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Ethics Commission issues caution letter to Beebe Thursday, Apr 6, 2006 By Aaron Sadler Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The Arkansas Ethics Commission has cautioned Attorney General Mike Beebe for actions involving a campaign worker who used a state-owned computer for campaign purposes. Beebe, the lone Democratic candidate for governor, was issued a "Public Letter of Caution" on Monday. Beebe has acknowledged that a campaign aide used an attorney general's office computer to edit a campaign speech last June. Conservative activist Jim Parsons of Bella Vista filed the ethics complaint against Beebe in February. He provided a copy of the commission's sanction of Beebe to the Arkansas News Bureau on Wednesday. "This is not personal," Parsons said. "I like Mike Beebe. We've done things together before and he's a gentleman, but he is the attorney general. He is the one that explains the law to the rest of us." Zac Wright, spokesman for Beebe's gubernatorial campaign, said Beebe was committed to responsibly running his campaign. "Mike Beebe months ago accepted responsibility for a volunteer's after-hours use of a state computer to make minor changes in a political speech," Wright said. "He immediately put procedures in place to ensure it would not happen again." The letter of caution, signed by Ethics Commission Chairman Ted Dickey, said the letter gives Beebe "clear notice that such actions violated the law." "You are advised not to engage in the same activity again," the letter stated. Parsons amended his complaint to the commission Tuesday to include seven other instances where he said the attorney general improperly used state resources for campaign purposes. The Ethics Commission letter, from Commission Director Graham Sloan, said the letter of caution was the commission's final action on Parsons' complaint. "It's great to see that the Ethics Commission agrees that these actions were inappropriate, and, therefore, affirms what we have suspected for quite some time," said Clint Reed, executive director of the state GOP. "Mr. Beebe's actions present a recurring trend that cannot be ignored." Beebe faces Republican Asa Hutchinson, a former congressman and undersecretary in the Department of Homeland Security, in the November general election to succeed term-limited Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican. Beebe's former chief of staff, Ruth Whitney, resigned in February after questions arose about her splitting time between the attorney general's state office and his gubernatorial campaign. Whitney joined a consulting firm and continues to work for Beebe's campaign. Republicans have also criticized Beebe for meeting with a political consultant in his state office last year. At the time of his chief of staff's resignation, Beebe called the claims "partisan political accusations." Wright downplayed other ethics criticism. "This is the same old stuff that's already been addressed," Wright said. |
