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Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Page(s): 11
Section: Front Section
Original Date: 01/18/2003

Huckabee and the state Ethics Commission
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

A timeline on Gov. Mike Huckabee and the state Ethics Commission: March 1997: The state House voted 54-28 to reject a bill, backed by Huckabee, that would have, among other things, closed public access to campaign finance reports after one year and barred the commission from levying fines against politicians who failed to file reports on time.

February 1998: Huckabee sued the commission, contending that its rules violate state law. The commission sued him, claiming he disobeyed a subpoena in a commission investigation of him.

March 1998: The commission and Huckabee dropped their lawsuits after the commission agreed to find that Huckabee’s use of an "aviation account" reference in campaign reports for his 1994 lieutenant governor race to represent money the campaign paid Huckabee and his wife to rent their plane didn’t violate state law and Huckabee agreed to hand over documents the commission wanted.

May 1998: The commission warned, reprimanded and fined Huckabee $1,000, finding that Huckabee failed to report on his revised 1992 financial disclosure form about $50,000 that he and his wife received from his 1992 U.S. Senate campaign and failed to report for 1994 the $43,000 that his lieutenant governor campaign paid Huckabee and his wife for rental of their plane.

February 1999: The commission dismissed a complaint that claimed Huckabee didn’t properly report a $70,000 gift of furnishings for the Governor’s Mansion. Huckabee first said the gift was to him but changed his position after the donor of the gifts, Charles Adams of Leachville, said the gift was to the state, which owns the mansion. The commission began considering rules to interpret gift statutes passed as part of a 1988 initiated act.

January 2000: Complying with a state law, Huckabee disclosed accepting 75 gifts valued at $112,366 the previous year, including $53,382 from businessman Jennings Osborne of Little Rock. Reacting to criticism of the gifts, Huckabee said the public has no right to tell him from whom he can and can’t accept gifts.

February 2000: After several public hearings and strong opposition from Huckabee, the commission approved the rules on gifts, which prohibit any public servant from accepting items valued at more than $100 intended to reward him for doing his job. Huckabee said the commission was "out of control."

January 2001: Huckabee reported accepting 12 gifts in 2000 worth $8,009.

January 2002: Huckabee reported accepting 10 gifts in 2001 worth $9,059, including a canoe from Coca-Cola valued at $500 and a combination quilt and pillow valued at $145.

April 2002: Huckabee sued the commission over his right to receive gifts, alleging that the commission wrongfully initiated an investigation of him over several gifts he reported for 2001, including the quilt/pillow.

The governor’s lawyer contended that the commission allowed Huckabee fewer due-process rights than Taliban prisoners of war.

July 2002 : Pulaski County Circuit Judge Willard Proctor Jr. dismissed Huckabee’s suit against the commission, finding that the governor hadn’t yet exhausted all his administrative appeals before the commission. Only then could Huckabee ask a court to step in, Proctor ruled. Huckabee has appealed.

January 2003: The Ethics Commission warned and fined Huckabee $250 for accepting the $500 canoe from Coca-Cola, which the commission found was intended to reward Huckabee for job performance. The commission also cautioned Huckabee for not reporting a gift in 2001 of a stadium blanket valued at $200 (from the same source as the $145 quilt/pillow) until after the commission initiated its investigation. Huckabee’s lawyer said the governor will appeal the sanctions to circuit court.

This article was published on page 11 of the Saturday, January 18, 2003 edition in the Front Section.

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Delivery date : Wednesday, October 24, 2007 6:14:06 pm
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Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Page(s): 13 and 22
Section: Arkansas
Original Date: 08/21/2004
Caption: Huckabee

Toss appeals, ethics panel, governor ask
Both sought review of ruling that validated 2 of 3 charges
BY MICHAEL R. WICKLINE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Gov. Mike Huckabee and the state Ethics Commission want the state Supreme Court to dismiss their appeals of a lower court ruling. That ruling upheld the commission’s finding that Huckabee violated two state laws but it also reversed a $250 fine against Huckabee.

Last December, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Timothy Fox upheld the commission’s verdict in January 2003 that the governor violated state laws by failing to report a blanket as a gift and inappropriately using campaign funds.

Fox also decided that Huckabee shouldn’t have been fined $250 by the commission for accepting a $500 canoe as part of a statewide promotion for parks and tourism. The fine wasn’t collected and subsequently was dropped.

Graham Sloan, the commission’s director, told the commission Friday that attorneys for Huckabee and the commission agreed to file a joint motion with the state’s high court to request the dismissal of the appeals.

Huckabee’s personal attorney, Kevin Crass of Little Rock, and senior assistant attorney general, Timothy Gauger, filed that motion with the high court Thursday, according to court records.

"We weren’t going to appeal if they didn’t," Sloan said after the commission meeting. "If they are going to dismiss their part of it, we will, too."

The blanket has been returned to its donor, Crass said, and the impact of dismissing the governor’s appeal would be that "he accepts that and moves forward," he said. "In our view, we won the major battles at the trial court.

"The real issue on appeal was whether receipt of the canoe was a gift and the trial court ruled in our favor. The governor has never been found to have accepted an illegal gift, despite what his critics might say during an election year."

The issues argued in an appeal would be procedural one, he said.

"I think the governor has more important things to do than take an appeal on whether $10 of copying expenses is an appropriate campaign expense," Crass said.

Sloan’s view was that "there were many legal challenges and all the legal challenges were found in our favor and they won on one factual issue."

In his ruling, Fox agreed with the commission that Huckabee erred by not reporting a $200 stadium blanket as a gift in 2001.

A gift is illegal if it’s valued at more than $100 and was given to reward officials for job performance, according to the commission.

Crass has said that Huckabee mistakenly thought the blanket was part of a combination quiltpillow, or "quillow," gift that was properly reported.

Fox also concurred with the commission’s finding that using campaign funds to help pay for 2002’s Gospel Fest broke state law barring the use of campaign funds for noncampaign events.

The investigation into the Gospel Fest religious music celebrations in Helena and Pine Bluff came after a complaint filed by the Democratic Party of Arkansas contended that Huckabee illegally used state funds to pay for what the Democrats said were campaign events.

Crass has said Huckabee campaign workers spent about $10 in campaign funds to print fliers to advertise Gospel Fest. Sloan said that figure doesn’t include the cost of a campaign staff member and a copier.

But the commission didn’t impose any sanction for the misused campaign funds because it found Huckabee’s campaign spent the money based on incorrect legal advice.

Fox also rejected Huckabee’s arguments that state laws regarding gifts to public servants should be voided for being vague and are unconstitutional because donors are treated differently from recipients.

Fox ruled that there was insufficient evidence to show that a canoe painted with the words "Coke, Arkansas and You" was a gift illegally rewarding Huckabee for doing his job as governor. The Coca-Cola company gave the canoe to Huckabee.

Fox cited Coca-Cola representative Steve Powell’s testimony that the canoe was given to Huckabee as a way to give the soft-drink company free advertising.

"Because if the governor’s canoeing down the river with our logo on the side of it, that’s good for the Coca-Cola image," Powell testified.

Fox’s ruling was the latest in a series of clashes between Huckabee and the commission over campaign funds and gifts.

In 1998, the commission fined Huckabee $1,000 for failing to report $50,000 he received from his failed 1992 U.S. Senate campaign and for failing to report $43,000 his family received for the use of an airplane that the Huckabees owned during the 1994 lieutenant governor’s campaign.

Huckabee also filed suit against the commission in 2002 in a bid to weaken gift rules. The governor wanted all gifts to be allowed except in instances that bribery could be proved. The lawsuit was dismissed by a judge who said the case was premature because Huckabee hadn’t exhausted all of his administrative remedies with the commission.

This article was published on page 13 and 22 of the Saturday, August 21, 2004 edition in the Arkansas section.

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Delivery date : Wednesday, October 24, 2007 6:46:40 pm
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Your query : huckabee furniture
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Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Page(s): A1
Section: A1
Original Date: 10/25/1998

Aboveboard on mansion, governor says
DOUG THOMPSON AND BILL SIMMONS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Gov. Mike Huckabee said Saturday his family owns furniture bought with part of a $70,000 donation earmarked for improvements to the Governor's Mansion and its living conditions in 1996.

The way the gift was made and the way it was reported followed proper procedures and was accurate and aboveboard, he said.

The donation by Charles "Boe" Adams and his wife, Myrna, a wealthy Leachville couple, was administered through Georg Anderson of Conway, who oversaw renovations financed by the same gift with which the Huckabees' furniture was bought.

This furniture is in the private-quarters area of the mansion. Furniture in the public area is the mansion's.

Huckabee's attorney, Thomas A. Mars of Fayetteville, said Saturday he erred Friday when he explained that Huckabee had not reported such a gift from Adams because the gift was to the mansion, not to the Huckabees.

The governor, campaigning in north Arkansas, said in answer to a question, "That donation was to us."

Of the donated furniture, Huckabee said, "We might take the furniture with us when we leave, or we might donate it to the mansion. That's our option."

He reported the gift on required state disclosure forms in 1996, identifying it as coming from Anderson. He knew the source of the money for the renovations and the furniture was the Adamses, but reported the gift as coming from Anderson "because that is who it came from," Huckabee said. Anderson contracted to do the mansion renovations and furniture purchase that the Adamses' gift financed.

The governor agreed with an analogy used by his spokesman, Rex Nelson: "If my mother wins the door prize at her bridge club, and decides to give it to me as a birthday present, it is a present from my mom, not the bridge club." Huckabee gave an accurate report of the donation on his disclosure statement, Nelson said. "If somebody can find something wrong with that, we'll amend the statement," Nelson said.

Huckabee was responding to allegations from Kamala Williams, who was his administrator of the mansion in 1996-1997 before she was demoted and later fired. She now says he misused public funds inappropriately for personal needs.

Her allegations first were disclosed Thursday in a weekly newspaper, Arkansas Times , which Huckabee calls a "hostile tabloid" aiming to do him political damage. Times Editor Max Brantley said the story stands on its own merits, backed by Williams' recollections and some documents she provided.

With the election 10 days away, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Bristow promised Saturday to make the most of the allegations. At a small Democratic Party rally in Metrocentre Mall in downtown Little Rock, he accused Huckabee of being more concerned with personal wealth than the interests of working Arkansans.

"I'd say this if he were standing right here next to me, if he would agree to stand next to me," Bristow said, alluding to Huckabee's decision not to debate Bristow in a public forum on grounds that he is busy with other campaign stops and gubernatorial duties. "Mike Huckabee, you are a person who believes that the rules that apply to everyone else do not apply to you," Bristow said.

He issued a statement saying, "It is tragic when a political candidate or public servant betrays the public trust by lining his own pockets. ... Since the first day he filed as a candidate for public office, and during his tenure as an elected official, Mike Huckabee has used that status to engage in a pattern of lining his own pockets."

Huckabee did not have a breakdown with him Saturday showing how much of the gift went for things that would remain with the mansion and how much went for things that belong to the Huckabees.

Williams said Saturday the furniture bought for the Huckabees included a "very large TV armoire," a bifold dressing-type screen, a picture, a table and four chairs, a loveseat-type sofa, a desk, another chair, another sofa, pictures and wall mirrors.

Other allegations have questioned whether it was appropriate for the mansion funds to be used to buy such items as pantyhose, a doghouse, a rabbit costume and food from such places as pizza and chicken restaurants.

Huckabee said it was hard to know what to think about some of the published allegations because the original records were taken by Williams when she handed in her resignation, upon request.

He said he never wrote a check on the mansion account, which gets $5,000 a month. All of them were written by Williams when she was administrator, he said.

"We're being criticized because the fund paid for meals from Taco Bell. If we wanted to have lobsters flown in from Maine for lunch, that would be allowed under the conditions of the account, as long as it did not exceed $5,000 a month," Huckabee said.

At the center of the allegations issue is a household account that is not subject to the sort of controls that govern other state accounts. The looser practices exist, he said, because it is impossible to live day-to-day under such controls.

"To be crass, if you buy toilet paper and put some rolls of it upstairs [in the living quarters] and downstairs [in the public area of the mansion], and you use some, is that a public or a private purpose?" Huckabee said.

The account was established 45 years ago. Huckabee said he has a statement from the state Department of Finance and Administration saying his use of the account is consistent with other governors.

He said he, too, has questions about the account, but that they're difficult to answer because Williams took the original documents with her. For example, he said, there are several lunches listed at the mansion, but he never has lunch there. He said it is possible they are for the mansion staff, but that without the records he can't determine what they were for.

Mars said Saturday he doubted what Williams was telling reporters -- he referred to her actions as "her media tour" -- and explained his suspicion: "I asked her with a tape recorder running with her knowledge that she was being taped with the tape recorder sitting right in front of her: Was she going to give us all the documents she had, including all copies? She said that she would."

Williams said Saturday night that she was the one who had the tape-recorder playing in that session with Mars in February. "I did not under any circumstances promise" to return all of the documents, she said.

Mars said Williams caused a letter to be delivered in April to Huckabee's chief of staff, Brenda Turner, "in which she verified that she was returning all the documents."

He said, "She represented to us that she had returned all personal copies, of all documents she had anything to do with, or that were in her possession concerning any of her work. The medium used to return those documents were 49 computer disks. There were no hard copies. Everything she returned was allegedly stored on these 49 computer disks.

"We took her at her word that we had all the documents."

But Williams said she never promised to return the original documents, and never returned them. She still has them, she said.

The governor's lawyer said "some of the material she has spread to the news media verbally is in several respects absolutely wrong beyond any shadow of a doubt," and that in due course he will issue a report calling attention to those matters.

"But I'll be the first to admit that I haven't even come close to finishing our research of all these documents," Mars said.

Mars defended another of the questioned mansion expenditures -- the purchase of a doghouse: "Common sense tells me that spending $50 on a doghouse is a lot better than letting the First Dog chew on an $85,000 rug inside the Governor's Mansion. Would people really prefer that the First Dog run around inside the house and chew on the carpets and do what my dog does inside of my house? I don't think so."

Bristow mentioned the doghouse in his address to the rally: "That taxpayer money would be spent for pantyhose, doghouses, dry cleaning and motor oil for that boat is outrageous. Why won't he respond? Were those reasonable expenses related to state business? Were those memos accurate? These are the questions that I assure you will be asked again and again over the next 10 days."

Information for this article was contributed by Chuck Plunkett of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
This article was published on page A1 of the Sunday, October 25, 1998 edition in the A1 section.

Regnat Populus

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Delivery date : Wednesday, October 24, 2007 6:48:30 pm
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Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Page(s): B4
Section: B4
Original Date: 02/14/1999

Bill proposes changes to state's ethics laws
RACHEL O'NEAL ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Last year, Gov. Mike Huckabee received 73 gifts valued at more than $100 each. State law required him to disclose a description of the gifts, but not the exact value.

That would change under Senate Bill 182 by Sen. Bill Gwatney, D-Jacksonville. The bill contains 30 pages of proposed changes to the state's ethics laws.

Currently, elected officials must disclose the source, date and description of gifts valued at more than $100 given to the official or his spouse.

SB 182, based on changes proposed by the state Ethics Commission, would require public officials to disclose the "reasonable fair market value," as well. Elected officials also would have to report gifts received by their dependent children.

Huckabee has been criticized for a gift he reported on his 1996 statement of financial interest. It was listed as "furnishings for the Mansion" from Georg Andersen of Conway, an interior designer. Huckabee did not list the value of the gift.

Last fall, Democrats filed a lawsuit alleging that Huckabee did not properly report that gift because it came from money provided by Charles "Boe" Adams of Leachville, a millionaire who paid for furnishings valued at $70,000 that Andersen purchased for use at the Governor's Mansion.

Last October, Huckabee said the furniture belonged to him. This month his attorney, Kevin Crass of Little Rock, said the furniture belonged to the mansion. That was after Adams said he viewed it as a gift to the state, not to Huckabee. Crass said Huckabee had been told by his former mansion administrator, Kamala Williams, that the gift was to the governor.

On his 1998 statement of financial interest, which Huckabee filed in January of 1999 as required by law, the governor listed 73 gifts, including gift certificates to department stores, fishing equipment and hunting trips.

Jennings Osborne of Little Rock, a businessman and philanthropist, gave Huckabee and his wife, Janet, nine gifts, including three gift certificates.

One certificate was for "clothing" for the Huckabees to an unnamed store; another was to Mr. Wicks clothing store; the third was for "fishing equipment" at an unnamed store.

Osborne says each of the certificates was "probably in the $1,000 to $2,500 range." He gives gifts to many people and doesn't recall the exact amount, he said. "They are just gifts for our friends," Osborne said. "We're blessed to be able to do a lot of things for a lot of people. It all runs together, but we're not doing it for any favors. It's just fun to share."

On his 1997 statement, Huckabee listed 85 gifts, including three gift certificates from Osborne.

Gwatney said the section that calls for the reasonable fair market value of gifts makes sense. The value of gifts may vary greatly, he said. For example, an elected official could report receiving a golf club. Under current law, he doesn't have to disclose the value, but it could range up to several hundred dollars, Gwatney said.

The same goes for a shotgun, which could vary in cost from $200 to $2,000, Gwatney said.

Would Gwatney accept a gift of a putter or a shotgun?

"Speaking for myself, no, I would not," he said. "But it is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it is disclosed."

SB 182 would amend an initiated act approved by voters in 1988 that is the backbone of the state's ethics legislation.

Scott Trotter of Little Rock, a lawyer and spokesman for Common Cause of Arkansas, spearheaded the push for the act in 1988.

In general, Trotter said, the changes proposed in SB 182 would make the state's ethics laws stronger.

But he disagrees with a section that would lower the reporting requirements for lobbyists. Currently, lobbyists are required to itemize who they spent money on if they spend more than $25 on food, lodging or travel on an elected official. The bill would raise the amount to $50. Trotter said the $25 amount is not burdensome.

Gwatney has made some changes in the bill to make it more palatable to Trotter and others. For example, Gwatney removed a "gag-order" provision in which people who filed complaints would not be allowed to talk about them.

SB 182 is expected to be debated Tuesday in the Senate State Agencies Committee.

The bill also would: Require elected officials to sign and certify their statements of financial interest as true under the penalty of "false swearing," which is a Class A misdemeanor offense.

Currently, elected officials sign their statements of financial interest under the penalty of perjury, which is a Class C felony.

Graham Sloan, attorney for the Ethics Commission, said the statement of financial interest is the only place in the state's ethics laws that calls for a felony charge. Other violations call for misdemeanor charges.

Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000.

Class D felonies are punishable by three to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.

Give the commission the power to fine people who file "frivolous" ethics complaints.

Sloan said frivolous complaints are rare, but he has seen some that might fit that description.

If the bill becomes law, the commission would be able to levy fines of up to $1,000 for filing frivolous complaints.

Eliminate wedding gifts from the list of gifts that must be reported on statements of financial interest.

Gwatney said there have been instances in which an elected official got married and had to list gifts valued at more than $100.

Rep. Lisa Ferrell, D-Little Rock, got married in 1998 to Jim Jackson. On her 1998 statement of financial interest, Ferrell listed five wedding gifts.

Gwatney said "it's a little bit embarrassing" for a bride or groom to have to ask how much a wedding gift costs.

Eliminate unopposed candidates from the requirement of filing 10-day pre-election reports.

Slug Line: yxgr-ethicwk
This article was published on page B4 of the Sunday, February 14, 1999 edition in the B4 section.

Regnat Populus

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Delivery date : Wednesday, October 24, 2007 6:49:54 pm
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Publication: Arkansas Democrat-GazetteNW
Page(s): 1 and 8
Section: Front Section
Original Date: 11/14/2006
Caption: M. Huckabee J. Huckabee

Legislators take dim view of Huckabee gift registry
BY SETH BLOMELEY ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

The reactions at the state Capitol weren’t favorable Monday to news that Gov. Mike Huckabee and first lady Janet Huckabee have gift registries at Target and Dillard’s for a “housewarming” party for their recently purchased half-million-dollar home.

“I don’t think it would play too good in the country,” said House Speaker-designate Benny Petrus, a Democrat from Stuttgart.

“Seems to me, if it’s your personal home, you should [furnish] it yourself,” said Rep. Phil Jackson of Berryville, a Republican. “Maybe I should do [a registry] for a car.”

“The reaction I’ve encountered is that it’s unbecoming,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Argue, D-Little Rock.

The items requested on the Target registry total $2,282 and the total on the Dillard’s registry amounts to $4,635.

Huckabee didn’t respond to a request at his office for a comment.

His spokesman, Alice Stewart said, “This is a private situation with friends of the first lady. It was their idea to throw her a housewarming. It’s a private matter between the first lady and her friends. I don’t understand all the attention that is given to it.”

Stewart wouldn’t name the friends and wouldn’t say whether the Huckabees tried to stop the registry, why the registries are listed under weddings, whether the Huckabees have registries at other stores, or why the Huckabees couldn’t buy the items for their house themselves.

The governor’s salary is about $80,000 a year and he has had few living expenses in his decade as governor since the state pays for his food, provides a vehicle, and lets him live for free at the Governor’s Mansion.

In July, the Huckabees bought a house in North Little Rock at 1134 Silverwood Trail for $525,000. Royalties from the governor’s book, Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork, released in May 2005, allowed the Huckabees to make a down payment and get a bank loan to buy a house of that size, he said at the time.

The Dillard’s and Target Web sites have registries for either babies or weddings. A “housewarming” option doesn’t appear.

There is an exemption to the state’s gift rules for wedding gifts. It was added after a state representative got married in the late 1990s, said Graham Sloan, executive director of the state Ethics Commission.

The Huckabees got married in 1974. They changed their marriage to a covenant marriage during a covenant marriage celebration at Alltel Arena on Valentine’s Day 2005.

“There is no specific time limit [on giving a wedding gift after a wedding] but I think most wedding presents are conferred contemporaneous with the wedding,” Sloan said.

Rep. Jay Bradford, D-White Hall, quipped that the Huckabees “must be going to get another covenant marriage.”

Most of the Dillard’s registry is devoted to holiday plates, saucers and cups, enough to serve 24 people.

Also listed are two king-size bedskirts for $99 each and a Jack Lalanne juicer for $100.

The Target registry has a variety of items. It includes a 12-piece cookware set for $249, a “DeLonghi retro 4-slice toaster” for $39.99 (someone has already bought that one), napkins, kitchen towels, two king-sized pillows for $29.99 each, a “Fieldcrest luxury Jacquard scroll duvet” for $129.99, lots of bath towels, a rug, and a clock.

The Ethics Commission considers a gift to be something valued at more than $100. Gifts are banned if they are meant to reward a public official for his job performance.

There were no such items on the Dillard’s registry, however Stephens Media reported Saturday that at that time there was a $300 mixer. There are three items costing more than $100 on the Target registry.

Huckabee, a Republican, has been governor since 1996. He was term-limited from seeking re-election. Attorney General Mike Beebe, a Democrat, won the election for governor this year and will be sworn in Jan. 9.

If there are gift violations, Sloan said the commission can investigate public servants after they leave office.

Beebe spokesman Zac Wright said Beebe had no comment about Huckabee’s registry. Wright said the Beebes won’t set up registries to help furnish the mansion. Beebe in August said that gifts over $100 should be banned.

“He would not accept personal gifts,” Wright said in an e-mail. “But gifts to the Mansion Commission (for the people of the state) are acceptable.”

Former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker said Monday he didn’t set up a registry to furnish his new home when he left the governor’s office.

In 2001, there were reports that former President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, set up a gift registry for their five-bedroom house in Chappaqua, N.Y., and another fivebedroom home in Washington’s Embassy Row area. Steven Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw sent china worth $4,920.

Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, has received thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts during his tenure. In 1999 alone, he reported $110,000 in gifts, including $53,000 from Little Rock businessman Jennings Osborne, who gave him $23,000 in clothing, among other things.

A 1998 lawsuit alleged that Huckabee misused the expense account of the Governor’s Mansion and illegally accepted as a gift about $70,000 worth of furniture.

Huckabee agreed to policy changes regarding the $60,000 mansion account and the claim of misused funds later was dropped. The claim of illegal gifts was dropped after Huckabee said the furniture belonged to the state, not to him. The giver of the furniture said he intended it for the state.

In 2002 when the Ethics Commission was investigating him for possible gift violations, Huckabee sued the commission. His lawsuit wanted gifts to be banned only in cases of bribery, in which a gift can be directly linked to an action by the recipient benefiting the gift-giver.

The following year, the commission fined him $250 and issued him a letter of warning for accepting a $500 canoe from Coca-Cola in 2001, finding that the gift illegally rewarded Huckabee for doing his job as governor. In addition, the commission issued a letter of caution to him for not initially reporting acceptance of a $200 stadium blanket in 2001.

Huckabee appealed the sanctions to Pulaski County Circuit Court. Circuit Judge Tim Fox in 2004 upheld the part of the commission ruling that found that Huckabee had violated state law by failing to report the stadium blanket as a gift.

Fox threw out the $250 fine, finding that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to show that the canoe, painted with the words “Coke, Arkansas and You,” illegally rewarded Huckabee for doing his job as governor.

An unscientific Internet poll Monday by KTHV, Channel 11, Little Rock said 700 respondents found the Huckabees’ registry “tacky” while 65 termed it a “good idea.”

Petrus said Huckabee should have waited until after leaving office to receive more gifts.

“I think you’re mixing politics and personal life together,” Petrus said. “His conscience has got to be his guide.”

This article was published on page 1 and 8 of the Tuesday, November 14, 2006 edition in the Front Section.

Regnat Populus

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Frequent flyer
Huckabee continues to use state plane for out-of-state travel.
Published 12/1/2005
Arkansas Times

Gov. Mike Huckabee is still flying high on the taxpayers’ dime and refusing to provide details about it, claiming security interests.

The Arkansas Times first reported Nov. 3 about his use of the State Police’s twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 200. He has used it several times since.

From Oct. 22 to Nov. 10 he used the plane to fly to Atlanta, Charlotte, twice to Dallas and three times to Washington, D.C. On one of those trips, Huckabee and his wife, son and daughter-in-law traveled to and from Washington so Gov. and Mrs. Huckabee could participate in the Marine Corps marathon.

Huckabee will not answer questions about how or why he decides to use the State Police plane for almost all of his out-of-state travel, which includes about 40 trips in 2005. “Whether we are talking in general or about specifics, when it is a matter of travel it is a security issue and we’re not going to comment,” said Huckabee press secretary Alice Stewart. It is unclear what security concerns exist after a trip, but Stewart won’t discuss that either.

State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said the department has “no recollection or record” of Huckabee ever reimbursing the department for his use of its aircraft.

A schedule released by Huckabee’s office says he is to be in Carlsbad, Calif., for a Republican Governors Association meeting from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, New York City to receive an award on Dec. 5 and Greensboro, N.C., to deliver a speech on Dec. 6. His office would not say if Huckabee will use the State Police plane for those trips.

Sadler said Huckabee’s use of the plane is governed by Section 12-8-108(a) of the Arkansas Code, which says, “The Department of Arkansas State Police shall be responsible for the safety and security of the: (1) Governor and his or her family.” It makes no specific provision for use of the plane to transport the governor, an expense worth thousands of dollars for every trip at private industry prices.

Also, Chapter 17 of the State Police Field Operations Policy and Procedure Manual refers to the department’s aircraft. Among the approved uses other than for law enforcement operations is “transportation of other state officials in the performance of official state business.”

The same chapter stipulates “the determination of whether a situation warrants the use of ASP aircraft shall be made by ASP field supervisors. (The Commander of the Executive Protection Unit may also schedule and request ASP aircraft for use by the Governor.)”

According to the manual, State Police flights must adhere to Federal Aviation Regulations, which in the case of the King Air 200 are found in Part 91.

In South Dakota, Democratic state legislators have asked the Federal Aviation Administration whether their governor’s use of a King Air 200 complies with Part 91.

The Argus Leader, South Dakota’s largest newspaper, reported in September that Gov. Mike Rounds “sometimes uses the state airplane to travel to high school athletic contests and other non-public events, often taking family members and friends along. Rounds said state law allows him to pay for nonpublic use of the state-owned airplanes. He said he usually uses either his campaign fund or a Governor’s Club fund created by donors to the state Republican Party to reimburse the state for those trips.”

In a survey of public aircraft policies in 49 states, the Argus Leader found that most states clearly prohibit use of state-owned planes for personal or political travel. For Arkansas the newspaper quoted Rex Nelson, Huckabee’s former communications director, as saying, “He doesn’t use the airplane for personal trips. Occasionally, there’s a day when official business travel is mixed with politics.”

There is bi-partisan support among South Dakota lawmakers for examination of the use of the state airplane by Rounds, who is a Republican.

“Any time we’re spending taxpayers’ dollars in government, we should pay attention to that,” Republican state Sen. Bill Earley told the Argus Leader. Another Republican state senator, Bill Napoli, was quoted in the paper supporting the Democrats’ letter to the FAA.

Arkansas state Sen. Gilbert Baker, who is also the chairman of the state Republican Party, said he was not familiar with the situation in South Dakota.

“The bottom line for me is that obviously we have a governor who has an important role nationally with the National Governors Association and it is good for Arkansas that he is in that role,” Baker said. “I don’t know the details regarding the policies on the use of the State Police plane, but I am confident he is using it appropriately.”

When asked if Huckabee should be more transparent about how and why he decides to utilize the plane, Baker said, “We do live in a new day when it comes to security issues. ... If it is a security issue, there is no way I would want to tread on that. I would just have to trust the State Police in that regard.”

A determination of whether Huckabee’s use of the State Police aircraft is lawful would likely be conducted by the non-partisan Division of Legislative Audit. To start that process, a member of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee must request a fact-finding report.

State Rep. Tommy Roebuck, who co-chairs the committee with state Sen. Hank Wilkins, said that no one on the committee has raised questions about Huckabee’s use of the state-owned plane.

http://www.arktimes.com/articles/articl ... f367dcacf8

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Governor, Arkansas FOI Act not always in lockstep

Elizabeth Caldwell, FOIArkansas Project

LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Huckabee has had several brushes with the state’s open records law since taking office in July 1996, mostly related to a broad exemption that applies to the governor and a few others.

Most notably, Huckabee refused in 1997 to release records of a telephone hotline he established to collect citizens’ tips about suspected government corruption.

Then-Attorney General Winston Bryant sued Huckabee under the state Freedom of Information Act. Bryant said the records were public information.

Huckabee contended the records qualified as governor’s “working papers” and were exempt from the law.

“My brushes were really not with the law. I think the law is very important, a very vital safeguard to having the public protected from a government action against their best interest,” Huckabee said in a recent interview.

His problem was with the attorney general, Huckabee said. Bryant wanted to release the records to the public “for the purpose of, I felt, thwarting an ongoing ... investigation,’’ he said.

The legal issue of whether the records were public or private was never determined.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge David Bogard dismissed the suit, ruling that Bryant, in his capacity as attorney general, did not qualify as a “citizen” under Arkansas law. Only a “citizen” has authority to sue for the records, the judge said. In the dismissal, Bogard didn’t address whether the records were subject to disclosure.

In December 1997, the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down Bogard’s ruling and sent the case back to him for determination of the issues in the case.

Bryant’s term ended Jan. 12, 1999. His successor, Mark Pryor, declined to pursue the case, saying the objective was met because Huckabee had turned over the records to the Arkansas State Police.

Some of those records eventually were released by the state police under a separate FOI request; others were not because they qualified for another exemption in the law, which keeps records that are part of an ongoing investigation private until the investigation is complete.

The hotline received nearly 600 calls between Oct. 10 and Dec. 3, 1997. Records were turned over to state police Jan. 12, 1998.

The hotline was part of Huckabee’s review of transactions involving state money; it was established after news accounts surfaced that a state representative and two politically connected lawyers had received $750,000 in grants. The grants, awarded without competitive bids, were to provide legal help for children in custody cases.

A 15-month federal investigation ensued, resulting in a 131-count grand jury indictment April 27. The indictment named state Sen. Nick Wilson, D-Pocahontas, as a kingpin in a conspiracy of past and present government officials and their associates to profit illegally from state contracts.

It is unclear whether information from the governor’s hotline aided in the investigation of Wilson and nine others who have pleaded innocent to the charges. Trial is pending.

Other publicized situations involving Huckabee and whether meetings or records should be open:

* When Kamala Williams, former administrator at the Governor’s Mansion, said she was forced to resign in 1998, she requested a copy of her personnel records, but was given only a partial copy. Williams said the governor’s office claimed part of the file fell under the “working papers” exemption, but Bryant said in a non-binding opinion from the attorney general’s office that the exemption did not apply and that the records should be turned over to Williams immediately.

Rex Nelson, Huckabee spokesman, said at the time that there was simply a mixup in the records and that Williams didn’t need to go to the attorney general’s office for help. Nelson said Williams was given a complete copy of her file.

* On Oct. 31, 1996, Huckabee met privately with the Post Prison Transfer Board, which brought into question whether the open meetings portion of the FOI Act had been violated.

Minutes of the meeting showed that Huckabee and the board met in executive session. Only personnel decisions can be discussed legally in such sessions and attendance is limited to the person being discussed and that person’s supervisor. The board’s vice chairman said Huckabee and the board discussed the case of convicted rapist Wayne DuMond, whose guilt Huckabee had questioned. The board later approved parole for DuMond.

* After forming the Governor’s Working Group on Juvenile Justice, the governor said meetings likely would be private because some appointees were uncomfortable discussing their views publicly. The task force was to recommend possible changes in juvenile justice laws in the aftermath of the schoolyard shooting near Jonesboro that killed a teacher and four students.

Bryant said in an opinion the working group was not subject to the FOIA because it was an advisory body only.

Huckabee agreed to open the meetings, however, after objections from the media. Because Huckabee made the decision voluntarily, the issue of whether the meetings were required to be open was never formally decided.

* Governor’s Mansion administrator Don Bingham let reporters examine a ledger of checks written on the $60,000-a-year account for expenses at mansion, but didn’t provide receipts for the expenses as requested under the FOIA. Bingham said receipts weren’t kept at the time, although he said that practice since has changed.

Three Arkansans filed suit in October 1998 alleging Huckabee misused the account for personal expenses. The suit followed news accounts in which the former mansion administrator said the Huckabees abused the account. The case is pending.

ELIZABETH CALDWELL is a reporter for Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. Her telephone number is (501) 374-0699; her e-mail address is ecaldwell@arkansasnews.com

A collaborative effort of
Arkansas News Bureau, the Log Cabin Democrat of Conway, the Pine Bluff Commercial, the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith, The Jonesboro Sun and The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas

Produced by The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas ONLINE,
Your Community Internet Service Provider
Copyright 1999, All rights reserved

http://www.foiarkansas.com/1017/1017caldwell.html

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http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasb ... kabee.aspx

The Arkansas Times does not have on-line archives, so the Times blogger typed the articles into MS Word and said to Lexis-Nexus them to authenticate through other paper's on-line articles.

It seems that The Times and Gov. Huckabee despise each other.

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasb ... ord_1.aspx
The blogger uses Wikipedia for a source...checked to see who was changing the entries...

Interesting fellow, interesting paper.

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http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasb ... ckabe.aspx

More from the Times.

In the comments, a poster accuses the Times and the blogger of hand picking stories.

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Huckabee Defends 'Wedding' Gift Registry
Ark. Gov. Huckabee defends 'wedding' gift registry set up to furnish his new home

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Nov. 14, 2006
By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press Writer
(AP)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/ ... STG0.shtml


(AP) Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday angrily defended a gift registry that was set up to help furnish his new home, and said the registry was put together by his wife's friends for a housewarming party.

"My wife has friends; she has lifelong friends. They wanted to do something for her," the Arkansas Republican told reporters after speaking at an event in downtown Little Rock. "It has nothing to do with who she is, other than she's their friend."

Huckabee has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination and has made trips to several important primary states.

He said he did not know the friends who set up the gift registry, nor did he know the names of the friends who hosted a housewarming party for which the registry was intended.

Huckabee said the registries at the Target and Dillard's Web sites were set up as wedding registries because there was no separate category for housewarming parties.

Huckabee criticized news outlets for reporting on the gift registry and said he felt he and his wife were being unfairly portrayed.

The news stories "created the impression that my wife has gone out and solicited gifts, which is absolutely untrue," Huckabee said.

Huckabee said he would report any of the gifts on financial disclosure forms if he's required to by law, but indicated he did not see any ethical problems by accepting the gifts.

The Huckabees married in 1974. They entered into a covenant marriage in February 2005.

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The Ethics Committee appears to have decided that it had nothing better to do than nit-pick ... $100 isn't a lot of money for people at that level of life. Trying to badger him over every $100 gift is a pretty plain attempt to beat down his administration.

This would be one of those stories that appears to have no legs. If this is the worst dirt you can find on Huckabee, then we're not going to have to worry.

A canoe with the Coca-Cola logo on it? Hmmm ... I wonder where that came from?

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These are stormy times we're going through
Still I remain a true believer
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http://1truebeliever.wordpress.com

The Coca-Cola company.

The big thing here is the flying and the $70,000 for furniture. Yeah, everything else is small potatoes, and by the end they were just nit-picking.

Using government money to buy personal items was early on, 70,000 was early too. That seemed to set up the adversarial relationship.

The problem is, what do we say to those people who are concerned about this? These are real issues that will affect the fence-sitting voter. I have family and friends who are looking at him -- if they hear this stuff without a response, they're voting for Richardson or Obama.

_________________
Leave no question in anyone's mind as to where you stand. --L. Aldin Porter

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Bekel
You have no idea how much I appreciate you taking initiative on this. Do you have a blog?
You should become the Commander of Defensive Strategies. We need someone who can go on the offensive against rival campaigns as well and name that person the Commander of Offensive strategies.

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F3 Coalition [Faith, Family and Freedom]
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I was worried that people would not understand why I posted these things, because I'm asking very tough questions and stirring the pot.

These are the reports that the other candidates look at--and spinning.

I don't have a blog--I do have a LJ, but that's just for day-to-day stuff. I would love to blog and fisk, but I'm up to my eyeballs right now with school, my classes for an advanced degree, this, the DVD project, church stuff, and remodeling the bathroom (yeah, it's in order of importance ). There are trees and bushes outside...

I need help fisking-- BUT

As far as I can see, this IS all of the bad stuff. So far I haven't sniffed any Troopergate, bimbo eruption stuff,

_________________
Leave no question in anyone's mind as to where you stand. --L. Aldin Porter

Put your John Hancock on the Special Forces list! http://www.save08.org/
Let the Nation know that you are not going to allow 'Business as Usual' to continue in government--you will vote! Then go and find two more like-minded people to sign up as well.

http://www.ragbrai.org
I'm done with winter now.