Slave to the lender

Lawmakers’ cozy loans should be prohibited

It’s easy enough in reading our old state Constitution to grasp that its authors had some concerns about the integrity of the men (at the time) representing the people in the Arkansas General Assembly.

That dusty document, from 1874, devotes considerable language to the setting of boundaries for state lawmakers. For example, no person responsible for collecting or holding public money shall be eligible to hold a seat in either house of the General Assembly nor any office of trust or profit, the Constitution says, until such time as the money is ac- counted for and paid back.

In other words, nobody in charge of public money can run off with a bunch of it, then get himself elected to the state’s Legislature.

The Constitution goes on, saying nobody convicted of embezzlement of public money, bribery, forgery or other “infamous crimes” shall be eligible to serve in the General Assembly or office of trust or profit in the state. The body’s members are empowered to expel one of their own by a two-thirds vote, and if the matter at hand involves corruption, the member’s eligibility to serve in the House or Senate shall be ended.

Any member who receives or consents to receive any direct or indirect offer or promise of money “or thing of value, testimonial, privilege and personal advantage” to influence his performance of his public or official duty shall be guilty of a felony, according to the state Constitution.

It’s not hard at all to get the idea that the people of Arkansas were wary. Money can be a corrupting influence. Arkansans have seen ample evidence of that in the recent cases against state Sen. Jon Woods and state Rep. Micah Neal, both of Springdale, and other lawmakers in the state who have been exposed as guilty of accepting bribes or kickbacks. Arkansas has a political corruption problem.

As the framers of that 1874 Constitution clearly believed, governance demands a high standard for ethical behavior. Lawmakers would do well to behave so far beyond any question of disreputable actions that their honor would remain not only intact, but unquestioned.

Here’s another thought about the men and women of the General Assembly: We voters don’t send them there to become part of a fraternity. There are only 135 members of the two houses, so it’s certainly to be expected that they get to know each other. But too often we see evidence that lawmakers get real chummy with their colleagues, to the point that they seem to be a class unto themselves within the state’s population of 3 million.

It’s not that they behave like monarchs or take on dynastic airs. It’s more like they take on each other as family, a bunch of brothers, sisters and cousins willing to overlook each other’s flaws and circle the wagons when one is threatened. Outcry over recent public corruption scandals have hardly arisen from the Legislature. Indeed, much of what one hears from lawmakers seems tinged with a certain sympathy for those convicted of stealing from the public. It’s like having a family member who broke bad: Yeah, maybe he did it, but we still love him.

The thing is, Arkansans deserve lawmakers who are completely dedicated to representing them, not spending their time ensuring the bond of fraternal brotherhood among members is preserved. That’s why the recent news about some lawmakers loaning each other money was astonishing.

On last Sunday’s front page, readers learned that House Revenue and Taxation Committee Chairman Joe Jett, R-Success, said he made a $16,000 loan to thenHouse Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, in the fall of 2016. Gillam has since resigned to become director of governmental affairs and external relations for the University of Central Arkansas, a state-supported college. Gillam didn’t report the loan on his required statements of financial interest for 2016 or 2017 until a reporter contacted him recently. Gillam, when he was speaker, did appoint Jett to his committee chairmanship, but Gillam denied the loan had any influence on that.

State Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, reported on a financial report in 2016 that he had loaned more than $12,500 to state Rep. Nate Bell of Mena and Bell’s wife, Phyllis, who is an aide to Gov. Asa Hutchinson. By 2017, that loan had apparently dropped below $12,500 and Collins had collected more than $1,000 in interest income.

State Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, has said he would look at possible changes on the legality of such loans, but acknowledged himself having loaned about $4,000 in 2015 to then-state Sen. Jake Files, R-Fort Smith. Files recently pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering charges and received 18 months in prison. His criminal problems were linked to his struggling businesses and personal finances.

The you-rub-my-back-I’ll-rubyours atmosphere of Arkansas’ state government is already strong. Lawmakers should end these kinds of financial exchanges.

Both candidates for the office of attorney general have called for a prohibition on lending between state lawmakers, although incumbent Leslie Rutledge said she would not offer her own legislative proposal to accomplish that. It seems the state’s attorney general ought to be at the forefront of pursuing barriers to public corruption.

What these loans communicate is that our state lawmakers go down to the state Capitol to become pals, which then affects their primary duty of being representatives of the people.

Arkansas lawmakers in many cases seem to look for ways to ethically compromise themselves. These scenarios are not as bad an invitation to corruption as when new lawmaker Micah Neal, financially strapped in his personal life, approached Jon Woods with a simple question: How do you make money? That led to criminal offenses against the public trust.

Loans aren’t criminal offenses. They should, however, certainly be prohibited now that they’ve come to light. The only thing that should influence votes in the Legislature are strong arguments and constituent viewpoints.

Conservative financial guru and radio broadcaster Dave Ramsey often quotes the book of Proverbs’ admonition that the “borrower is the slave to the lender.” We think that warning applies to the men and women who are elected to the Arkansas General Assembly. If a lawmaker has a master, it ought to be the people of his or her district, not a chamber mate in the Legislature who can afford to loan him money.