Jeremy Hutchinson, who is the nephew of Governor Asa Hutchinson, resigned from the Arkansas Senate in 2018 after being indicted by the federal government for a scheme to take campaign funds as personal income, prohibited by the state, and also not reporting it as income on his federal tax return. When interviewed by the FBI in 2014, Senator Jeremy Hutchinson's response was, "Everyone was doing it."
Not the best defense. Try using that line on a state trooper when you're caught speeding and see if it gets you anywhere. It won't.
Two questions came to mind.
- FIRST, was Senator Hutchinson correct in claiming others are using campaign funds for personal expenses, prohibited by Arkansas law? (Senator Paul Bookout resigned from the Senate because of it back in 2013 and later pled guilty, but we are focused on those serving when Hutchinson made the statement in 2014 or who are now serving.)
- SECOND, if the illegal practice is common, might legislators be trying to pass legislation to validate a prevalent but illegal practice?
Two bills that would let politicians grab campaign money for personal use are SB 258 and HB1687. The Senate bill is so bad, we don't have space to talk about the House bill.
Senate Bill 258 is being sold as legislation to "INCREASE THE PENALTY FOR TAKING CAMPAIGN FUNDS AS PERSONAL INCOME." That sounds fine until you read the legislation and see that it's actually about allowing politicians to grab campaign funds for personal expenses. The greed in the bill is HUGE!
SB258 is an example of the use of a deceptive title to make a bill sound restrictive while the body of the bill opens the door wider.
Let's start with an example applying only to legislators. The bill would allow members of the Arkansas legislature to use campaign funds to pay for an apartment to stay in when in Little Rock, as long as the apartment is not the legislator's primary residence. It would allow a legislator to use campaign funds to pay for an apartment all year long, every year.
It allows an expenditure by a:
The bill acknowledges the receipt of taxpayer money while still letting legislators grab campaign funds for personal use to pay for a swell apartment in Little Rock. It is still an extremely greedy money grab, and it is still using campaign funds as personal income, no matter what they want to call it.
The apartment provision is only the beginning of the greed found in the legislation. The bill also gives any elected official huge exemptions to use campaign funds for "officeholder activities." That could be nearly any expense.
There is NO good reason why campaign funds should be used as personal income by calling it "officeholder activities." Looks like their philosophy is --"To the victor belongs the spoils."
To get huge salary increases from the Independent Citizens Commission in 2015, the legislature agreed to eliminate officeholder expenses. This bill uses the back door to regain officeholder expenses from another source.
As if the exemptions in the bill weren't already big enough to drive a truck through, another provision allows the Arkansas Ethics Commission to add exemptions. (You should note: Two of the five members of the commission are appointed by legislative officers. The other three members are appointed by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General.)
The bill gets even worse. The legislation flips the burden from the candidate or officeholder having to prove an exception, to the burden being on the person complaining to show the expense is not allowed. The person complaining has the task of showing the expenditure is "unrelated to a legitimate campaign or officeholder activity."
And about that penalty. The penalty is the selling point of the bill (or the distraction). Yet, the penalty is only increased if the value of the campaign funds unlawfully taken for personal use is more than $5,000. The increased penalty doesn't mean much when the bill actually lets officeholders use campaign funds for lots of personal uses.
Keep the lobbyists happy and an incumbent can amass a sizable war chest for the future (up to the salary of the office). Keep the lobbyist happy... and raise enough campaign funds to get a plush apartment and pay for other personal expenses. Instead of letting politicians raid campaign funds for personal use, maybe the people should remove some of the temptation by slashing the amount of campaign funds that can be retained for future years.
Jeremy Hutchinson said, "Everyone was doing it." Maybe he was right.
In his speech to open this year's Senate proceedings, the new leader of the Senate, President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren (R) - Gravette. said: [Jim Hendren is also a nephew of Governor Asa Hutchinson]
Senator Will Bond (D) - Little Rock is the lead sponsor. In addition to Hendren, the other two cosponsors are: Senator Bart Hester (R) - Cave Springs, and Senator Keith Ingram (D) - West Memphis.
These aren't just any ole legislators. These are supposed to be leaders of the Senate!
- Senator Hendren - President Pro Tempore (Senate leader)
- Senator Hester - Majority Party Leader
- Senator Ingram - Minority Party Leader
- Senator Bond - Minority Party Whip
In his address to the Senate, Senator Hendren also said.
"Holding ourselves and each other accountable"? Is there no one who will hold these Senators accountable?
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Source: Conduit for Action
Tags: Conduit for Action, Jeremy Hutchinson, Indicted Nephew, Jim Hendren, Nephew, Gov, Asa Hutchinson, SB258, DECEPTION, GREED To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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