State integrity news for Arkansas, from the Arkansas News Bureau:

Gov. Mike Beebe said today he will support a ethics reform initiative if it qualifies for the Nov. 6 general election ballot. Supporters of the proposed Campaign Finance and Lobbying Reform Act of 2012 have until July 6 to gather 62,507 valid signatures of registered voters to qualify the measure for the ballot.

Beebe said he does not plan to campaign for the proposed initiated act, but that he will speak for it if asked.

Read the rest of the story at the Arkansas News Bureau.

State integrity news for Arkansas, from the Arkansas News Bureau:

A bipartisan group with political and financial influence has formed to see that a proposed ethics and campaign reform initiative gets on the November general election ballot.

Better Ethics Now, which includes former Democratic U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers, former state senator and GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Keet and former GOP Congressman John Hammerschmidt, announced its support today for Regnat Populus 2012 in a bid to certify for the ballot a proposed initiated act to ban gifts to legislators and further restrict ex-lawmakers from becoming lobbyists.

Read the rest of the story at the Arkansas News Bureau.

Every year Paul Spencer teaches the U.S. Constitution to the students in his government and politics class at Catholic High School For Boys in Little Rock, Arkansas. Over the last few years, Spencer found himself increasingly upset as he recited the words and recounted the intent of America’s founders.

“I noticed myself getting a little more angry every consecutive year about how things are in government, as opposed to how they are in the textbook,” Spencer said.

Now, Spencer and a group of motivated Arkansas citizens are doing what they can to change the way government operates in their state. Spencer is the leader of Regnat Populus 2012, the organization behind a grassroots movement to pass new ethics laws in Arkansas through a citizen-led ballot initiative. If Spencer’s group obtains the required number of signatures, the people of Arkansas will have the chance to push back against big money in government, double the time a lawmaker has to wait before becoming a lobbyist, and prohibit gift-giving from lobbyists to lawmakers.

Regnat Populus 2012 takes its name from the Latin for phrase “The people rule,” an expression that serves as Arkansas’ state motto, and which Paul Spencer and his partners hope to prove is still true.

State integrity in the news for Arkansas, from the Arkansas News Bureau:

A hearing is set for next month to discuss a proposed legal settlement that would require legislators to strictly document claims for mileage and expense reimbursements.

The lawsuit named two legislators, Rep. Ann Clemmer, R-Benton, and Sen. Jerry Taylor, D-Pine Bluff, as defendants, along with the state auditor, state treasurer and officials of the House and Senate, who disburse expense payments for legislators. The suit alleged both Clemmer and Taylor claimed expenses without submitting proper documentation. Between January 2009 and August of 2011, Clemmer collected $70,500 and between January 2007 and August 2011 Taylor collected $129,633.

Read the rest of the story at the Arkansas News Bureau.

Corruption news for Arkansas, from Arkansas News:

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel (pictured, right) today announced a $350,000 public awareness campaign entitled “Got Your Back, Arkansas to promote his office’s Consumer Protection Division. The announcement drew criticism from Lt. Gov. Mark Darr, a Republican and potential 2014 gubernatorial opponent McDaniel who accused the Democratic attorney general of running what amount to political campaign ads at public expense.

Funding for the campaign comes from an $18.5 million settlement the attorney general’s office reached with Eli Lilly in 2010 over what the state alleged was marketing of the drug Zyprexa for uses not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Darr said today on his personal Twitter account, “I wish my office had millions at its disposal to run my campaign ads.”

Read the rest of the story at Arkansas News.

Corruption news for Arkansas, from Arkansas News:

The governor and the state’s top finance officer say state agencies’ budgets will be reviewed more closely in the future in light of what auditors concluded was fiscal mismanagement at the state Forestry Commission that went undetected for years.Some state lawmakers question whether similar mismanagement may be occurring undetected at other agencies.

The state Division of Legislative Audit said in a report released Friday that for about four years the Forestry Commission was borrowing against federal grants to make payroll, an improper practice that has left the agency owing possibly as much as $2 million to the federal government and led to layoffs last month.

Read the rest of the story at Arkansas News.

Corruption news for Arkansas, from Arkansas News:

A state senator is among 24 plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed Monday alleging Arkansas’ new legislative redistricting plan dilutes black votes in the eastern Arkansas senate district he represents.The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Sen. Jack Crumbly, D-Widener, and 23 other residents of District 16, said the new boundaries for the Senate district are discriminatory because they lower the percentage of voting-age blacks from 58 percent to 53 percent.

The lawsuit, assigned to U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, seeks an injunction that would force the state to redraw the district lines.

Read the rest of the story at Arkansas News.

Corruption news for Arkansas, from the Arkansas Times:

A jury awarded Bob Means, a psychologist, $110,442 for his firing in July 2008 from a contract job at the Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center. He'd worked there for 37 years. It's an agency of state Rehabilitation Services, a division of the Arkansas Workforce Education Department.

Means said he was fired by Robert Trevino, director of Rehabilitation Services, because he had complained for months to a variety of people — including the U.S. Office of Inspector General, a state senator, the governor's office and his supervisor — about money wasted on services provided to a client who was ineligible.

Read the rest of the story at the Arkansas Times.

With Christmas just around the corner, Americans are getting into the gift-giving mood. Most  of us only have a few occasions every year  when we can expect to receive gifts. But for politicians, public officials and lobbyists, gift-giving is a year-round practice, and one that often treads close to an ethics violation.

For members of state government , gifts often come in the form of a trip bought and paid for by a lobbyist or advocacy group.  Those gifts can go straight to the public official, but on occasion, they go to an official’s family member instead.

For example, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe,  a Democrat now in his second term , revealed in his 2009 disclosure report that his wife Ginger had received round-trip airfare from Little Rock to St. Louis, valued at $250. Ginger Beebe’s trip was paid for by Clark Mason, a Little Rock-based attorney.  The reason for Beebe’s trip is not explained in the disclosure form. In 2010, when two Arkansas judges recused themselves from hearing a lawsuit, Governor Beebe named two lawyers to take their place; one of them was Clark Mason.

Corruption news for Arkansas, from Arkansas News:

Former Arkansas Lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue and a former top aide apparently spent a significant portion of their working days on personal trips to their out-of-state homes during the 2010-11 fiscal year, state auditors told legislators Thursday.

The travel records of Passailaigue and former Vice President of Gaming David Barden were turned over to the Pulaski County prosecutor’s office, auditors told the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee in presenting an audit report on the lottery’s second fiscal year.

Passailaigue and Barden both resigned Oct. 3.

Read the rest of this story at Arkansas News.