You need not be a paid newspaper employee to dig up information on public officials.
Case in point is some information I received today from a citizen reader. (It was augmented by a little reporting of my own.)
It pertains to Prosecutor Marcus Vaden of Conway, who earned newspaper attention recently because it’s his duty to review some of the unusual fund transferring turned up in a state audit of the University of Central Arkansas. In one episode, money was paid to a marketing firm which in turn sent some of the money to boost pay in the athletic department. Because of state limits, the school could not send more money directly to the athletic department, so it used a pass-through.
It turns out state auditors turned up something of a similar situation regarding a long-time arrangement in which Prosecutor Vaden leased office space from an LLC in which Vaden held 25 percent ownership. The prosecutor and the county have since taken steps to satisfy auditors’ questions.
UPDATE: House Speaker Robbie Wills is also a part-owner in this partnership. Vaden reported his transaction as a government sale on his statement of financial interest. Wills did not, but the statement requires reporting of “sales to the governmental body for which you serve.”
Here’s the deal: