Free trips to Cowboys games violate state ethics law, NLR officer told

The Arkansas Ethics Commission said Thursday that a North Little Rock police detective violated a state ethics law when he accepted free trips to Dallas Cowboys football games last year.

Commission director Graham Sloan wrote in a letter to Sgt. Michael Gibbons that Gibbons won’t face any sanctions over the ethics violation because Gibbons had shown “good cause” for accepting the trips.

Gibbons, who is president of the North Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police, was among dozens of officers who accepted free game tickets, travel and hotel accommodations from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones last year. The officers and their families were able to attend one of the final five home games of the past season.

Jones, who was born in California but grew up in North Little Rock, said he provided the free trips to show support for police in his hometown.

Arkansas Code Annotated 21-8-801 prohibits public servants from receiving gifts for the performance of duties and responsibilities. It states that gifts valued at more than $100 are usually prohibited.

Gibbons violated that statute by accepting the trips, but he did so based on an invalid resolution passed by the North Little Rock City Council beforehand, according to the commission.

The City Council on Oct. 24 unanimously passed a resolution to accept the trips on the city’s behalf and give them to officers as an employee benefit.

“The evidence further reflects … that you and the other officers relied upon the resolution’s erroneous conclusion that your acceptance of the gifts fell outside the scope of Arkansas Code Annotated 218-801, which serves to prohibit a gift intended to reward a public servant for performing the duties of his or her position,” Sloan wrote in the letter to Gibbons.

Little Rock blogger Russ Racop filed the ethics complaint Nov. 2 against Gibbons,

North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith and six aldermen who voted on the resolution.

The ethics commission last month dismissed the complaint against Smith and the aldermen after finding none of them had violated ethics laws at issue.

Racop also named Jones

in the ethics complaint. He accused the Cowboys owner of violating Arkansas Code Annotated 21-8-801 (b), which bans any person from providing prohibited gifts or compensation to public servants for the performance of duties and responsibilities.

Jones faces a written warning if the commission finds he violated the statute.

A hearing in Little Rock was scheduled for May 19.