Release pages of AG’s work file, judge orders

Rutledge records cover time at DHS

A Pulaski County circuit judge on Monday ordered the public release of eight additional pages of Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s personnel record from her time as an attorney with the Department of Human Services.

A portion of the record previously withheld by the agency “sheds light on the agency’s statutory duties” while Rutledge worked as an attorney in the Division of Children and Family Services between 2006 and 2007, Circuit Judge Tim Fox said in a ruling from the bench.

Rutledge’s complete employee file is being sought by a Democratic Party of Arkansas staff member who sued the department earlier this month in an effort to obtain redacted portions. Rutledge, a Republican, faces Democrat Mike Lee in the Nov. 6 election.

After privately reviewing the redacted pages in his chambers for about 30 minutes, Fox determined that eight pages’ worth of the record were subject to disclosure under the state Freedom of Information Act.

Those eight pages contain a one-page reply from the department in response to Rutledge’s unemployment

claims after she left in 2007, as well as seven pages related to Rutledge’s performance at the agency.

The rest of the redacted file included information of a personal nature — such as Social Security numbers and details about employee benefits programs — that are not of a public nature, Fox said.

Although Fox ordered the pages released, they will not be made public until he signs a written order, which could be this week.

The delay for a written ruling also allows attorneys for the Human Services Department to appeal his order to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which is returning from its annual summer recess.

“DHS is not the attorney general’s office … they do not represent Leslie Rutledge or the attorney general,” said Chris Burks, the attorney who sued on behalf of Democratic Party staff member Reed Brewer. “We’re confident that [the agency] will do the right thing and not appeal and [will] release the records.”

Fifty-one pages of Rutledge’s personnel file were released years ago. Attorneys for the department argued that nothing more should be disclosed because she voluntarily quit, even though altered portions of the record indicate she was terminated for gross misconduct.

Also included in Rutledge’s already-public record are emails between her former supervisors asking that she be placed on a “do-not-rehire” list, though no reason is given.

In her first campaign for attorney general in 2014, Rutledge said her record was altered by “politically motivated” bosses after she left the agency to work on the presidential campaign of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, also a Republican.

In a statement Monday, Rutledge repeated that sentiment while also bashing Democrats and Fox.

“The decision reached by a liberal judge is not about me,” Rutledge said. “It is a dangerous decision that is not only a clear misinterpretation of the Freedom of Information Act, but most importantly, it puts thousands of current and former government employees in jeopardy

of having their records distorted by vindictive former supervisors or other former coworkers and improperly released long after they voluntarily leave a government job.”

The only witness called during the roughly three-hour hearing was Mark White, deputy director of the Human Services Department.

White said he reviewed Rutledge’s personnel file after public-records requests were made during her 2014 campaign. He made the determination that she had voluntarily left the agency seven years before.

Addressing the courtroom after his private review of the records, Fox said the one-page communication from the department in response to Rutledge’s claim for unemployment benefits was relevant. Fox said the agency’s response was that Rutledge had been fired for gross misconduct and thus was ineligible for benefits.

At 9 p.m., Rutledge’s campaign released a statement denying that she applied for unemployment benefits in 2007. An hour later, Rutledge released a second statement saying that she had applied for unemployment in 2009 after a staff cutback at the National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington, D.C., and that the Human Services Department had sent incorrect information to authorities there when they sought past employment verification.

At the end of Monday’s hearing, Fox lamented that there were “more factual questions than when it started.”

Those issues were further muddled when Rutledge’s private attorney, Kevin Crass, was allowed to submit to the court emails he said proved Rutledge had voluntarily resigned. Though Rutledge is not a party to the suit against her former employer, Fox agreed to accept the document.

Crass declined to comment on Fox’s decision. In her later statement, Rutledge indicated she was weighing whether to intervene in the lawsuit and file an appeal.

Rutledge’s campaign also released the emails it said Crass submitted to the court. They included several emails from Rutledge’s former supervisors characterizing Rutledge’s departure by saying she “quit” or “resigned.”