LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Ethics Commission will ask the 2013 Legislature to enact legislation to require committees that support or oppose ballot issues and legislative questions to report expenses made on their behalf by advertising agencies, public-relations firms and political consultants as well as expenses made by the committees.

The commission’s action comes after it dismissed a complaint in December against the Committee for Little Rock’s Future filed by Max Brantley, senior editor of the Arkansas Times, who contended that the committee should have disclosed the specific recipients of the committee’s money and the amounts they were paid.

The committee reported paying the Markham Group $196,253 to run the campaign to raise Little Rock’s sales tax rate from a half percent to 1.5 percent.

Currently, by paying a third party to run the campaign, committees can forgo explaining how all that money is subsequently spent.

Under the draft legislation approved by the Ethics Commission, a financial report of a ballot question committee or a legislative question committee would be required to report, among other things, total expenditures made by the committee or on behalf of the committee by an advertising agency, public-relations firm or political consultant during the period covered by the financial report.

Such a committee also would have to report the name and street address of each person to whom expenditures totaling more than $100 were made by the committee or on behalf of the committee by hired firms during the period covered by the report.

Under the draft legislation,individuals, public servants and governmental bodies . would be subject to similar disclosure requirements.

Graham Sloan, executive director for the Ethics Commission, said the commission learned last year that ballot question committees are paying consulting firms to provide “turnkey” campaigns about ballot measures and only disclosing the payments to the consulting firms.

The proposed legislation would require further disclosure by the consulting firms hired by the ballot-question committees, he said.

“If an advertising agency hired another advertising agency, that would be picked up [for disclosure],” Sloan said.

Commission Chairman Paul Dumas of Morrilton asked how Sloan decided on the language in the proposed legislation.

Sloan said some states already require ballot-question committees to disclose expenditures made by the committee or on its behalf, and the commission’s draft legislation “is getting at the heart of the problem.”

The proposed legislation is “middle of the road,” and it’s not too broad, he said.

“The simplest solution is the best solution,” Sloan said. “The more complicated it gets, the more difficult it becomes to change [the law].”

The commission’s legislative package also includes a measure to allow candidates for state and local offices to use campaign funds to attend their party’s national convention.

In July, the commission had ruled that current law does not allow state and local candidates to use campaign funds to attend presidential nominating conventions.

State Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb of Benton requested the advisory opinion from the commission.

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/17/2012