State Treasurer Dennis Milligan is touting his office's investment performance in his re-election bid.
He's running against Libertarian candidate Ashley Ewald of Uniontown, who vows to bring integrity and transparency to the office.
Milligan, a Benton Republican, has served as state treasurer since 2015. He is a former Saline County circuit clerk and former chairman of the state Republican Party.
Ewald is a ballot access specialist for the national Libertarian Party. In 2016, she ran unsuccessfully for Crawford County treasurer.
The state treasurer is responsible for an investment portfolio of more than $3.5 billion, oversees the Arkansas 529 College Investing Plan and implemented a financial education program called AR Finance AR Future program under the Arkansas 529 program, according to the office's website.
The treasurer also serves on the boards of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System and the Arkansas State Highway Employees Retirement System.
The treasurer's salary is $89,301 a year.
Milligan said he should be re-elected to a second four-year term "absolutely because of results."
"We have accomplished a number of things, including some of the highest investment returns and interest earnings for Arkansans [and] grown the Arkansas 529 investment plan," he said in a recent interview.
"Because of what Martha Shoffner did in the previous administration, we have opened it up now so that Arkansans can look online and see where their investments are and know what the rates of return are and the maturity dates," Milligan said. That information can be found on the "inside the vault" tab on the treasury's website artreasury.gov, according to his office.
Shoffner, former state treasurer and a Democrat from Newport, was caught on camera accepting bribes from a bond broker. She resigned as state treasurer in May 2013, was convicted in 2014 on 14 extortion and bribery charges and sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2015.
The treasurer's office has earned interest totaling $195.9 million since Milligan took office in January 2015, including $77.2 million in fiscal 2018 that ended June 30, according to figures provided by Chief Deputy Treasurer Grant Wallace. The office's interest earnings in fiscal 2018 were the largest since fiscal 2008, when they reached $113.1 million.
"We took this treasury from being a very passive treasury to a very active treasury, so I want to look at new investment opportunities to be able to bring to the state Board of Finance, but that will require legislative approval," Milligan said.
The amount invested through the Arkansas 529 College Investing Plan has increased from $568 million in 2015 to $830 million this year, according to Wallace.
Ewald said as a full-time ballot specialist for the national Libertarian party, she travels to other states to hire signature gatherers to qualify the party as a minor party so it can have candidates on the ballot. She said she believes she is qualified to manage the treasury based on her management experience, including restaurant management experience.
"When I am elected treasurer, I will bring honesty, integrity and transparency to the executive office," she said. "I should be elected over Milligan because he has shown that he is dishonest and frivolously spent taxpayer funds. We need to end these type of problems."
According to records in Illinois and Arkansas, Ewald has pleaded guilty to two alcohol law violations.
Ewald pleaded guilty on Feb. 28 of this year to a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol based on a complaint filed Sept. 12, 2017, according to Clark County records in Illinois. She pleaded guilty to a public intoxication charge on May 25, 2017, in Crawford County, according to court records in Arkansas.
Concerning her DUI charge in Illinois, Ewald said she drank some alcohol at lunch and "felt I shouldn't be driving," so she pulled off the road in the front of a gas station and was arrested while "I was just sitting in my car."
"I am only human and everyone makes mistakes," she said when asked why voters should cast their ballots for her in light of these violations. "It hasn't been a problem or a habit and I have the best interest of the people in mind."
Milligan declined to comment about the charges.
Ewald said Milligan hired his first cousin for a job that paid $63,000 a year and spent about $56,000 remodeling his office.
As far as hiring his first cousin, Milligan said, "I self reported that ... and I paid back every dime that was owed to the citizens of Arkansas."
He added, "We put controls in place where that could never happen again."
In March 2015, he signed an agreement with Attorney General Leslie Rutledge to pay a $1,000 civil penalty for violating state law by hiring his first cousin. He also voluntarily reimbursed the state $6,941.62 for the period the relative worked.
As for remodeling his office, Milligan said less than 1 percent of his total operational budget was spent to bring the office up to "a presentable standard" after he assumed office.
In February 2016, he agreed to pay a $400 fine to the Arkansas Ethics Commission and receive a public letter of warning in a settlement of an ethics complaint filed against him by attorney and left-leaning blogger Matt Campbell. Milligan said Campbell filed "a frivolous ethics complaint."
The treasurer's office has paid $402,925.23 to the Mitchell, Williams, Selig & Woodyard PLLC law firm since Milligan and his then-chief of staff were sued by a former employee in May 2015, according to Wallace. The employee lost a federal discrimination and defamation lawsuit over his termination.
Milligan's office hired outside counsel after Rutledge declined to represent Milligan and his staff, citing a conflict of interest. "There was no money spent outside what already was budgeted. We moved some money around, but I have been fully exonerated," Milligan said.
Metro on 10/22/2018