County Judge and Sherwood Alderman receive public letters of caution from Arkansas Ethics Commission

Following is a story which appeared in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, published Friday, November 30, 2007:

Ethics panel issues letter of caution to county judge
By Kristin Netterstrom
LITTLE ROCK — Buddy Villines is a public official, but he doesn’t work for free. The longtime county judge, who earned $80,605 last year, neglected to list his county income for the past eight years when filling out statements of financial interest that ask elected officials about income, stocks, gifts and business interests.

The Arkansas Ethics Commission notified Villines last month about the missing information when Little Rock resident Sharon Stark filed a complaint against him. On Monday, the commission sent Villines a public letter of caution for what it found to be a technical violation.
“That’s the lowest level of sanction,” said Graham Sloan, director of the Arkansas Ethics Commission, on Thursday. Villines was not fined.

The form asks officials to list sources of income and whether the amounts add up to more than $1,000 or more than $12,500. Villines originally reported his wife’s 2006 income, a plane ticket to Italy and hotel room paid for by a member of Sister Cities International, an organization that creates relationships between cities across continents. Villines revised his statements of financial interest on Monday, going back to 1999. “I work hard to get those things in on time and accurate,” Villines said Thursday. “I looked at that as a disclosure document to disclose whatever income you have or financial investments for potential conflicts of interest,” he said.
Being paid by Pulaski County for the county judge post wasn’t a potential conflict of interest, he thought, especially when his salary was public record.

But Stark, who believes the county’s finances should be thoroughly audited, thought Villines’ omission made for sloppy bookkeeping. “I think [the letter of public caution] will get Buddy’s attention and he will be more careful,” she said.

Sloan said a common mistake made by those filing statements is failing to list income for their elected office. It’s also not something the ethics commission would normally catch, he said, because the commission spends more time making sure public officials turn in the statements.
“There are more than 500 potential filing offices and we do not go to every filing office,”Sloan said. Like all other county officials, Villines files his statements of financial interest with the county clerk. A review of other elected county officials, such as justices of the peace and the assessor, show all of them included Pulaski County on their 2006 forms.

The commission also issued Sherwood Alderman David Henry a public letter of caution Monday because he failed to list Sherwood as a source of income.
Sherwood resident Julanne Carney filed the complaint after finding his 2005 and 2006 statements lacking his city income. “I take disclosure laws very seriously,” Carney said Thursday. “It’s not only required by state law but it should be done as open and honest as possible so the public is allowed to know if there’s any potential conflict of interest.”
She doesn’t think Henry left out the information intentionally. “I believe it was probably an oversight, but it’s still incorrect,” she said.
Henry, who was appointed to the council in 2003, could not be reached for comment Thursday. City aldermen earn $6,079 for their service in 2007, according to the city’s latest budget.