So Attorney General Leslie Rutledge jumped early into a re-election race yesterday and filed a first campaign finance report for 2018 with almost $72,000 in the bank.

It’s not exactly grassroots fund-raising. Gas, oil, utility and poultry money figure prominently.

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Among the givers: She got $2,700 from the Walmart PAC; $2,000 from the AT&T PAC; $2,000 from the Entergy PAC; $1,000 from former Murphy Oil CEO Claiborne Deming; $1,500 from Murphy Oil heir Madison Murphy; $2,000 from Ray Dillon of Murphy-related Deltic Timber; $1,000 from Stuttgart farmer George Dunklin; $2,500 from each of two of lobbyist Bruce Hawkins’ many PACs; $5,400 from Simmons Foods executives; $2,000 from a George’s poultry exec; $2,000 from poultry lobbyist Marvin Childers; $2,700 from poultry baron John Tyson; $2,700 from the poultry PAC; $2,700 from the forestry PAC; $2,700 from lobbyist Brent Stephenson (clients include Deltic); $2,000 from the Stephens Energy PAC and $2,000 each from Stephens heiress Elizabeth Campbell and her husband Craig; $2,000 each from W.R. Stephens Jr. and Carol Stephens; $1,000 from a Stephens energy executive; $500 from Emon Mahony, another connection to the gas industry

Interesting too is $2,500 from the Arkansas First and Finest PAC, a PAC started at the end of last year by her father Keith Rutledge. Contributors to this PAC include: $1,000 from the Black Hills Corporation PAC of Fayetteville; $1,500 from Plain Green LLC of Montana; $1,000 each from David Johnson and Kirk Chewing of the Virgin Islands; $1,000 from Brian Fisher, a McKinsey consultant in Houston; $500 from Jon Bruning, the Nebraska attorney general; $1,000 from former Republican gubernatorial candidate Sheffield Nelson; a stack of PAC contributions, including from one of Bruce Hawkins’ many PACs and $5,000 from Oaklawn interests.

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Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Land Commissioner John Thurston, who’s aiming for secretary of state, have also declared  candidacies but haven’t raised money as vigorously. Griffin has $8,100 combined for primary and general election contests, with $5,400 of that courtesy of Witt Stephens Jr. Thurston has some carryover from his last race, but hasn’t raised new money yet.

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