Candidates reject gifts from some
Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sometimes politicians are portrayed as money-grubbers who are especially greedy at election time, when they need contributions to finance their campaigns. But now and then, and for varied reasons, they turn donations down.
State Rep. Kathy Webb, for example, says she sent $ 1, 000 worth of contributions back to Southwestern Energy Company Political Action Committee and The American Electric Power Committee for Responsible Government.
She did so, the Little Rock Democrat said, because she’s co-chairman of the Governor’s Commission on Global Warming, which has been assigned the task of finding ways for Arkansas to contribute to the reduction of global warming.
The energy companies “potentially have business before the commission and are participating in the discussions,” said Webb, so she thought it best not to accept contributions from them.
Houston-based Southwestern Energy Co. is a natural gas and oil exploration and production company with major natural gas interests in the Fayetteville Shale region of Arkansas. Its PAC reported a $ 750 check dated Dec. 31, 2007, was returned by Webb on June 23, 2008, and voided.
American Electric Power is an electric utility and parent company of Southwestern Electric Power Co., which plans to build a $ 1. 6 billion coal-fired plant in Hempstead County.
Peter Main, a spokesman for Southwestern Electric Power Co., said the American Electric Power committee’s $ 250 check on June 19, 2007, to Webb’s campaign hasn’t been cashed, but possibly “was lost or misdirected” at corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, after being returned by Webb.
“Unless we hear otherwise from Rep. Webb,” the check will be canceled, and that action will be disclosed in a future PAC report, he said. Webb disclosed to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that she returned the contributions after the newspaper reported that Rep. Lindsley Smith, D-Fayetteville, was the only lawmaker seeking re-election who hadn’t received a Southwestern Energy contribution, according to the PAC’s reports. Smith said she declined a contribution because her policy is to only accept contributions up to $ 100 from individuals and groups with which she is involved.
GAMBLING In recent years, it has been fairly rare that candidates in Arkansas returned contributions. Usually, it happens with a candidate for statewide office. Sometimes it involves gambling interests.
Attorney General Dustin Mc-Daniel, for example, said in January that his PAC would return a $ 1, 000 contribution on Nov. 20 from the Isle of Capri casino in Lula, Miss. The reason given was that the casino intended to contribute to his campaign to retire debts but not to his PAC. The casino doesn’t contribute to PACs, he said.
His campaign accepted a $ 1, 000 contribution from the casino in 2006.
Last November, McDaniel said he worried that Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s Arkansas lottery proposal could open the door to video lottery terminals and slot machines in the state, something Halter said he opposes and believes the Legislature would reject.
McDaniel said he sees no conflict between opposing casinotype gambling in Arkansas and accepting campaign contributions from a casino.
Bud Jackson, a Halter campaign spokesman, said Halter generally has not accepted contributions from lottery vendors “to ensure he can continue to talk about the benefits of an Arkansas scholarship lottery free from any potential petty campaign finance political attacks.”
Halter’s campaign on Sept. 28 deposited a $ 1, 000 contribution from prominent Democratic fundraiser Don Sweitzer, but the check was refunded Sept. 30 after Halter’s campaign learned that Sweitzer worked for Rhode Island-based lottery vendor GTECH Corp., for which Sweitzer is senior vice president of global business development and public affairs, according to the company’s Web site.
Halter’s campaign erred in not properly disclosing the contribution and refund on campaign finance reports, Jackson said, and will correct them by filing amended reports.
Last October, Halter received emails from Ross Dalton of GTECH Corp. and Jim Kennedy of New York-based Scientific Games Corp. saying they were glad to have met Halter at a lottery conference dinner in Louisville, Ky. Their companies are willing to help him in the future, the e-mails mentioned.
Halter’s 2006 lieutenant governor campaign, which has more than $ 400, 000 debt owed to Halter, paid for Halter’s travel to Louisville ($ 266. 10 via Delta Airlines on Nov. 2 ) and later reimbursed him for his lodging expenses ($ 285. 25 ), Jackson said.
Jackson said Halter met with fundraising consultant Michael Hayden in Louisville and also attended a lottery conference there. He said the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries invited Halter to the conference and he attended to learn more about lotteries. MORE AMERICAN POWER House Democratic leader Steve Harrelson of Texarkana said he returned a contribution from American Electric Power last year. He did so because he had submitted a letter of support for Southwestern Electric Power Co. ’s proposed coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County to the Public Service Commission about three months before he received the contribution, he said. Harrelson said he didn’t want the letter “to be perceived as a quid pro quo after the fact, so I returned it.”
DISCLOSING ‘RECEIVED’ When it comes to reporting on contributions “received,” there’s a bit of confusion, some legislators said.
In a 1998 opinion, the Arkansas Ethics Commission said the commission believes the Legislature intended “received” and “accepted” to have a synonymous meaning under Arkansas Code Annotated 7-6-207.
“It is the commission’s opinion that a campaign contribution should be deemed ‘received’ or ‘accepted’ when it has been delivered to a candidate (or a person acting in the candidate’s behalf ) and not returned within a reasonable time,” the commission said.
“The question of what is a ‘reasonable time’ depends upon the facts of the particular situation, but should not usually be more than five (5 ) business days,” the commission said.
BEER AND RACING House Republican leader Bryan King of Green Forest, who is being challenged by Eureka Springs Democrat David Stoppel in the Nov. 4 election, said he returned a $ 250 contribution from the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Arkansas and a $ 200 contribution from Southland Racing Corp. in West Memphis. He said the beer distributors ’ contribution “was just something that I didn’t feel comfortable about [accepting ]. I just decided to give it back.” King returned the check from Southland because he doesn’t accept money from gambling interests, he said.
Steve Higginbothom, executive director of the Wholesale Beer Distributors Association, said King wasn’t the only legislative candidate to return a contribution from the beer distributors.
Democratic Senate candidate Larry Teague of Nashville, GOP Senate candidate Cecile Bledsoe of Rogers, Democratic House candidate James McLean of Batesville and Republican candidate Vickey Boozman of Cave Springs also did so. Teague and McLean won contested races May 20. Boozman lost. Bledsoe and King were unopposed.
Higginbothom said he figured the contributions were primarily returned by candidates “in dry counties, who feel like there is an anti-alcohol sentiment” in their districts.
He said he understands why the contributions were returned and doesn’t have a problem with it.
A former Democratic state senator from Marianna, Higginbothom said he “wasn’t big” on cigarette tobacco companies as a lawmaker and would use the contributions to support the local health department. TOBACCO, PAYDAY LENDING
Webb said she would decline contributions from the tobacco industry. She has already returned a contribution from the payday lenders, she said.
Don Tilton, a contract lobbyist who represents the trade association for payday lenders, the Arkansas Financial Services Association, said the association’s contributions are returned “very infrequently,” and it’s typically because a candidate has a philosophical difference with the industry.
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