The Republican Party of Arkansas filed a complaint Tuesday with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Democratic 4th Congressional District candidate James Lee Witt alleging that he omitted information from his statement of financial interest.
The letter of complaint, signed by party Chairman Doyle Webb, alleges that Witt violated the False Statements Accountability Act of 1996 and the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 by failing to mention his financial interest in the group Kanza LLC on his most recent financial disclosure. The law requires candidates to list companies and assets that they and their immediate families are connected to financially.
The report, which covered the period from Jan. 1 through April 30 of this year, was due in May, but Witt's campaign filed for a 90-day extension. Witt filed the disclosure form in early August.
"Democrat James Lee Witt tried to hide an $850,000 Little Rock golf course home from the voters of the [4th] Congressional District by failing to include his company in his financial disclosure to the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives," Webb wrote in an emailed news release. "This sort of underhanded tactic is yet another example of out-of-touch Witt thinking the rules just don't apply to him."
The company Kanza LLC was not listed in the financial disclosure. Real estate records showed that Witt signed a $680,000 mortgage June 4 for a Bretagne Circle property in Little Rock that had been appraised at $850,000. The deed was signed over June 2 to Kanza LLC, which listed Witt's Dardanelle P.O. Box on the mortgage documents.
Both of those real estate transactions would not have fallen under the filing period for the financial report.
"James Lee has been a longtime investor in real estate. He bought this property on June 2, 2014, as a good investment opportunity. James Lee and his entire family live in Yell County," said Witt's campaign spokesman, Beau Bishop.
The Republicans' ethics complaint said -- and incorporation records confirmed -- that Kanza LLC was registered with the Arkansas secretary of state on April 25. Webb argued in the complaint that the company should have been listed on the financial disclosure based on that timing.
Witt's name is not mentioned in the organization documents, and under Act 865 of 2007, Arkansas does not require LLCs to release membership information.
Bishop said Witt would file an amended disclosure form, but added that the candidate had not received any financial gain or loss from the company during the reporting period.
"It did not hold any assets until this purchase on June 2, 2014, which was after [the] period covering the report," Bishop wrote in an email late Tuesday. "An amended report is being filed to address this inadvertent omission."
The Republican Party of Arkansas also filed a complaint Aug. 27 with the Federal Election Commission against Witt, alleging that he failed to provide the proper campaign disclosure on yard signs. By law, they must say who paid for the signs.
Metro on 09/10/2014