Sen. Paul Bookout violated four state ethics laws by transferring more than $18,000 of his campaign funds into his own bank account and by withdrawing an additional $6,760 in cash from his campaign account, the Arkansas Ethics Commission ruled Friday.
The Jonesboro Democrat also used more than $8,000 in campaign funds to buy and install home-theater equipment, the commission said. He also used more than $5,000 in campaign donations to buy women’s clothing and accessories, the commissioners said.
With no debate, the five-member Ethics Commission sanctioned Bookout by fining him $8,000 and issuing a public letter of reprimand after meeting in executive session.
Bookout, administrative director for system relations and government and public affairs at St. Bernards Health Care in Jonesboro, didn’t attend the meeting.
The $8,000 fine is the largest to be levied by the commission in one case since it started operations in 1991, said its executive director, Graham Sloan.
Conservative activist Bobby Hester of Jonesboro filed the ethics complaint after noticing that Bookout’s campaign finance reports provided few details about how he had spent tens of thousands of campaign dollars.
Friday, Hester said he was “pretty happy” with the commission’s decision, and he called on Bookout to resign from the Senate.
“I just think that it puts a cloud over the whole situation,” Hester told report-ers after attending Friday’s meeting.
“The people that he supposedly represents, or does represent, would be better served if he would resign,” he said.
But Bookout, who has served in the Senate since 2006 and was in the House from 1999-2005, said he is not resigning and will remain in office until January 2017. His seat isn’t up for election in 2014.
In a written statement, Bookout said he won’t appeal the commission’s decision.
“I value the trust my campaign donors place in me with their political contributions,” Bookout said. “To that end, I will be reimbursing my campaign approximately $49,000, and then repaying contributors pro rata over the next 30 days.”
“This is not required by the Ethics Commission’s decision, but I feel it is the right thing to do, given the ruling of the Ethics Commission,” Bookout said.
“I am honored to serve the people of my district in the Arkansas Senate. I look forward to completing my final term in office focused on the issues facing our state,” he said.
Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe said: “What [Bookout] did was wrong.
“It is another example of an elected official whose actions have hurt public confidence in elected officials.”
But Beebe added, “He has fessed up and accepted the responsibility and is not appealing it … but also [will] apparently go further and repay people.”
He stopped short of calling for Bookout’s resignation, saying it’s Bookout’s decision to make.
Two months ago, Beebe called for the resignation of then-Democratic state Treasurer Martha Shoffner after she was arrested by FBI agents at her Newport home.
Shoffner resigned on May 21.
A federal grand jury handed up an indictment in June charging her with extortion and bribery over purportedly accepting $36,000 in payments from an unnamed broker to whom she handed over the lion’s share of the state’s bond business. She has pleaded innocent to six counts of extortion, one count of attempted extortion and seven counts of accepting a bribe as an agent of state government. Her trial is set for March 3.
Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, said he is not going to comment on whether Bookout should resign until he reads the Ethics Commission’s report and visits with his Democratic colleague.
“It’s premature for anybody to be calling for anybody to do anything yet,” he said.
Bookout served as the Senate president pro tempore - the chamber’s leader - from 2011-2013, and Lamoureux succeeded him. Bookout is now co-chairman of the Legislative Council.
Senate Republican leader Eddie Joe Williams of Cabot also declined to say whether Bookout should resign. Senate Democratic leader Keith Ingram of West Memphiscould not be reached for comment at his office.
A spokesman for the state Republican Party said Friday’s “developments regarding Paul Bookout are shocking, alarming and greatly disappointing.
“This represents a very serious breach of the public’s trust. It is sad that this type of behavior is all too common among Arkansas Democrats, who have controlled the state for the last 130 years. We hope that our state’s leaders and the justice system will hold Senator Bookout accountable, just as they have in the cases of Martha Shoffner and [former state Rep. ] Hudson Hallum,” said David Ray, a spokesman for the Republican Party of Arkansas.
Two months ago, Hallum and his father were sentenced to serve three years’ probation with nine months of home detention for taking part in a 2011 scheme to buy votes with cheap alcohol, chicken dinners and cash.
Hallum resigned from his District 54 House seat after pleading guilty Sept. 5 to election-fraud charges alongside his father, Kent Hallum, who was once his campaign manager, and two other men.
A spokesman for the state Democratic Party, Candace Martin, defended the Democratic lawmaker, saying: “Bookout has a strong record of service in the Senate.
“It is my understanding he is reimbursing campaign donors over these issues with his campaign report. He can put this behind him and continue his service to the people of his community.”
The commission has authority under state law to issue fines of $50 to $2,000 and to issue public letters of caution, warning or reprimand for violations of state ethics laws.
The commission levied the maximum fine of $2,000 for each of the four violations of state ethics law that it found against Bookout.
With no debate, the commission approved a motion by commissioner William C. Bird III of North Little Rock to find that Bookout violated state law by depositing $18,200 of campaign funds into a bank account containing Bookout’s personal funds.
The commission ruled that that Bookout violated state law by using campaign funds to fulfill commitments, obligations and expenses that would have existed regardless of Bookout’s campaign, including transfers of campaign funds of $6,761.47 to Bookout in the form of cash withdrawals, an $8,402.47 payment to Sound Concepts Inc. for home-theater equipment and installation, payments totaling $5,043.74 to Steamroller Blues for women’s clothing and accessories, and payments to Ridgepointe Country Club for pro shop merchandise totaling $1,305.93.
These expenses don’t include all of Bookout’s use of campaign funds for personal use, Bird said.
Bookout declined to say why he used campaign funds in this way.
The commission also found that Bookout violated state law by failing to maintain sufficient records of campaign expenses and failing to provide those records to the commission. Bookout also violated state law by failing to file campaign finance records that include itemization of expenses above $100.
The commission ordered Bookout to file amendments to his campaign finance reports to itemize 97 expenses over $100 that made use of campaign funds and list $10,658.13 as the correct total of all non-itemized expenses.
Afterward, Sloan said the commission’s detailed file on its investigation of Bookout will become available to the public in 30 days as required by state law.
A prosecutor enforces the criminal laws that allow for misdemeanor penalties under the ethics laws under the commission’s jurisdiction, he said.
“The commission is authorized to share information with law enforcement and make recommendations, but at this point, staff has not been instructed [by the commission] to do that,” Sloan said.
The commission’s other four members are Sharon Trusty of Russellville, J. Barringon Minix of Little Rock, Robert McCormack of Conway and Anna Sue Bray of Benton.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 08/17/2013