Ethics panel taps Rogers man as vice chairman

Retired educator Sybil Jordan Hampton of Little Rock will serve as chairman of the Arkansas Ethics Commission this year, the commission decided Friday.

With four members either at the meeting or participating by telephone, the commission also elected Wal-Mart Stores Inc. inhouse attorney Tony Juneau of Rogers as its vice chairman for the year. The commission has five members.

Hampton has been on the commission since her appointment to a five-year term by then-Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, a Democrat, in 2014. Juneau has served on the commission since his appointment by House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, in March 2015.

The other commissioners at Friday’s meeting were Ashley Driver Younger of Little Rock, who was appointed by Republican Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin of Little Rock in December 2015; and Alice Eastwood of Bentonville, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson in February 2017.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said Thursday that he appointed Harding University faculty member Lori Klein to the commission to replace former state Sen. Sharon Trusty, R-Russellville. Klein said Thursday that she would begin attending the commission’s meeting next month after the paperwork for her appointment is completed.

The commission serves as the compliance and enforcement agency for state standards of conduct and disclosure laws for political candidates and committees, state and local government officials, and lobbyists, as well as for people involved with ballot measures, according to the commission’s website. The commission levies sanctions for violations. It was created in 1991 after voters approved an initiated act in 1990.