Little Rock lawyer David Couch has submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to strengthen the state ethics law for review by Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.. It's a doozy.
Some election night odds and ends, from the failure of opinion polling in Michigan, to race-based voting in the South to the lobby money Bernie Sanders is receiving. Also: Marco Rubio's disappearing act as an alternative to Donald Trump.
Dustin McDaniel, the former Arkansas attorney general and erstwhile Democratic gubernatorial candidate, announced today that his private practice of McDaniel, Richardson and Calhoun, PLLC is registering as a lobbying firm with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
By popular demand: A link to the article about a bill introduced by a Republican in the Missouri legislature that would define sex between a lobbyist and a legislator as a gift and thus reportable under ethical disclosure laws.
Sen. Jake Files paid off a $6,868.16 hot check the same day he got a $30,000 loan from lobbyist Bruce Hawkins, records obtained by the Arkansas Times show.
The hot rumors that the federal investigation of Mike Maggio has spread into other lobbyist/legislator relations has sent me to perusing lobbyist activity report, beginning with Gilbert Baker, the bagman for campaign contributions to Maggio and a number of other political candidates, both judges and legislators.
When Sen. Jon Woods "clarified" the new ethics amendment, he included an exception to allow lobbyists to follow legislators to out-of-town conferences for special wining and dining out of sight of the folks back home. Find them Friday night at a San Diego steakhouse with the likes of the scandal-ridden Gilbert Baker.
A dinner for the criminal justice reform task force tonight at a fancy steakhouse won't go on the sponsoring lobbyist's tab, Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson says.
It wouldn't be a legislative session without a lobbyist whipping out a credit card. This may be a short special session but at least one credit card is at the ready.
You heard it here first and the state Ethics Commission heard it in an explanation Friday: the laughingly described "ethics reform" legislation of the 2015 session merely all but guarantees that taking a free gift and filling out an erroneous campaign report will be just about impossible to punish.
Freebies today, freebies tomorrow. Arkansas legislature ain't worried about Amendment 94. But we do have some questions about tomorrow night's "Speaker's Ball" and "Pro Tem dinner."