GOP’s chief files car-use questions

LITTLE ROCK — The head of the Arkansas Republican Party took another step on Friday toward putting the state’s Democratic leadership under oath and questioning them about how they use state-issued cars.

Doyle Webb filed notice in Pulaski County Circuit Court that he plans to begin taking depositions from the defendants in a lawsuit, Gov. Mike Beebe, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, Secretary of State Charlie Daniels, Treasurer Martha Shoffner, Auditor Jim Wood, Land Commissioner Mark Wilcox and House Speaker Robbie Wills. The lawsuit claims their personal use of state-owned vehicles violates restrictions the Arkansas Constitution places on their pay.

Webb, who is also the attorney representing plaintiff Republican district chairman Johnny Rhoda of Clinton, also filed the interrogatories, a series of written questions, to which the defendants will be required to provide written responses. Among other things, the filing seeks disclosure of the past seven years of tax returns and an accounting of vehicle repair, maintenance and fuel costs paid by the state.

Beebe claims in court filings that he shouldn’t be subjected to the lawsuit because his car is considered part of his security detail, while state attorneys are seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed, claiming it has no basis in law. Republicans have misinterpreted the amendment in question, lawyers for the attorney general claim. The “plain language” of Amendment 70 describing “income” can only be read as a prohibition on money, not any other form of compensation, state attorneys argue in court filings.

In a news release Friday, Webb scoffed at that argument, pointing to statements made by McDaniel in July suggesting that he agreed with the GOP position that the amendment bars the personal use of state vehicles by constitutional officers.

“It is the duty of our attorney general to make his best argument to defend the constitution and laws of Arkansas, even when he is grasping to protect the status quo. If the suit was ‘entirely misconceived’ as he calls it, why did he turn over the keys to his state vehicle and reimburse the taxpayers for his personal use?” Webb said. “Our attorney general as well as the other constitutional officers will be given an opportunity under oath to explain what their meaning of the word ‘income’ is.” The use of state-owned cars by public officials and state employees has been an issue since May when the Arkansas

Democrat-Gazette raised questions about how Wilcox used more than $14,000 in taxpayer funds on fuel for two state vehicles that he used mostly for personal purposes.

The practice by most of the state’s executive officers of using state cars for personal trips drew more scrutiny after the newspaper reported that only Halter, out of the seven constitutional officers, paid income tax for the personal use of a state vehicle, a position they would all come to adopt over the summer. The governor’s car use is tax-exempt as part of his police security.

The news reports inspired the first lawsuit in July, an illegal-exaction claim seeking to force state workers to reimburse the state for personal trips in publicly owned cars. The Republican lawsuit followed in late September.