SPRINGDALE — A Bella Vista man has paid a $50 fine to the Arkansas Ethics Commission for failing to identify himself as the sponsor of an online campaign advertisement he placed last year endorsing a Bentonville School Board member.
Rodney Fry acknowledged violating the law and agreed to pay the fine after a complaint was filed against him last month, according to commission documents. The commission also advised Fry to follow the law in a public letter of caution dated Dec. 31.
The ad in question was placed on Facebook in support of board member Rebecca Powers in her campaign for re-election last summer. Powers defeated Eowyn Francis-Moore in the Sept. 15 election with about 83 percent of the vote.
Gretchen Bellamy of Bentonville filed a complaint against Powers with the commission. A subsequent commission investigation found Powers had nothing to do with placing the ad and that Fry had been solely responsible for it.
The commission initiated a complaint against Fry, according to Teresa Jones, fiscal officer with the commission. Fry had been the one in charge of Powers’ Facebook campaign page, according to the commission’s complaint.
Fry told a commission staff attorney that he had known there was some sort of requirement for a “paid ad” disclaimer, based on other ads he’d seen. He said he tried to include one, but Facebook rejected it because there were too many characters.