Arkansans are aware of these critical issues and services of the Attorney General's Office," Priest said in her written statement.

Hickey said he wasn't aware of the additional $510,000 in spending.

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