A candidate who lost the Bryant mayor's race in November has admitted that he violated state laws during his campaign and has paid $100 in fines.
According to letters released Thursday by the Arkansas Ethics Commission, Randy Cox, a former alderman, "violated" Arkansas Code Annotated 7-1-103(a)(3) by using the kitchen of the Bryant Public Safety facility to distribute campaign material with food to fire, police and dispatch employees.
Cox also "unintentionally violated" parts of Arkansas Code Annotated 7-6-207 and 7-6-208 by failing to disclose certain information on contribution and expenditure reports filed with the Saline County clerk on Oct. 27.
The omissions included cumulative amounts of contributions, expenditures, loans and interest, as well as the itemized contributions over $50, current balance of campaign funds and the total amount Cox contributed to his own campaign.
At its meeting Jan. 23, the commission found probable cause that Cox had violated those laws. In each case, the vote was 4-0, with one commissioner absent.
The commission mailed settlement offers to Cox on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27.
Cox was offered settlements that included a "public letter of caution" and a $50 fine in each case, for a total of $100.
Cox signed the offers on Monday and mailed them back to the commission with the fine payment, said Graham Sloan, director of the commission.
The complaints were filed by Barbara Champagne, a Bryant resident.
Neither Cox nor Champagne returned telephone messages seeking comment on Thursday.
Cox, a former Bryant fire chief, lost a Nov. 25 runoff election to Mayor Jill Dabbs. A third candidate, former Alderman Adrian Henley, received the least number of votes in the Nov. 4 general election and didn't make the runoff.
Dabbs sent an email saying, "I have no comment" regarding the settlement.
According to its Jan. 27 letter, the commission concluded that evidence didn't support a finding of probable cause based on another complaint by Champagne. That one alleged that Cox violated Arkansas Code Annotated 21-8-304(a) by using his position with the Bryant Boys and Girls Club "to secure special privileges or exemptions in connection with contracts and donations of over $25,000" awarded by the City Council to the club.
Cox served as president of the Boys and Girls Club board for 2013. At the same time, Cox, as an alderman, worked on budgets for the city and helped acquire contracts and donations for the club in 2013 and 2014, the complaint states, adding that he should have recused himself from municipal votes dealing with the club.
"Evidence gathered during the course of the investigation reflected that the amount of funds provided to the Bryant Boys and Girls Club was set prior to your election to a position on the City Council," according to the letter Sloan sent Cox on Jan. 27. The vote was also 4-0 in that decision.
Metro on 02/06/2015