Judge draws caution over ’16 race

Sebastian County District Judge Jim O’Hern received a public letter of caution Friday from the Arkansas Ethics Commission for unintentionally violating certain campaign contribution limits in his 2016 election bid.

O’Hern’s campaign treasurer, William C. Warren Jr. of Charleston, was fined $100 for the violation, a letter from Commission Director Graham F. Sloan said.

The letter said O’Hern’s campaign had accepted two checks totaling $3,875 in October 2015 from Fiori Joint Revocable Trust on behalf of the two trustees and one check for $200 from Sagely Properties Ltd.

The contribution from the trust represented two contributions, one for $2,700 from Susan Fiori and one for $1,175 from Sam Fiori, the ethics commission letter said.

The letter said Warren was unaware of a change in the campaign-finance law that limited the contributors to a campaign until O’Hern brought the change to his attention. The letter said evidence showed O’Hern was unaware of the contributions because of his effort to keep his involvement with campaign financing to a minimum in compliance with the judicial canons.

Warren contacted the Ethics Commission as soon as he learned of the change, and the campaign refunded the contributions. O’Hern and Warren were not aware of any violation until a complaint was filed, the letter said.

The ethics commission conducted an investigation of the complaint, and O’Hern and Warren agreed to a finding of the commission they violated the law, according to the letter from Sloan.