Posted on 04/21/2008 9:34:47 PM PDT by pulaskibush
LITTLE ROCK -- A group supporting a proposed ballot initiative on illegal immigration is questioning Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's ability to be impartial in reviewing it because he has received campaign donations from people affiliated with an organization that opposes the measure. Kenny Wallis, president of Keep Arkansas Legal, said Monday his organization has discovered individuals with the Arkansas Friendship Coalition donated thousands of dollars to McDaniel's 2006 campaign for attorney general. Arkansas Friendship Coalition, a group of civic, church and business leaders that opposes punitive state and local laws targeting immigrants, has expressed opposition to the proposed ballot initiative that would require citizenship or an alternate legal status to be verified or expressed before Arkansans older than 13 could receive public benefits. Last week, McDaniel rejected the popular name and ballot title of the measure submitted by the grass roots organization Secure Arkansas. The group revised the proposal and resubmitted it to McDaniel on Friday.
The attorney general's approval is a prerequisite for supporters to begin collecting the 61,974 signatures necessary to get it the proposal on the November general election ballot. "Arkansas voters deserve to know who might be influencing the attorney general's decision on an issue as important as their right to vote on a ballot measure concerning illegal immigration," Wallis said in a news release Monday. In an interview later, Wallis said he was not asking McDaniel to recuse himself from considering the proposed initiated act. However, "We believe that this influences his decision-making and that the people need to be made aware of this," Wallis said. He said Keep Arkansas Legal, which is not affiliated with Secure Arkansas, supports the illegal immigration proposal and began researching McDaniel's campaign contributions last week. Wallis said he found more than $36,000 in donations from supporters of the Arkansas Friendship Coalition to McDaniel's campaign. However, his calculation included contributions McDaniel received from Tyson Foods, Don Tyson and John Tyson, neither of whom is part of the coalition, said its chairman, Stephen Copley, on Monday. Tyson lobbyist Archie Schaffer did contribute to McDaniel's campaign, along with Copley, Mary Beth Ringgold, owner of Cajun's Wharf in Little Rock and other members of the coalition.
Jeannie Burlsworth, chairwoman for Secure Arkansas, said Monday she was aware of Wallis' news release and appreciated the help. "I'm shocked and it definitely does concern me," she said. "I'm not sure that (McDaniel) is going to be impartial at all." The attorney general declined comment Monday. "It doesn't merit a comment," McDaniel spokesman Gabe Holmstrom said. Earlier this year, McDaniel's political action committee returned $1,000 it received in 2007 from a Mississippi casino. McDaniel said there was no correlation between the donation and concerns he raised in November about Lt. Gov. Bill Halter's proposed amendment to establish a state-run lottery. Campaign finance reports showed that in November, when McDaniel suggested that a proposed state-run lottery was broadly written and could lead to slot machine-type games in the state, Isle of Capri in Lula, Miss., made a $1,000 contribution to the McDaniel Leadership PAC which McDaniel formed to raise money for other candidates. The attorney general's office has since cleared Halter's lottery campaign to gather petitions to try to put the lottery proposal on the November ballot.
An important factor in all of this is the May 20th State Primary in Arkansas. If the ballot initative is not approved soon, we will not have the forms ready by May 20th. Another factor not mentioned is that Dustin McDaniel and Bill Halter are both Democrats. Dustin is also delaying on the death penalty issue in Arkansas despite the Supreme Court Ruling.
Arkansas Ping!
Immigration reform being delayed by State government PING!
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