Ethics commission releases report on former Sen. Paul Bookout

Published: Sep. 18, 2013 at 6:45 PM CDT|Updated: Sep. 19, 2013 at 1:30 PM CDT
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JONESBORO, AR( KAIT)-  The Arkansas Ethics Commission found former Sen. Paul Bookout in violation of an ethics code Wednesday in the final report. The commission vote was 5-0.

The report was released Wednesday showing Bookout violated four ethics codes by using campaign funds for personal use.

According to the report, of the $63,269 spent during his campaign, $9,964 was cited as campaign expenses. During the 2012 election cycle, Bookout received campaign fund totaling $80,950 and make purchases totaling $63,269.

The commission found Bookout in violation of depositing $18,200 in contributions he received into a bank account containing his personal funds. He also failed to itemize 93 expenses that exceeded $100.

Of the $63,000 in purchases, about $53,000 worth of purchases were not campaign expenses.

The report said Bookout did not keep invoices or receipts of his purchases nor did he make any records available to the commission.

In the report the commission found that Bookout made 9 payments totaling about $5,000 to Steamroller Blues. About $8,000 was paid to Sound Concepts Inc. for home theater equipment and installation and about $1,000 was paid to Ridgepointe Country Club for merchandise purchase at the pro shop.

The Commission determined that Bookout should be ordered to file amendments to his financial reports to provide itemization to all 97 expenditures over $100.  He was also given 30 days to pay his $8,000 fine.

A special prosecutor in Little Rock was assigned to see if Bookout did anything criminal.

Region 8 News reached out to Bookout but did not get a response.

To read the Ethics Commission final report click, here.

To read the reports for contributions and expenditure for 2012 click, here.

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