Ethics complaint on senator tossed

No evidence found that a line of credit tapped, panel says

The Arkansas Ethics Commission voted Friday to dismiss a complaint filed by a supporter of former state Sen. David Burnett, D-Osceola, against state Sen. David Wallace, R-Leachville, over Wallace's loans to his Senate campaign.

Wallace, then a representative, reported lending $129,864.29 in his successful campaign to oust Burnett on Nov. 8, and owed himself $94,248.76 as of Dec. 31, according to his latest campaign finance report, filed Tuesday, that he said corrected errors on his previous report by a few hundred dollars.

He is among five legislative candidates in Arkansas to lend their campaigns more than $100,000 during the past several years, based on a search through the National Institute on Money in State Politics website. He is an owner of a disaster recovery company and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel.

Boyd Thomas of Osceola, who has described himself as a volunteer for Burnett's campaign, alleged that Wallace failed to properly report campaign contributions by listing such contributions as a loan of personal funds on his campaign finance reports and/or took out a personal line of credit from a financial institution, yet failed to report the name of the financial institution, the amount of the loan and the name of the guarantor, according to commission Director Graham Sloan.

In a letter to Wallace, Sloan said evidence gathered during the commission's investigation showed that Wallace made several loans from personal funds to his campaign for public office.

"The evidence further reflected that the amounts of your loans varied and were often determined by your campaign needs that month, your ability to give financially that month, and the original amount of money as it came to you (for example, the amount of your per diem check that month)," Sloan wrote in his letter to Wallace.

"There was no evidence that the funds came from a personal line of credit with a financial institution," Sloan said.

Wallace said Friday that he wasn't aware that the Ethics Commission dismissed the complaint against him, but called it "good news."

In September, Billie Sue Hoggard, chairman of the Craighead County Republican Party, filed an ethics complaint against Burnett alleging that he illegally accepted contributions from 14 businesses and entities. Burnett subsequently reported returning more than a dozen campaign contributions totaling more than $5,800. He has said his campaign mistakenly accepted the illegal donations.

Metro on 01/21/2017

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