Arkansas Senate OKs penalties against 2 members after approving committee's findings on ethics violations

Arkansas state Sens. Alan Clark (left), R-Lonsdale, and Mark Johnson, R-Ferndale, are shown in this undated combination photo.
Arkansas state Sens. Alan Clark (left), R-Lonsdale, and Mark Johnson, R-Ferndale, are shown in this undated combination photo.

The Arkansas Senate on Thursday approved its Ethics Committee findings that state Sens. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, and Sen. Mark Johnson, R-Ferndale, violated the Senate's ethics rules as well as its recommendations for penalties.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, filed the ethics complaints against Clark and Johnson on June 15.

The Senate Ethics Committee found that Johnson signed the name of Clark on the sign-in sheet for reimbursement at the Senate's Boys State committee meeting on June 3 when Johnson knew that Clark didn't attend the meeting.

Johnson on Thursday apologized to senators, but he insisted that he didn't know that Clark had not attended the committee meeting earlier.

Clark said he found it interesting and bothersome that the Senate Ethics Committee found it that easy to find that Johnson lied.

The Ethics Committee found that Clark admitted he didn't attend the Senate Boys State committee meeting on June 3, after he said he was sick, and he knowingly sought reimbursement from public funds by asking for his name to be signed on the sign-in sheet. The Senate didn't pay the $155 per diem to Clark for that meeting at the behest of Senate leaders, the committee found.

Clark told senators on Thursday that he made a mistake and it won't happen again and he apologized for his actions.

With Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, abstaining and Clark dissenting, the Senate voted 29-1 to approve the Senate Ethics Committee's recommended penalties against Johnson. Johnson voted for the sanctions.

With Sens. Bob Ballinger, R-Ozark, and Charles Beckham, R-McNeil, dissenting, the Senate voted 26-2 to approve its Ethics Committee's recommended penalties against Clark. Rapert and Clark abstained. Johnson voted present.

Sens. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, Scott Flippo, R-Bull Shoals, Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, and Larry Teague, D-Nashville, didn't attend the Senate's meeting on Thursday.

As penalties for the violations of the Senate ethics rules, the Senate Ethics Committee recommended the Senate strip Clark and Johnson of committee chairman and vice chairman posts and their eligibility for per diem and mileage reimbursement for the rest of this year.

Clark is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice chairman of the Legislative Council Review Subcommittee, co-chairman of the Legislative Council Occupational Licensing Review Subcommittee, and chairman of the Child Maltreatment Investigations Oversight Committee.

Johnson is vice chairman of the Joint Energy Committee, the Joint Budget Committee Claims Subcommittee, and the Legislative Council Charitable, Penal and Correctional Institutions Subcommittee.

Ballinger and Beckham said they favored strip Clark and Johnson of their chairman and vice chairman posts and eligibility for per diem and mileage for 90 days rather than for the rest of the year.

The Senate Ethics Committee also recommended that they issue letters of reprimand to Clark and Johnson and that future Senate president pro tempores not consider Clark and Johnson for appointment to serve in the future on Boys State, Girls State or the Senate Ethics Committee, as well as removing Johnson from the Senate Ethics Committee for the rest of this year.

Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Kim Hammer, R-Benton, told senators on Thursday that Clark and Johnson will continue to be eligible for the state to pay for their out-of-state travel to out-of-state conferences.

In June 2018, the state Senate approved an overhaul of its rules to create a committee on ethics, prohibit senators from certain activities involving conflicts of interest, and require more disclosure of other conflicts and personal finances. The Senate’s action came after federal investigations in the previous few years led to convictions of several former state lawmakers.

The ethics complaints filed by Hickey against Clark and Johnson are the second and third complaints since the overhaul of the Senate’s ethics rules four years ago.

In November of 2020, Sen. Trent Garner announced to senators that he was filing an ethics complaint against Sen. Jim Hendren, who is now an independent from Sulphur Springs. The state Senate initially dismissed Garner’s ethics complaint against Hendren as frivolous. The Senate Ethics Committee later held a closed hearing on Garner’s complaint and recommended the Senate dismiss the complaint before Garner withdrew the complaint.


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