Ballot issue on donations, gifts gets OK

62,507 signatures needed to put it to a vote in 2014

— Attorney General Dustin McDaniel certified a proposed ballot measure Wednesday that would restrict corporations and unions from donating directly to candidates and would require that lawmakers be out of office two years before they can become lobbyists.

The Regnat Populus group’s proposed initiated act also would bar gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers and the state’s constitutional officers.

The group failed to collect enough signatures to place a similar proposal on the 2012 general election ballot despite some high-profile bipartisan support.

McDaniel’s action clears the way for the secretary of state’s office to publish the proposal in newspapers around the state within the next 10 days, said Alex Reed, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office. After that the group can begin gathering signatures. They’ll need 62,507 signatures from registered voters by July 7, 2014, to qualify the proposal for the 2014 general election ballot, he said.

Th e two announced candidates for governor in 2014 - former U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Rogers and McDaniel of Little Rock - said Wednesday that they would vote for the proposed initiated act if it qualifies forthe ballot.

Hutchinson is a Republican. McDaniel is a Democrat who endorsed a similar proposal last year.

Former Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, a Democrat from North Little Rock who is considering running for governor, backed the 2012 effort and supports the new proposal, a spokesman said.

Last year, Lt. Gov. Mark Darr of Springdale and state Rep. John Burris of Harrison, both Republicans, questioned the proposal’s limitations on direct corporate contributions to candidates.

Hutchinson said he hopes the General Assembly will pass ethics legislation in the session that starts Monday.

“While I am still reviewing the exact language of the proposed petition, I would vote for this type of ethics reform legislation,” he said.

“Like anything else, this proposal is not how I would have written it and there may be better solutions,” Hutchinson said. “However, it does overall make the political system better and I would vote for this proposal if it is on the ballot.”

Incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, said he hasn’t reviewed the proposed initiated act, but he expects ethics bills to be introduced in the session.

“I am not sure there is aneed for a ballot initiative,” he said. “It seems a very odd approach.”

But David Couch of Little Rock, co-chairman of the Regnat Populus group, said lawmakers have historically declined to embrace similar proposals.

The group feels it’s appropriate to let lawmakers know “we are serious” about pushing for such changes through a proposed initiated act again and “we hope” the Legislature enacts these changes through legislation, he said.

Brent Bumpers of Little Rock, co-chairman of the Better Ethics Now Committee that supported the Regnat Populus proposal last year, said “we are going to keep our fingers crossed that something will come out of the next session.”

“If they don’t do anything, I think there is a pretty good chance we’ll gear up again,” he said. He said Jim Keet ofLittle Rock, a former lawmaker and Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2010, and Baker Kurrus of Little Rock are still the group’s other cochairmen.

While restricting corporations and unions from donating directly to candidates, Regnat Populus’ proposed initiated act still would allow individuals, political parties, county political party committees, legislative caucus committees and authorized political action committees to make contributions directly to candidates.

The proposal also would increase the cooling-off period before former lawmakers can register as lobbyists from one year to two years and bar lawmakers and the state’s constitutional officers from accepting gifts from lobbyists.

The group’s name - Regnat Populus - is also the state’s motto. It’s Latin for“The People Rule.”

In 2011, the Legislature enacted a law to prohibit legislators from registering as lobbyists until they’ve been out of office one year, but they exempted lawmakers not elected again last year.

State Rep. Tommy Baker, D-Osceola, who was barred from seeking re-election under the term-limits amendment, has registered as a lobbyist, according to a review of the registered lobbyist list in the secretary of state’s office. Baker said he registered as a lobbyist in case someone wants to hire him as a lobbyist.

State Sen. Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins, who lost in a Republican primary race last year, said he will probably file to be a lobbyist next week, adding that he hasn’t signed a contract or agreed to be hired.

State Sen. Gilbert Baker, RConway, who was barred from seeking re-election under the term-limits amendment, said he starts work for the University of Central Arkansas as an executive assistant on Tuesday, but he doesn’t intend to register as a lobbyist this session because he won’t lobby lawmakers as part of his own “cooling-off period.”

Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/10/2013

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