Judge cautioned, fined in campaign-gifts case

$750 hit for Maggio called a ‘slap on the wrist’

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Circuit Judge Michael Maggio settled a complaint filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission by paying a $750 fine Friday for accepting campaign contributions above state limits -- a punishment described as a "slap on the wrist" by the attorney who had reported Maggio.

Maggio's troubles are not over. The Arkansas Supreme Court, which stripped him of all cases in March, still has not allowed him to return to the bench. He also remains under investigation by the FBI and the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission.

Maggio has been under investigation since at least early March, when published reports linked him to online comments he had made anonymously about a wide range of topics, including women, sex, divorce, bestiality and an actress's legally confidential adoption in an Arkansas court.

Days after Maggio apologized for those remarks and resigned from the race for an Arkansas Court of Appeals seat, he came under further scrutiny -- this time for money his campaign had accepted from seven of eight political action committees financed almost entirely by Fort Smith businessman Michael Morton.

Morton made thousands of dollars in PAC donations in checks dated July 8, the same day Maggio heard a request to reduce a Faulkner County jury's judgment against one of Morton's 32 nursing homes. Three days later, Maggio cut the $5.2 million award to $1 million.

The judgment had come in a negligence lawsuit filed by the family of Martha Bull, who died in 2008 in the Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Neither Maggio, who lives in Greenbrier, nor his attorney, Lauren Hamilton, returned phone and email requests for comment Friday.

Thomas Buchanan, the Little Rock attorney who filed the ethics complaint on behalf of two of Bull's daughters, called the commission's action "a shame because it certainly is a slap on the wrist."

"I don't blame the Ethics Commission at all, but their hands are pretty much tied in terms of the scope of their investigation," Buchanan said.

"In the end, I believe that the Ethics Commission did what it should have done," he added. "But the commission is of such limited jurisdiction ... that one really couldn't have expected true justice. That's for another day."

In a letter dated June 20 and released Friday, Ethics Commission Director Graham Sloan told Maggio that the panel had voted 4-0 that probable cause existed for finding that Maggio had violated Arkansas Code Annotated 7-6-203(a) "by accepting campaign contributions in excess of ... [$2,000] per election from any person."

Sloan added that the commission "was mindful that Rule 4.1 of the [Arkansas] Code of Judicial Conduct prohibits a judicial candidate from personally being involved in soliciting or accepting campaign contributions other than through a campaign committee."

"However Rule 4.4 provides that a judicial candidate is not relieved from ensuring that his or her campaign committee complies with the applicable campaign finance laws," Sloan added.

The commission found that the campaign had accepted funds totaling $1,500 in contributions exceeding the $2,000 limit from three PACs: $250 too much from the Thomas Group In PAC; $250 too much from the Go Good Government PAC; and $1,000 too much from the D. Bruce Hawkins 2 PAC.

"The evidence also reflected that these excessive contributions have since been returned," Sloan wrote.

The commission also sent Maggio a "Public Letter of Caution."

The letter "serves to give clear notice that your actions violated the law," commission Chairman William C. Bird III wrote. "You are advised not to engaged in the same activity again."

The commission also had investigated whether Maggio's campaign had accepted money from PACs that were themselves prohibited under state law. But Sloan said evidence showed the PACs -- created by Little Rock lawyer Chris Stewart on behalf of one or more clients -- "were all registered before you [Maggio] accepted contributions from them."

Neither Morton nor Stewart returned phone messages Friday.

Buchanan said he can't speculate on what the judicial commission or the FBI is doing about Maggio. But he said, "Certainly, I believe that the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission has the ability to see that he is never a judge in Arkansas ever again. Certainly, that's ... more of a harsh of a consequence than a $750 fine and a letter of caution.

"The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office have the ability to prosecute criminal activity. Whether they're doing that or not, I don't know."

Maggio is not "out of the woods," Buchanan said. "This [the $750 fine] was a bite of an appetizer. He's got a full plate" ahead of him.

The judicial commission said in April that it expects Maggio will face either a disciplinary charge or a mutually accepted sanction by about mid-August.

David Sachar, the judicial commission's executive director, was out of the office Friday and did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Morton said in March that he was asked by Linda Leigh Flanagin, the sole employee of a consulting company formed by former state Sen. Gilbert Baker, to support Maggio's campaign while Maggio was presiding over the nursing-home case. Baker, who now works for the University of Central Arkansas, has said he did not ask Flanagin to make that request.

Morton called her "that girl that works with Gilbert -- Flanagin, I think is her name."

Flanagin has not returned repeated phone messages.

Morton said the nursing-home case was never mentioned during the discussion of supporting Maggio.

"People are making these wild accusations," Morton said in March. "I didn't try to bribe a judge."

On March 24, UCA returned a $100,000 donation that Morton had made to the UCA Foundation. Morton had made the donation in a check dated July 8 after a visit with Baker.

A section on 06/28/2014