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Elizabeth Caldwell, FOIArkansas Project

LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Huckabee has had several brushes with the state’s open records law since taking office in July 1996, mostly related to a broad exemption that applies to the governor and a few others.

Most notably, Huckabee refused in 1997 to release records of a telephone hotline he established to collect citizens’ tips about suspected government corruption.

Then-Attorney General Winston Bryant sued Huckabee under the state Freedom of Information Act. Bryant said the records were public information.

Huckabee contended the records qualified as governor’s “working papers” and were exempt from the law.

“My brushes were really not with the law. I think the law is very important, a very vital safeguard to having the public protected from a government action against their best interest,” Huckabee said in a recent interview.

His problem was with the attorney general, Huckabee said. Bryant wanted to release the records to the public “for the purpose of, I felt, thwarting an ongoing ... investigation,’’ he said.

The legal issue of whether the records were public or private was never determined.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge David Bogard dismissed the suit, ruling that Bryant, in his capacity as attorney general, did not qualify as a “citizen” under Arkansas law. Only a “citizen” has authority to sue for the records, the judge said. In the dismissal, Bogard didn’t address whether the records were subject to disclosure.

In December 1997, the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down Bogard’s ruling and sent the case back to him for determination of the issues in the case.

Bryant’s term ended Jan. 12, 1999. His successor, Mark Pryor, declined to pursue the case, saying the objective was met because Huckabee had turned over the records to the Arkansas State Police.

Some of those records eventually were released by the state police under a separate FOI request; others were not because they qualified for another exemption in the law, which keeps records that are part of an ongoing investigation private until the investigation is complete.

The hotline received nearly 600 calls between Oct. 10 and Dec. 3, 1997. Records were turned over to state police Jan. 12, 1998.

The hotline was part of Huckabee’s review of transactions involving state money; it was established after news accounts surfaced that a state representative and two politically connected lawyers had received $750,000 in grants. The grants, awarded without competitive bids, were to provide legal help for children in custody cases.

A 15-month federal investigation ensued, resulting in a 131-count grand jury indictment April 27. The indictment named state Sen. Nick Wilson, D-Pocahontas, as a kingpin in a conspiracy of past and present government officials and their associates to profit illegally from state contracts.

It is unclear whether information from the governor’s hotline aided in the investigation of Wilson and nine others who have pleaded innocent to the charges. Trial is pending.

Other publicized situations involving Huckabee and whether meetings or records should be open:

• When Kamala Williams, former administrator at the Governor’s Mansion, said she was forced to resign in 1998, she requested a copy of her personnel records, but was given only a partial copy. Williams said the governor’s office claimed part of the file fell under the “working papers” exemption, but Bryant said in a non-binding opinion from the attorney general’s office that the exemption did not apply and that the records should be turned over to Williams immediately.

  Rex Nelson, Huckabee spokesman, said at the time that there was simply a mixup in the records and that Williams didn’t need to go to the attorney general’s office for help. Nelson said Williams was given a complete copy of her file.

• On Oct. 31, 1996, Huckabee met privately with the Post Prison Transfer Board, which brought into question whether the open meetings portion of the FOI Act had been violated.

  Minutes of the meeting showed that Huckabee and the board met in executive session. Only personnel decisions can be discussed legally in such sessions and attendance is limited to the person being discussed and that person’s supervisor. The board’s vice chairman said Huckabee and the board discussed the case of convicted rapist Wayne DuMond, whose guilt Huckabee had questioned. The board later approved parole for DuMond.

• After forming the Governor’s Working Group on Juvenile Justice, the governor said meetings likely would be private because some appointees were uncomfortable discussing their views publicly. The task force was to recommend possible changes in juvenile justice laws in the aftermath of the schoolyard shooting near Jonesboro that killed a teacher and four students.

  Bryant said in an opinion the working group was not subject to the FOIA because it was an advisory body only.

  Huckabee agreed to open the meetings, however, after objections from the media. Because Huckabee made the decision voluntarily, the issue of whether the meetings were required to be open was never formally decided.

• Governor’s Mansion administrator Don Bingham let reporters examine a ledger of checks written on the $60,000-a-year account for expenses at mansion, but didn’t provide receipts for the expenses as requested under the FOIA. Bingham said receipts weren’t kept at the time, although he said that practice since has changed.

Three Arkansans filed suit in October 1998 alleging Huckabee misused the account for personal expenses. The suit followed news accounts in which the former mansion administrator said the Huckabees abused the account. The case is pending.