Secure Arkansas

Corrupt Lobbyists and Politicians at the Arkansas Capitol!

February 17, 2015 Action Alerts, General Information

Print This Article

Definition of Lobby: the act of attempting to influence business and government leaders to create legislation or conduct an activity that will help a particular organization.  People who do lobbying are called lobbyists.

Could our Arkansas legislators have been bought off by Political Action Committees (PAC’s), companies, or lobbying groups?

We’ve had a lot of corruption in Arkansas politics over the years, so we need to get around to cleaning it up.  It’s our responsibility to hold our public officials accountable for their behavior.

There have been numerous ethics violations in the past where funneling of money has occurred… which has all of the appearances of a bribe.

Here is Article 5 section 35 of the Arkansas State Constitution regarding bribes:

“Article 5 section 35. Bribery of member of General Assembly or state officer.

Any person who shall, directly or indirectly, offer, give, or promise any money, or thing of value, testimonial, privilege or personal advantage to any executive or judicial officer, or member of the General Assembly; and any such executive or judicial officer, or member of the General Assembly, who shall receive or consent to receive any such consideration, either directly or indirectly, to influence his action in the performance or non-performance of his public or official duty, shall be guilty of a felony, and be punished accordingly.”

In our estimation, some of the legislators are possibly being influenced, and their names can be found in the Follow The Money link below.  Be sure to check the different boxes in the “Display by” section.  A lobbyist who keeps appearing on our radar is Michael Morton.  He has donated to numerous campaigns, and it appears that his intention was to influence people with campaign donations… or possibly bribe them???  If a candidate has accepted a donation, rest assured that they are beholden to the contributor.

Picture of Michael Morton
Photo credit

 

The following chart is from followthemoney.org.  Could this be just the tip of the iceberg?

Michael Morton donated money to many lawmakers (see above), most of whom are ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) members.

Also, you’ll recall that we have previously disclosed a lot of information about Arkansas Senator Eddie Joe Williams.

Picture of Senator Eddie Joe Williams
Photo credit:  the arkleg website

 

Eddie Joe Williams Campaign Finance Influence

Several PACs have been set up that appear to be concealing the source of money between health care, nursing home providers, and the legislators. The PACs that we have found that appear to be doing the laundering are:

Arkansas Health Care House Public Affairs Committee PAC.  This PAC has had $433,000 rotate through this PAC between 2010 and 2013.

Arkansas Health Care Senate Public Affairs Committee PAC.  This PAC has had $382.750 rotate through this PAC between 2010 and 2013.

House Leadership PAC (Formerly AR Conservative Legislative PAC).  This PAC has had $319,004.23 rotate through this PAC between 2011 and 2014.

Go Eddie Go PAC.  This PAC has had $110,445.74 rotate through this PAC between 2012  and 2014.

Senator Williams has set up his own PAC (Political Action Committee) which could allow money to be funneled from other PACs and individuals to his own GoEddieJoePAC.  The GoEddieJoePAC could then possibly transfer money to other legislators.  We think that this practice is being done by many of the Arkansas legislators.  When you give money to some of the legislators, your money may end up financing the election of another legislator/campaign.

Republican Senator Eddie Joe Williams donated over $42,000 from his campaign funds to other Senators and Representatives for ticket events in 2012.   He’s the Chair of the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee.  Senator Williams is the Vice Chair of the Energy – Joint Committee.  Also, he’s a State Chair for ALEC.

Senator Eddie Joe Williams, the intermediary for the Ark. Republican Party and the Ark. State Senate, was fined in 2012 for making personal use of $6,000 of his campaign funds to Senator Missy Irvin & Senator Jason Rapert, both Republicans. Senator Eddie Joe Williams was fined $850 for his escapade.

It is the Chair who controls what legislation will be brought forward and allowed out of the committee.  Also, many of the committee Chairs have been known to give campaign donations to the members of the committee that they chair.  Could this be a bribe so that the Chair can control the committee and the legislation that comes out of that committee?

The most recent “GoEddieJoe PAC” search was performed here.

Campaigns with unclear funding sources can be problematic!

For information purposes only, we’re providing two links to all the registered PACs and Lobbyist groups in Arkansas:

Arkansas Secretary of State Registered PAC Report 2014

Arkansas Secretary of State Registered Lobbyist Report 2014

 

Could Senator Eddie Joe Williams have undue influence with those on the committee?  Look at the Go Eddie Joe PAC, and decide for yourself. The Eddie Joe PAC can be looked at as a money laundering scheme.  There are many corporations that use PACs to hide their identity regarding the source and final destination of funds.  It appears that the Go Eddie Joe PAC, which had $110,445.74 rotate through it between 2012 – 2014, is used by Senator Eddie Joe Williams to reward some some of the members of the committees of which he is the chairman and co-chairman.  If you’ve been wondering from where most campaign contributions come, look no further than special interest groups (such as ALEC), corporations, and PACs!

Securing the blessings of liberty,

Secure Arkansas
securetherepublic.com/arkansas
info@securetherepublic.com

Share This Article

Print This Article