Friday, July 23, 2010
Arkansas Politics Lawyers urged to investigate cars
Posted by Max Brantley on Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 1:30 PM
Christopher Brockett, one of the lawyers who've filed a taxpayers suit over what they allege is illegal use of state cars for personal purposes. has sent to us a copy of an anonymous letter, purportedly from a state employee. It more or less says, "Sic em."
Neither Brockett nor I can testify to the accuracy of this letter. But high-level employees throughout state government and higher education are provided cars, often more on account of their rank than their need for official travel, and many of those cars are used for personal purposes.
The point of the letter is that 1) lower-paid employees resent the freebies and 2) they fear speaking up because of retribution, such as the firing of a land commissioner's office employee who told the truth (effectively blowing the whistle on) his boss' use of two cars for personal purposes.
The point, too, is that a great deal remains to be discovered. I wonder how many state agencies are reviewing their free vehicle lists, checking sufficiency of reimbursement records and maybe even reconsidering whether it is legal for state property to be used at all for personal use. The lawsuit argues it is not, whether reimbursed adequately or not.
I'm guessing the lawyer would be happy to hear from anybody else who'd like to share information about the state auto fleet. He's CBrockett@handsark.com
PS — Republican Jim Keet continues to try to make an issue out of this relative to Mike Beebe, though I notice he's not seeking any reimbursements or making any criticism of the car and plane use by Republican Lt. Gov. and Gov. Mike Huckabee. Huckabee did some political travel — and packed kids along — in the course of running a previous gubernatorial plane into the ground. I'll believe Keet is serious about executive spending when he goes after one of his own, too.
KEET NEWS RELEASE
Tonight at the Republican Governors Dinner former Senator Jim Keet will again call on Mike Beebe to reimburse Arkansas taxpayers for his misuse of state vehicles and to sell the expensive $5 million state airplane.
Keet will be a featured speaker at the dinner which starts at 7:00 p.m. at the Embassy Suites.
Keet will detail why the use of state owned vehicles is in violation of Amendment 70. The issue is not whether constitutional officers paid taxes, but whether they used the vehicles for personal use in violation of Amendment 70.
The following are advance excerpts.
“Mike Beebe said he did not know what the law required, but that it was “tradition and practice” to use these expensive cars for personal travel. The tradition and practice of the good old boy network in Arkansas does not trump the law. The people of this state expect elected officials to obey the law, particularly the Arkansas Constitution. The current episode is an outrage, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. That is why several weeks ago I presented the first six points of an ethics reform plan for Arkansas. I will examine the rest of the iceberg as this campaign develops.”
“I call on Mike Beebe to do the right thing, just as Dustin McDaniel did. Set the right example. Write a check to the state treasury for the full amount of personal car use. I do not know how much he declared as income on his tax return—perhaps he will disclose that to the people. If that amount fairly represents the amount he drove the car for personal use then that amount—not 7% of that amount—is what he owes the taxpayers.”
“We need to sell the $5 million dollar plane Mike Beebe bought within the first months as Governor. That is the type of excessive spending we must cut out.”
Keet will touch on these issues and others as he speaks tonight and tomorrow at the Republican State Convention. He will speak at the convention between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m., that event is also at the Embassy Suites.
Comments (19)
Showing 1-19 of 19
Start and the top end of the salary list at the Fayetteville campus. Free cars, gas, maintenance, repairs, car washes... I don't know about insurance.
And the Chancellor got a raise of over a quarter million dollars a year! I don't know about the other six figure free cars people, but the five figure incomes got zero for a raise or cola, again. Free house and servants for the Chancellor too. Man- and woman-servants.
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Why is it perfectly fine, ethical and generally OK for dems to have free cars, free planes, travel around to every place under the sun on the tax payer dime, but not OK for republicans to do the exact same thing? Its only criminal/unethical when republicans do it. Oh I forgot, that double standard thing strikes again. I keep forgetting about the good ole double standard that seems to loom on every issue.
As I parked today on our main street to enter a local eatery for lunch, I noticed parked in my usual place a new Lincoln SUV with Univ. of Ark. license tag. Probably $50,000 vehicle. I looked at my 2000 Chevy Silverado pickup and thought the driver should be thanking this old alum for being able to drive such a nice auto.
During the Lu scandal, wasn't the subject of higher ed president's cars a sore point?
Arkansas is sooo far behind in gratuities to elected officials:
"BELL, Calif. (July 23) -- Three administrators whose huge salaries sparked outrage in this small blue-collar suburb of Los Angeles have agreed to resign, the City Council said Friday.
Council members emerged from an hours-long closed session at midnight Friday and announced that they'd accepted the resignations of Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo, Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia and Police Chief Randy Adams.
Rizzo was the highest paid at $787,637 a year - nearly twice the pay of President Barack Obama - for overseeing one of the poorest towns in Los Angeles County.
Spaccia makes $376,288 a year and Adams earns $457,000, 50 percent more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck..
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/huge…
Much ado about nothing.. Regular election year bull**** Most states & institutes of higher learning provide transportation to the top people in their administrations both as a perk and as a security measure. Governors & administrators must respond to emergencies and disasters in the areas which they administer in order to provide the help needed. It doesn't matter which political party they are a member of they need the necessary transportation assets to do the job we hired them for.
"Cato=Bob Carver" hogsloppy
Is that the Bob Carver of Klipsch speaker fame or the Bob Carver of Bob Carver's Cars & Trucks, Inc in Mena? And why does it matter? Does knowing his name somehow nullify his feelings of disgust at how his tax monies are spent? And if it is Bob Carver of Mena, don't you think he'd be driving something better than a 2000 Silverado?
I'm confused, do we want the Gov to drive himself all over the state in his own car?
Is that what Keet (who seems like a tool now) is saying?
I'm not sure about the plane. Which is more expensive paying for tickets all year long or owing a plane? Don't most states have a plane for the Gov or do they rent them or just fly commercial?
Didn't care is Mike had a car and driver and I don't car if Bebe does.
I also don't see how something that has ALWAYS been do by both R and D state administrations is Bebe's fault.
And yes I think that the only folks who need state vehicles are those who drive long distances as part of their jobs and the Gov.
A car should never just be part of the "deal" of whatever state job one has.
BUT which is cheaper.
Owning the cars and trucks OR paying to reimburse employees?
And of course no one should use them for personal business without proper logging and payment back to the state.
"Why is it perfectly fine, ethical and generally OK for dems to have free cars, free planes, travel around to every place under the sun on the tax payer dime, but not OK for republicans to do the exact same thing?"
Its not "perfectly fine" and I don't think anyone is making that claim are they?
I flew to Chicago on July 8th. Governor Beebe, his wife and what looked like several staffers were on the same plane (Southwest, by the way). He's got my vote.
What is up with Robby Wills? He refuses to acknowledge that any of the miles on his car are personal. What a crock.
If that car is parked at his house, those were personal miles to get it there. If he's on duty 24x7 and therefore is running on the taxpayer's tab, then it's equally valid to argue that the state ought to be picking up his house payment and all his utilities.
This makes him look like another greedy politician trying to avoid doing the right thing because it's going to cut into his take.
Total agreement with Max on the B.S. call on Hackett's comment. Institutes of higher learning need to provide state cars to their administrators as a security measure? Really??
If you don't like the current laws, then change them. We need real ethics reforms, and not the minor changes Keet has called for as a campaign stunt.
I wasn't going to mention this. It happened before I left for Australia. For many it will seem inconsequential.
But for those who read omens and symbols in real life and hence see more, know more and live large . . . I had to send back my salad at Taziki because there was a thick black hair on my chicken.
I mean, see one hair, you wonder how many more are tossed in?
Now, a class establishment would have apologized profusely, replaced it with a freshly made salad and comped me. Taziki ain't got no class.
Just sayin', Razorbabies. Ears to hear? Eyes to see? Hear and see, already.
"driving something better than a 2000 Silverado?"
Now wait a cotton pickin' minute 70%er! I've got something better. A 2003 Lincoln Towncar with 105,000 miles! Shooting for 200,000. Gawd, I hate car payments. But thanks anyway. I haven't figured out the = either.
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