By Martin Couch
In an earlier story about a complaint being filed against newly elected Bryant Mayor Jill Dabbs on misconduct in campaign expenditures on behalf of an anonymous citizen has been answered in a letter by the director of the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
"It has been determined that said complaint meets the requirements set forth in subparagraph A (3) of Section V of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure," said director Graham F. Sloan. "An investigation is being commenced."[more]
The essential allegations of the complaint say that Dabbs used campaign funds to pay the filing fee for a lawsuit she filed in September for $195 concerning her title as Republican. Secondly, Dabbs allegedly used campaign funds to pay the court filing fee for the lawsuit she and three other persons filed on Oct. 21 for $195 concerning water rates in Bryant.
"The investigation will focus on whether or not Dabbs violated Arkansas Code Ann. 7-6-203 in connection with the above allegations," Sloan said. "That statute provides that a candidate shall not take any campaign funds as personal income."
This subdivision shall not apply to campaign funds that were accumulated prior to the passage of Initiated Act 1 of 1990 or disposed of prior to July 28, 1995. Subdivision A of the statute goes on to state that a candidate who uses campaign funds to fulfill any commitment, obligation or expense that would exist regardless of the candidate's campaign shall be deemed to have taken campaign funds as personal income.
"In accordance with Section VI of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, I am requesting that additional evidence concerning the matter alleged," Sloan said.
