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Halter's office to report lottery-related travel expenses Saturday, Jul 12, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A spokesman for Lt. Gov. Bill Halter said Friday he was not sure whether Halter had to report the expenses of staff members who travel the state speaking on Halter's lottery proposal, but he said the lieutenant governor would report any expenses over $500 anyway. Members of the lieutenant governor's staff have traveled to West Memphis on April 11, to Mena on June 12 and to Benton County on May 8 and again Thursday to speak to groups about the proposed lottery, Halter spokesman Garry Hoffmann said. Their reimbursements for travel expenses to date have totaled about $400, he said. Halter, who was serving as acting governor Friday while Gov. Mike Beebe was attending a governors' conference in Philadelphia, is seeking to place on the November ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to create a state-run lottery which he estimates would raise about $100 million annually to fund college scholarships. The director of an organization opposed to the lottery proposal said Friday Halter's use of state officials to promote the measure at the state's expense raises "serious questions." State ethics law does not prohibit public servants from speaking on ballot questions on state time, but under certain circumstances they are required to report what they spend. "A public servant or governmental body expending public funds in excess of $500 for the purpose of expressly advocating the qualification, disqualification, passage or defeat of a ballot question or the passage or defeat of a legislative question shall file with the commission financial reports," the law states. Asked Friday if Halter's office would report staff members' travel expenses on lottery-related trips if those expenses exceed $500, Hoffman at first said no. Later, he said yes. "Our position is that in traveling we are representing the lieutenant governor and speaking in his behalf. At this time that's our position on it, so we don't see where we would be filing a report with the Ethics Commission," Hoffmann said initially. He later called back and asked to "answer your question again." "I spoke again with the Ethics Commission, I spoke with my chief of staff, looked at the statute, and I guess on an overabundance of caution, however you want to phrase it, we will file a report if we exceed $500," Hoffmann said. Whether Halter would be in violation of the law if he did not file reports on the travel reimbursements is unclear. Commission director Graham Sloan noted the law uses the phrase "expressly advocating," a term which both the Ethics Commission and the U.S. Supreme Court have interpreted as meaning language that explicitly urges action to "vote for" or "vote against" a candidate or issue. "You can engage in speech which was informational which wouldn't rise to the level of advocacy," Sloan said. Jerry Cox, executive director of the Family Council, said Friday that promoting a ballot question at the state's expense does not pass "the smell test," whether the law allows it or not. "I have serious questions about how much the state of Arkansas has already subsidized this campaign for the lottery," he said. The Family Council has formed a ballot question committee to campaign against Halter's proposal. Hoffman said the lieutenant governor's office has done nothing unethical or unusual. "It's a $100 million public policy issue. This is an issue on which the lieutenant governor campaigned and was elected on a pledge to bring a scholarship lottery to Arkansas. Yes, we certainly are working in support of that and certainly I think it's right," he said. |
