Senate approves change in ethics rules

The Arkansas Senate on Monday approved a change to its ethics rules to bar any senator from alleging a violation of the Senate’s ethics rules “verbally in a meeting of the Senate or by any means outside the petition and committee process of these rules.”

A senator who improperly alleges an ethics violation may be subject to any of the penalties outlined in the ethics rules, under this change approved Monday.

The penalties range from a letter of caution to expulsion from the Senate.

The Senate’s action came more than two months after Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, announced to senators that he was filing an ethics complaint against Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs. Garner’s announcement, during the Senate’s Nov. 6 organizational session, surprised many senators, including members of the Ethics Committee.

On Nov. 6, the Senate initially dismissed Garner’s ethics complaint against Hendren as frivolous. The Senate Ethics Committee later held a closed hearing on Garner’s complaint and recommended the Senate dismiss the complaint, before Garner withdrew the complaint.

Garner told senators Monday that they shouldn’t adopt this rule change that prohibits senators from discussing allegations against one another. He said this change “will keep [allegations] hidden from the public and the media until the committee process happens.”

“Taking allegations and hiding it in darkness doesn’t serve democracy,” he said.

But Ethics Committee Chairwoman Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, said some future complaints may involve a sensitive personal matter.

The rule change is consistent with Title IX policy and allows both parties to have the opportunity to have a fair investigation, she said.