$11,000 in ethics fines fall on Darr

He signs on to 11 ways law broken

Correction: Liberal blogger and attorney Matt Campbell, who filed an Arkansas Ethics Commission complaint against Lt. Gov. Mark Darr, said he is happy with the Ethics Commission’s findings of probable cause that Darr had violated 11 campaign finance and spending laws and the settlement for $11,000 in fines signed by Darr on Monday. Campbell said he understood that treating each of the instances of a possible violation of law separately would have prolonged the investigation and made it tedious. This article mischaracterized Campbell’s reaction.

Lt. Gov. Mark Darr signed a settlement agreement with the Arkansas Ethics Commission on Monday agreeing to pay an $11,000 fine after the commission found probable cause that he had violated 11 state campaign and ethics rules.

A letter from Darr to the Ethics Commission accepting the settlement apologized for “inadequate” record keeping and campaign disclosures. Darr’s actions that led to the Ethics Commission’s 4-0 vote were mistakes, the lieutenant governor wrote. Darr’s cellphone was turned off late Monday. His attorney said Darr would not resign over the ethics violations.

“I want to underscore that he recognizes he made mistakes, and he intends to fix those by paying the fines and reimbursing contributors appropriately,” said attorney and former state Rep. Dan Greenberg, who represented Darr during the Ethics Commission investigation. “What is going to come from this is a commitment to full and complete compliance with ethics laws in the future.”

On Dec. 18, the Arkansas Ethics Commission held a private hearing to discuss evidence in the investigation into whether Darr violated campaign-finance and state-reimbursement laws. After that hearing, liberal blogger and lawyer Matt Campbell, who filed one of the two original complaints against Darr, said the commission staff had reported evidence to support that Darr had improperly spent more than $44,000 in campaign and taxpayer funds.

On Aug. 23, Campbell filed his complaint after questioning several thousand dollars of Darr’s campaign expenses at gas stations, restaurants and clothing stores and for football tickets and other items.

On the same day, Darr filed an ethics complaint against himself and acknowledged that there were problems with his campaign-finance reports, though he said he “had no malice intent.” The commission later consolidated Campbell’s and Darr’s ethics complaints into one case.

Arkansas Ethics Commission Director Graham Sloan sent a five-page letter to Darr dated Dec. 19 detailing the commission’s findings and levying the $11,000 fine - $1,000 for each of the 11 statutes for which the commission found probable cause.

The letter said the commission found probable cause that Darr violated state ethics laws by:

Making personal use of $31,572.74 of his campaign funds.

Accepting three contributions for more than the $2,000 limit, adding up to $6,000 above the legal limit.

Accepting $5,720.91 in contributions after the amount needed to retire the 2010 campaign debt had been raised.

Accepting $5,720.91 after the Nov. 2 deadline for other purposes than retiring debt.

Failing to maintain sufficient records of all of the expenditures made during the 2010 debt retirement campaign.

Failing to properly itemize $9,200 in loan repayments, $15,267.29 in itemized expenditures and $3,098.40 in non-itemized expenditures. He also failed to provide complete addresses for each payee.

Failing to report a $185.61 contribution from Strong Arkansas Political Action Committee.

Failing to list the principal place of business, employer or occupation for all itemized contributors for the debt retirement campaign.

Failing to file a third quarter debt retirement disclosure that showed a loan repayment of $1,500.

Making personal use of at least $3,532.60 in expenses charged to a state-issued credit card.

Receiving at least in $3,577.56 in undeserved travel reimbursement.

According to the commission findings, Darr had an outstanding debt of $114,751.83 in loans he had lent his 2010 campaign. During the debt-retirement campaign, the records showed Darr made loan repayments totaling $88,900 to himself and then spent $31,572.74 on personal expenditures, meaning he overpaid his personal loans by about $5,700.

The report letter also said that Darr had repaid the majority of the personal expenses charged to the state-issued credit card.

The commission did not find reasonable cause to believe that Darr used his state-issued credit card for campaign expenses.

The settlement letter directs Darr to pay $11,000 in fines, file corrected campaign finance reports and pay back the contributions that were over the legal limit.

Greenberg said late Monday that he was not sure exactly how much money Darr owes, but said that the lieutenant governor planned to pay back the $6,000 in improper contributions and would quickly work out a payment plan for the commission fine.

“The settlement gives him 10 days to pay the fine or to work out a payment plan, and that is what he will do,” Greenberg said.

Darr’s staff referred questions to Greenberg on Monday, and Darr did not answer phone calls for comment.

In his letter to the Ethics Commission accepting the settlement, Darr wrote that he apologized to Arkansans for his mistakes, but emphasized the lack of what he said was malicious intent.

“I think it is fair to note… that it is a mistake to infer from this that I ever intentionally took money that I was not entitled to,” he wrote. “I don’t mean to minimize the seriousness of the mistakes I have made in campaign record-keeping and campaign disclosure. Again, however, I think it is fair to distinguish between these mistakes and intentionally taking money that was not mine. I do not believe I ever intentionally took money that was not owed to me.”

Darr also wrote that at least one of the findings of cause for a violation rests on “a mistake of legal analysis.” He writes that when he returns the three over-the-limit contributions, his campaign will have a net deficit instead of the more than $5,700 surplus that caused one of the violations.

Those three contributions came from John Goodson, a University of Arkansas trustee and husband of Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson; Wesley Hana Goodson, his son; and Matt Keil, his Texarkana law partner in Keil & Goodson.

Sloan, the Ethics Commission director, said he could not discuss the findings or the response, when reached by phone late Monday.

Campbell, who filed the original ethics complaint, said Monday that he was satisfied with the findings.

“I thought it was clear when the commission mentioned in the hearing that Darr was forthcoming with his records, that they were not going to fine him the full $2,000 per violation that they could have,” he said.

“I guess if there is anything I’m disappointed in, it’s that each law was treated as a single violation, when there was evidence that he violated some of them multiple times like using the state-issued credit card for gas. I wish those had been treated separately.”

Campbell pointed out that the Ethics Commission only issued an $8,000 fine to former Sen. Paul Bookout, a Jonesboro Democrat who resigned in August after the commission found probable cause that he had spent thousands of dollars from his campaign funds on personal items such as women’s clothing and home-theater equipment.

“I think that’s saying something, and I think Darr should still resign from his position,” Campbell said.

Greenberg answered questions about what happens next, saying that Darr would commit to following the rules moving forward and he did not plan to resign.

Calls to both a Democratic Party of Arkansas spokesman and the Arkansas Republican Party spokesman were not returned late Monday.

In previous statements, Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb has said Darr is “taking responsibility” for his mistakes.

Before the Ethics Commission investigation, Darr had announced his intentions to run for the Republican nomination in the 4th Congressional District. He abandoned that bid a week after the investigation began.

Darr, who owned a pizza business before being elected, has been the state’s lieutenant governor since January 2011.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/31/2013

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