State ethics panel sanctions 3 candidates
Campaign violations bring $100 fine for 2, public letter of caution for all
Benton Republican Ken Yang, who made an unsuccessful bid for the GOP nomination for a state House seat in March, has signed a settlement of an ethics complaint filed against him, and he agreed to pay a $100 fine and receive a public letter of caution from the Arkansas Ethics Commission, according to commission records released Tuesday.
The Ethics Commission is in receipt of a consent order that Yang signed May 1, under which he agreed to a finding by the commission that he violated Arkansas Code Annotated 7-6-207 as a candidate for House District 83 during the 2024 election cycle by failing to timely submit monthly campaign finance reports for December 2023 and January 2024, commission Director Graham Sloan said in a letter dated July 2 to Yang.
On March 19, the commission sent Yang a letter containing a copy of the complaint filed against him by political consultant Linda Napper, and Yang was notified in the letter that an investigation was being started about whether he violated Arkansas Code 7-6-207, Sloan said.
Sloan said Yang subsequently filed the campaign finance reports for December 2023 and January 2024 on April 18.
Yang, a political consultant, said Tuesday he got busy with his campaign for the state House and didn’t get around to filing the two campaign finance reports on time, and he has “no one to blame but myself.”
Napper said she filed the ethics complaint against Yang “at someone’s request,” whom she declined to identify. She said she didn’t understand why Yang didn’t file the two campaign finance reports.
In the March 5 primary in House District 83, Yang lost to Benton Republican Paul Childress, an insurance executive and former school board president who will vie with Benton Democrat Teresa Dannaway in the Nov. 5 general election to succeed departing state Rep. Lanny Fite, R-Benton. In 2014, Yang also made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for state auditor.
Arkansas Ethics Commission records also show circuit judge candidate Curtis Walker Jr. of Blytheville signed a settlement of an ethics complaint filed against him, and agreed to pay a $100 fine and receive a public letter of caution from the commission.
Sloan said in a letter dated June 27 to Walker that the commission is in receipt of a consent order Walker signed April 29 under which Walker agreed to a finding by the commission that he violated Arkansas Code Annotated 7-6207 as a candidate for circuit judge in District 2, Division 4, during the 2024 election cycle by failing to timely submit the January monthly campaign finance report and the pre-election campaign finance report.
On April 11, the commission sent Walker a letter containing a copy of the complaint filed against him, and he was notified in the letter an investigation was being started about whether he violated Arkansas Code Annotated 7-6-207, Sloan said. Sloan said Walker subsequently filed those reports April 16.
In the March 5 judicial election, Walker lost his bid for circuit judge to Jonesboro attorney Doug Brimhall.
Walker could not be reached for comment by telephone Wednesday afternoon.
Arkansas Ethics Commission records also show Poinsett County justice of the peace candidate Harold Blackwood of Tyronza signed a settlement of an ethics complaint filed against him by Poinsett Justice of the Peace Linda Hinton, and Blackwood agreed to receive a public letter of caution from the Ethics Commission.
Sloan said in a letter dated June 26 to Blackwood that the commission is in receipt of the offer of settlement Blackwood signed May 21. Under the settlement, Blackwood agreed to a finding by the commission that he violated Arkansas Code Annotated 7-6-228 as a candidate for Poinsett County justice of the peace in District 11 by failing to include the necessary “paid for by” disclaimer on his campaign signs during the 2024 election cycle, Sloan said.
Blackwood said Tuesday he served 20 years as a justice of the peace in Poinsett County before retiring in 2020 and then he defeated Hinton in the March 5 Republican primary. He charged that Hinton is “a sore loser.”
But Hinton, who has served four years as a justice of the peace in Poinsett County, said she filed the ethics complaint against Blackwood after Blackwood called election commissioners and claimed she needed to remove her campaign signs from certain places.
“It was the only way I could get back at him,” Hinton said Tuesday about filing the ethics complaint.
Blackwood said he didn’t contact the election commissioners about Hinton’s campaign signs.
“That’s a lie,” he said.