UPDATE: AR Treasurer Shoffner Shows She Returned Money in Questionable Campaign Contribution
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Updated: January 15, 2013
UPDATE: Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner on Tuesday faxed a copy of a $10,000 check she wrote, paying back a questionable contribution from a New York law firm.
The check is dated Nov. 3, 2011---almost two years after her 2010 campaign finance disclosure forms show she received five installments of $2,000 each from that same law firm on Dec. 2, 2009.
Federal agents looking into questionable bond transactions directed by Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner are now scrutinizing some of her 2010 campaign filings, according to KARK sources.
At issue--a $10,000 contribution Shoffner got from a New York law firm in 2009. That same law firm, Kaplan, Fox, and Kilsheimer--is the securities monitoring counsel for the Arkansas Teachers Retirement System where Shoffner also sits on the board of trustees.
Shoffner, for the third time, hid from KARK when we sought comment from her.
A Democratic strategist who worked on her campaign, however, is talking.
Cord Rapert said he personally witnessed Shoffner get a lump sum check in the amount of $10,000 from that firm.
"It just didn't look appropriate to me," Rapert said, adding he does not believe Shoffner returned the money as reported in the news media in 2011.
"I would like to see some proof," he said.
Shoffner's 2010 campaign finance and expenditure report with the Secretary of State's Office shows she received five $2,000 payments from the law firm.
The firm did not return our call seeking comment.
GOP strategist Bill Vickery said if Shoffner cannot provide documentation she returned the lump sum payment, she could be in big trouble.
"If there is an inability for her campaign to prove they didn't give the contribution back, then that opens the not just a huge political liability, but a real legal liability," Vickery said.
The Department of Justice's policy is that it will not confirm or deny if it is conducting an investigation.
The check is dated Nov. 3, 2011---almost two years after her 2010 campaign finance disclosure forms show she received five installments of $2,000 each from that same law firm on Dec. 2, 2009.
Federal agents looking into questionable bond transactions directed by Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner are now scrutinizing some of her 2010 campaign filings, according to KARK sources.
At issue--a $10,000 contribution Shoffner got from a New York law firm in 2009. That same law firm, Kaplan, Fox, and Kilsheimer--is the securities monitoring counsel for the Arkansas Teachers Retirement System where Shoffner also sits on the board of trustees.
Shoffner, for the third time, hid from KARK when we sought comment from her.
A Democratic strategist who worked on her campaign, however, is talking.
Cord Rapert said he personally witnessed Shoffner get a lump sum check in the amount of $10,000 from that firm.
"It just didn't look appropriate to me," Rapert said, adding he does not believe Shoffner returned the money as reported in the news media in 2011.
"I would like to see some proof," he said.
Shoffner's 2010 campaign finance and expenditure report with the Secretary of State's Office shows she received five $2,000 payments from the law firm.
The firm did not return our call seeking comment.
GOP strategist Bill Vickery said if Shoffner cannot provide documentation she returned the lump sum payment, she could be in big trouble.
"If there is an inability for her campaign to prove they didn't give the contribution back, then that opens the not just a huge political liability, but a real legal liability," Vickery said.
The Department of Justice's policy is that it will not confirm or deny if it is conducting an investigation.
