Ethics filing gets rejected 2nd time
Senator accused over labor case
The Arkansas Senate Ethics Committee on Tuesday night recommended the full Senate dismiss a complaint filed by Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, alleging that Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, violated the chamber’s code of ethics.
It was the second time the complaint had been dismissed.
During its Nov. 6 organizational session for the upcoming 93rd General Assembly, the Senate, with a few dissents, voted to dismiss Garner’s complaint as frivolous. Garner surprised senators by announcing his complaint against Hendren.
Garner’s complaint is linked to a federal judge’s ruling in April that ordered Hendren’s plastic company and a drug rehabilitation program to pay $1.1 million in back wages and damages to workers. Hendren has appealed the judge’s ruling.
The Senate Ethics Committee considered the complaint Tuesday because committee chairwoman, Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, said the Nov. 6 vote was by the Senate of the next General Assembly, but under the committee rules, the proper body to consider an ethics complaint by and against a senator of the 92nd General Assembly is the current Senate.
The rules require the Senate Ethics Committee to commence its investigation into an ethics complaint within 10 business
days of receiving a petition with the complaint, and the matter requires a final decision by the full Senate, she said at the outset of Tuesday’s meeting.
“Unless the 92nd General Assembly suspends the rules, this body is bound by the rules to initiate an investigation and submit a recommendation to the full Senate,” Irvin said.
With no dissenters, the eight-member committee later approved a motion by Sen. David Wallace, R-Leachville, to recommend the 35-member Senate dismiss Garner’s complaint against Hendren.
The committee held a closed executive session to hear from Garner and Hendren and deliberate on its recommendation for about two hours and 45 minutes.
Asked why the committee recommended dismissal of Garner’s complaint against Hendren, Irvin said, “We can’t discuss anything that occurred in executive session.” She said the recommendation is based on the testimony given in the closed session.
Irvin said Tuesday this was the committee’s first investigation and hearing held under overhauled ethics rules adopted in 2018.
“How we proceed sets a precedent for how the Senate will handle any future ethics violation allegations,” Irvin said. “As such, it is imperative that we follow the procedures as they are set out in Rule 24 and that we ensure that the procedures are consistently to all senators, no matter the allegation and no matter the senator who is the subject of the allegation.”
Besides Irvin and Wallace, the Ethics Committee includes Sens. Will Bond, D-Little Rock; Lance Eads, R-Springdale; Ricky Hill, R-Cabot; Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia; Jason Rapert, R-Conway; and Larry Teague, D-Nashville.
Afterward, Hendren said he’s glad the committee voted for dismissal of Garner’s complaint.
“We have a lot of important work to do and these political games need to stop,” Hendren said.
Garner said he was disappointed with the committee recommending dismissal, but the recommendation was expected.
He said the most disappointing aspect was the committee “met in executive session so there was no transparency” to allow the public to see the full charges against Hendren.
The Senate’s ethics rules state that “an executive session of the committee shall be permitted upon the determination of the Chair.”
Asked why she chose to have the committee meet privately to hear from Garner and Hendren, Irvin said in a text message to this newspaper, “I determined to go into Executive session based upon the nature of the allegation due to the pending litigation; and as it sets precedence for any future petition particularly one that might involve a petition based on a sexual claim.”
In April, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks ordered Hendren Plastics and the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program to pay back wages and damages to 172 workers who volunteered for the program. According to Brooks, the defendants, for their own f inancial benefit, deployed individuals who, at one time, faced criminal charges related to substance abuse and then enrolled in the program.
Hendren said he planned to appeal the ruling and he tweeted that “the implication that [Hendren Plastics] sought this out for cheap labor is completely false.”
He said he had consulted with drug-court judges, who assured him it was not only legal but essential that Hendren and other companies participate with recovery programs to give nonviolent offenders an alternative to prison.
Among other things, Garner alleged in his complaint that Hendren, as president of Hendren Plastics, “violated state minimum wage law for financial gain by manipulating the labor market and skirting compliance with the law.”
Hendren told senators on Nov. 6, “There have been allegations made that we profited from this [and that’s] absolutely not true. Every hour that was worked was paid more than minimum wage, including overtime hours. That is an undisputed fact.”