Milligan target of ethics complaint

LR lawyer accuses treasurer of campaign-work violations

Matt Campbell, a Little Rock lawyer and blogger, has filed a wide-ranging complaint with the Arkansas Ethics Commission against Republican state Treasurer Dennis Milligan of Benton, Campbell said Thursday.

Among other things, Campbell accused Milligan of promising employment in the treasurer's office to several people who worked on his campaign, using several Saline County Circuit Court employees for campaign purposes, filing campaign reports to conceal certain donations, subverting disclosure requirements under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, and using campaign funds to repay an unreported loan.

The 113-page complaint, released by Campbell, lays out 14 separate allegations against Milligan.

"For somebody who ran on the platform that we're going to have the most transparent treasurer's office ever, he's been about the least transparent person you can imagine when it comes to money," Campbell said. "They were admitting internally that they were doing things wrong and they were hoping to take steps to hide that."

Campbell said he based the complaint on his own Arkansas Freedom of Information Act requests and public documents others sent him.

Grant Wallace, assistant chief of staff for Milligan, said he can only speak to allegations directly tied to the treasurer's office.

"We have not seen the complaint, nor have we received any notification from the Ethics Commission," he said. "From what has been described to me, the one or two allegations tied to the office are mischaracterizations."

Campbell's complaint alleges that Milligan violated state law in hiring the spouses of Rep. Nelda Speaks, R-Mountain Home, and Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, to work in the state treasurer's office, and that Saline County circuit clerk employees James Harris, Gary Underwood, Thomas Burchfield and Lana Davis performed campaign duties from the clerk's office during usual business hours.

Campbell said stronger laws need to be put in place that require candidates to file computer-searchable campaign finance reports. He said candidates should be held accountable when they report inaccurate information.

"It shows flaws in how Arkansas does campaign finance reporting," he said.

Campbell filed an ethics complaint against former Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Darr of Springdale, which ultimately led to his resignation in February 2014 after the commission fined Darr $12,000 for various violations of state ethics law. Campbell also filed a complaint against Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge that was dismissed by the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

Milligan is a former Republican Party chairman and Saline County circuit clerk.

In March, Milligan agreed to pay Rutledge's office a $1,000 penalty for violating the state's nepotism law when he hired his cousin for a $63,000-a-year job at the treasurer's office.

He also reimbursed the state $6,941.62 for the pay earned by his cousin, Sam Swayze.

Since late May, Milligan's office has been battling a former treasurer's office employee in court.

Milligan terminated his former outreach manager David Singer from a $65,000-a-year job on April 27. Singer later filed a defamation lawsuit against Milligan and Harris, Milligan's chief of staff.

On May 31, the Jefferson County Republican Committee called for Milligan's resignation, and its chairman, Peter Smykla Jr., said Milligan's behavior amounted to a "betrayal of our confidence and trust."

Last month, a spokesman for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network said that Milligan's deputy chief of staff Jason Brady improperly used the resources of the charity and violated its internal policies by working on Milligan's campaign when he should have been doing the charity's business.

Brady was serving as Milligan's campaign manager when the misconduct is alleged to have occurred.

Milligan briefly gave Brady a paid leave of absence after evidence surfaced that Brady had been doing campaign work. After a review, Milligan had Brady return to work, saying there was no evidence that Brady had broken campaign laws.

Metro on 08/21/2015

Upcoming Events