HOT SPRINGS — The Arkansas Ethics Commission sanctioned Garland County Treasurer Tim Stockdale for using his office’s Facebook page to announce his re-election bid last year, he confirmed last month.
The public letter of caution Stockdale will receive is the least severe of the three letters the Ethics Commission issues. More egregious lapses are met with letters of warning or reprimand.
“It basically means don’t do that again,” Stockdale said. “That’s it. There was no fine or anything like that.”
Stockdale accepted the commission’s written offer of settlement after the panel voted 4-0 during a Jan. 23 hearing that probable cause existed for finding that he violated the elections title of the state code by “using for campaign purposes items of personal property provided with public funds.”
Stockdale declined a public hearing to contest the finding but said he didn’t see any impropriety with the Feb. 25, 2014, post announcing that he had filed to seek a third term. The post said he “was happy to file for re-election yesterday as Garland County Treasurer. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and may God bless you all.”
The Republican defeated Democrat Mark Toth in the November election.
The complaint filed by Hot Springs resident John Mark Lewis in October said Stockdale may have used an office computer to make the post, specifically asserting that the “use of computers, scanners, time to write and post messages on Facebook … are borne by the … office of the Garland County Treasurer which is operated at taxpayer expense.”
Stockdale reiterated his view from last October that Lewis’ complaint was politically motivated. He said at the time that Lewis and Toth were friends and had collaborated in the filing. Toth declined to comment on his relationship with Lewis when asked about the complaint last year.