Tolbert: Burkhalter Returns Contributions Due To Conflicts (UPDATED)

We are still combing through campaign finance reports, but one thing popped out as I was skimming the report for John Burkhalter’s campaign for Lieutenant Governor.  He has raised a healthy sum of over $600,000 with around an additional $60,000 of his own funds plus $55,000 in personal loans.  But I noticed he returned $30,300 in contributions this quarter.

“During the course of that record-setting first quarter of fundraising, we came to realize some of the contributions had come in from folks that do business in front of the Highway Commission. John was still on the Commission at the time so we had a discussion and John decided, out of an abundance of caution, and in the interest of avoiding even the appearance of a conflict of interest that we would return the contributions of anyone that does business with the Highway Commission,” said Bryan Griffith speaking for the Burkhalter Campaign.  “There is no legal prohibition against those individuals and entities donating to John’s campaign and no requirement to return the money, but John simply wants to hold his campaign to a higher standard and we honored that by returning those contributions.”

The contributions came from 18 individuals and businesses including Brock Hoskins of Rogers, Redstone Construction Group of Little Rock, Kenny French of Morrilton, LRQ LLC of Little Rock, Bill Hannah of Conway, Thomas Hopper of Rogers, Jamestown Investment of Batesville, Michael Shetron of Batesville, Asphalt Products LLC of Little Rock, Donald Weaver of Conway, Steve Cranford of North Little Rock, Byron Hicks of Little Rock, Charles Nabholz of Conway, Haskell Dickson of Little Rock, JH Fulkerson of Jonesboro, Lesa Dame of Batesville, Mark Lamberth of Conway, and Robert Crafton of Rogers.

I will also note that it appears Burkhalter is combining contributions from his primary and general election campaign on one report.  He shows around 20 contributions on his most recently filed report that have given over the $2,000 limit in the cumulative total column.  However none of the contributions have given more than $4,000.  Contributors can give $2,000 for a candidate’s primary campaign and another $2,000 for the general election; however, usually campaigns file separate reports for these two accounts.  All the reports currently filed are shown as filed for the primary.

For the year, Burkhalter took in over $666,000, loaned his campaign $55,000, and spent around $280,000 for about $441,000 cash on hand.  He is unopposed in the Democratic Primary.

Two Republicans have announced for the race. State Rep. Charlie Collins has raised over $18,000 with a $85,000 personal loan.  He spent just under $2,000 for over $100,000 cash on hand.  State Rep. Andy Mayberry raised a little over $9,000.  He spent a little over $4,000 for about $5,000 cash on hand.

UPDATE I – Graham Sloan with the Arkansas Ethics Commission sent me a note on the co-mingling primary and general funds issue.  He basically says it is not advisable, but he is not sure if it is “absolutely required.”

“Accepting a $4,000 check representing $2,000 for the primary and $2,000 for the general has become more prevalent in recent times. What I always advise someone accepting such a check is to put the money for the general into a separate account and not use any of it until they have advanced successfully from the primary. If they do not advance from the primary, then I advise them to return the $2,000 for the general. It would make sense for such a person to file separate reports for the primary and the general, but I’m not prepared to say that it is absolutely required,” said Sloan.

UPDATE II – Also, the Burkhalter campaign got back with me.

“While some campaigns do choose to report separately, there is no requirement that a campaign must file separately. As long as the contributions are attributed correctly to the primary, general, or any other election, they may all appear on one report,” said Griffith.