Sen. Clark responds to reported ethics violation
State Sen. Alan Clark, R-District 13, said he thought having a colleague sign him into a meeting he didn’t attend “was a good idea” at the time.
“Obviously, it was not,” Clark, talking about Sen. Mark Johnson, R-District 15, signing Clark’s name on the sign-in sheet for the June 3 Senate Boys State Committee meeting, said Wednesday. “I take full responsibility.”
The Senate Ethics Committee determined they violated chamber rules, finding that Clark admitted he didn’t attend the meeting but still sought a per diem reimbursement by asking Johnson to put his name on the sign-in sheet. The panel recommended both men be removed from their committee chairs and ineligible for per diem and mileage reimbursement for the rest of the year.
“That’s what the Ethics Committee has decided,” Clark said. “Surely they have put a lot of thought into it. It is what it is. I’ve taken full responsibility. I’ve been extremely transparent, told them everything that happened for the whole day.”
Clark said he plans to seek the Judiciary chairmanship when the Senate elects new committee chairs in January.
“I’m high on seniority,” he said. “I’ll look at what’s available.”
He’s unopposed in the November general election for the District 7 Senate seat, which comprises a smaller share of Garland County than the District 13 seat he’s held since 2013. The new district includes only the southeast part of the county, whereas District 13 extended to all sides.
Clark said he was going to sign himself in but changed his mind. He had been running a fever the night before in his
Capital Hill Building apartment and didn’t want to make others sick, so he asked Johnson to sign him in.
“The teenagers were still there,” Clark said of the Boys State members at the Capitol. “I thought instead of taking a chance of making them sick, I’ll just call somebody. I was there and headed to the meeting. It wasn’t like I was somewhere else or could not have signed in myself.”
Only a few ethics complaints have been filed since the Senate formed an ethics panel in 2018. Clark said the complaint
brought against him will affect the chamber more than the events that gave rise to the committee, which was formed after several lawmakers were investigated and eventually convicted in federal court.
“The vast majority of us were not aware of any of that activity going on,” Clark said. “It really doesn’t change anything that you’re doing. If you’ve always led an ethical life and done the right thing there’s not really anything to change.”