If I pay it back is it still a crime?

This is a great state to live and work, especially if you are an employee or an elected official of the state. In yet another case of egregious misuse of public funds the alleged offender apparently will not face criminal charges. John Harris director of the Arkansas Board of Architects is accused of receiving more than $100,000 in unauthorized travel reimbursements and falsified some travel records but faces nothing more than public embarrassment, according to Rep. Jim Medley, R-Fort Smith

On March 1st Harris resigned his post at the Board of Architects and has repaid over $100,000 in misspend tax dollars but admits no intentional wrongdoing. In an Associated Press article writer Andrew DeMillo writes,

"Despite the fact that Mr. Harris disputes any contention that he owes money to, or that he intentionally committed any wrongdoing, he has now reimbursed the state for all the sums the Legislative Audit contends are due,"Little Rock lawyer Patrick R. James wrote in the letter.

James added, "We understand the payment of these sums brings this matter to an end."

In this county you may remember special prosecutors finding egregious incidents of theft and fraud and in similar fashion no charges were filed. Is there no accountability or criminal liability for state employee's or elected officials?

Fortunately for us taxpayers this latest case of abuse got their attention and has raised their awareness of the problem. Senator Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia was reported saying,

"This is the most egregious situation I've seen since I've been a legislator. This is a whole lot of money, and there's a whole lot of questions left.

[. . . ]

What we've created in Arkansas ... is a situation where you can rob a bank and if you get caught, all you have to do is pay it back,"Malone said.

Rep. Jim Medley, R-Fort Smith adds, "About all the leverage we have is some sort of public outcry when something like this happens."

These sentiments are likely shared by most, if not all, of us taxpayers. It is down right outrageous that an elected or an appointed official can get away with misusing public money. All one has to do, if he gets caught is claim ignorance and repay the funds. This does nothing to deter future acts of misuse, what we need are actual laws that make this kind of activity illegal.

If you have read this site's support us page you'd see that new legislation making the misuse of public funds a crime is in the works. Thanks to Rep. Preston Scroggin, D-Vilonia, a new bill will be introduced at the 2007 legislative session that, if passed, will make the misuse of public funds a felony in cases like this one.

With any luck, and help from you and the mainstream media, we can get this passed into law to help prosecutors stop these kinds of abuses.

Be watching for this proposed legislation in Feb 2007…