Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Arkansas Politics More evidence that ethics law must be fixed
Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 9:53 AM
Further evidence that the state Ethics Commission should have erred on the side of common sense and good ethics — and not syntactical sophistry — in reversing a staff finding and dismissing my complaint that the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce-backed campaign for a Little Rock sales tax violated state financial disclosure law by reporting campaign spending to its consultants, the Markham Group, and little else. The money washed through the Markham Group to advertising, mailings and other expenses unknown.
The Ethics Commission says it hopes to tighten up the law and make clear that issue campaigns should itemize spending just as political candidates must do. Meanwhile, transparency in campaign spending is non-existent.
Latest example that comes to hand — from a chamber of commerce, naturally. These boys —- and I do generally mean boys — simply don't believe in public disclosure. Just yesterday, the Little Rock Chamber refused to provide the Times documents circulating among Little Rock Technology Authority members about proposals to be the engineer to clear-cut a neighborhood for a new technology center. The chamber has them. The authority has them. The unwashed public? MYOB. (UPDATE: Copies of the data on engineers has just begun arriving about 1 p.m. today, following some support fromJoel Anderson, chancellor at UALR, who appointed a couple of the board members.)
Today, we have the Springdale Business and School Alliance ethical filing. The primary backer is the Springdale Chamber of Commerce — a $62,000 contribution on the June report, for example. It was established to pass a school millage last May. A June 9 report, filed after the election, showed these expenditures for the election month:
* $72 in expenses to a law firm.
* $99,008.15 to the Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods office in Northwest Arkansas for "consulting services."
That's it.
That ain't transparency.
Fix the law.
Speaking of...
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Clueless at Little Rock City Hall
May 23, 2012So. Little Rock city government is going to show that it's putting jillions in new sales tax revenue to good use on capital projects. /more/
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Smear campaign mounted against ethics initiative
May 21, 2012A surreptitious effort has begun circulating in the Arkansas business community to encourage people not to sign petitions now circulating to improve Arkansas ethics law. /more/
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Legal challenge brewing on LR Tech Park
May 21, 2012Attorneys are at work studying the enabling legislation by which the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce set up a statutory way to get city taxpayer money — $22 million so far — for a quasi-public venture it controls to encourage private enterprise by building an office building to lure technology companies. /more/
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Richardson seeks to protect Tech Park neighborhood
May 18, 2012Little Rock City Director Kenneth Richardson is preparing to put other members of the City Board on the spot. /more/
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Tech Park Authority is out of touch
May 17, 2012UAMS and UALR Chancellors Dan Rahn and Joel Anderson made overdue calls to the Little Rock Technology Park Authority last night for more neighborhood consideration in choosing a site for the taxpayer-financed project ($22 million has been committed so far but documents suggest $50 million is desired for the startup and not a single private dollar has yet trickled in.) /more/
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Stop casinos, casino says
May 17, 2012A news conference is scheduled at 10 a.m. today by the coalition I told you about earlier in the week to oppose initiative efforts to expand casino gambling in Arkansas. /more/
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Tech Park Authority meeting today: UPDATE
May 16, 2012Leslie Newell Peacock is covering today's meeting of the Little Rock Technology Park Authority. Members of the authority have now voluntarily filed financial interest statements and they eventually will be available on-line. /more/
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UAMS, UALR leaders raise neighborhood concerns on Tech Park
May 14, 2012I've been at work rounding up internal communications from the varioustaxpayer-supported agencies that have been working to deliver, at significant public expense, a rental office building to entice tech businesses to Little Rock. /more/
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I am curious: Not yellow? And other Tech Park travails
May 11, 2012I mentioned the other day that a response had been slow coming from the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce on an FOI request I made for information relative to the Little Rock Technology Park Authority. /more/
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About that five-minute rule for the technology park
May 10, 2012I've griped before about the scientific underpinning of the rigid believe of Little Rock Technology Park boosters that it MUST be located within five minutes of UAMS and UALR. /more/
- More »
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
No where else to put this. Here's Ellen pushing back on the Million Moms who are really only 40,000. Take a look at her audience----a perfect snapshot of real American women.
http://www.eonline.com/videos/ellen-peek-2…
like
dislikeHow does the city (even the state) end up paying a lobbying organization? This seems backwards. The city fathers used to take bribes. Now they pay them.
If UALR and UAMS have a role on the Authority, then the records are open to the public. FOI one of them.
While I appreciate the rare spotlight on this blight the AR Blog provides... the suggested solutions seem to simply negotiate around the margins rather than honestly try to establish ethical governance.
First we need to simply outlaw taxation/direct funding of exra-govornmental entities such as this (chamber or advertising promotion boards, etc.) altogether. Either government does this itself with completely open and transparent operations and accounting or it should not be done with any public monies.
As for current "reporting" there is simply no good reason with technology available today that all financial info (bank, financial transactions) and pertinent correspondence cannot be posted on the web, archived in perpetuity, instantly or within hours for all to see.
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