Alderwoman fined by Ethics Commission
By Greg Rayburn / Editor / news@sherwoodvoice.com
Saturday, November 10, 2007 4:51 PM CST
Alderwoman Marina Brooks has agreed to pay fines totaling $250 for violating state election laws that mandate she disclose financial information to the public.
According to September and October letters sent from the Arkansas Ethics Commission to herself and the citizen who filed the complaint, Doris Anderson of Sherwood, Brooks agreed to pay a fine of $100 for failing to file a State of Financial Interest form with the city clerk's office for 2006.
The ethics commission also issued her a letter stating she failed to disclose enough information on her SFI form for 2004. For the 2004 violation, she agreed to pay a fine of $150.
In her 2004 violation, the ethics commission determined that Brooks failed to disclose five pertinent pieces of information, which were:
1) She failed to list Marvin Brooks as a name under which her husband does business. Brooks is the wife of Tom Brooks, owner of Cinergi Contractors of Sherwood.
2)She failed to disclose that the Sherwood Chamber of Commerce was one of her sources of income of more than $1,00 in 2004.
3)She failed to identify her husband as president of Cinergi Contractors which is subject to regulatory authority of the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board.
4)She failed to disclose that the City of Sherwood did more than $1,000 in business with Cinergi Contractors in 2004.
5)She failed to file her SFI report for 2004 in a timely fashion.
In her 2006 violation, she failed to file a SFI report for 2006 in a timely fashion.
In the case of her 2006 violation, she signed a consent decree. And in the case of her 2004 violation, she signed a written offer of settlement that was presented to her by the ethics commission.
In the commission's letter to her regarding her 2006 violation, it reads, “The foregoing action was taken as a result of your acknowledging that you violated … (state ethics law) … by failing to file a Statement of Financial Interest form for calendar year 2006 with the Sherwood City Clerk's office.”
Brooks' letter about her 2004 violations sounds very similar, with her agreeing that she failed to disclose information about the use of her husband's name, his businesses, and that the business did business with the city of Sherwood.
Rita Looney, chief legal counsel for the Arkansas
Ethics Commission, said signing such orders is comparable to making an admission of guilty.
Anderson, who ran for the office of Sherwood mayor last year during a special election, said she was satisfied with the decision of the ethics commission.
“They did a very thorough investigation,” Anderson said.
Anderson said she decided to file a citizen complaint about Brooks as she was doing research on elected city officials in 2006. Anderson said she went into the clerk's office to see what she would find.
“What I first saw was that Mrs. Brooks didn't file a Statement of Financial Interest form for 2006 and that is a fragrant violation of state ethics law, so I decided to file a complaint,” Anderson said.
Both Anderson and Looney said public officials in Arkansas are mandated to disclose certain amounts of financial information about themselves and their families as a way for the public to judge if their votes are in any way being swayed by their own financial interests.
“If council members are themselves or have families that are doing business with the city of Sherwood, the laws are designed to let the public know this information,” Anderson said. “The law is very clear about this.”
Anderson said she discovered Brooks' 2004 violation when she dug deeper after her initial investigation found that Brooks failed to file any form for 2006.
“Those Financial Statement of Interest forms have to be filed by the last day of January for the preceding year and she didn't file any form,” Anderson said. “So I started looking at other years and found what I found for 2004,” Anderson said.
Brooks said neither of her omissions were attempts to hide anything.
Brooks also said she had thought she had filed her 2006 form but discovered she forget after getting a letter from the state ethic's commission.
Brooks said she visited the clerk's office and learned she hadn't filed a form.
She said part of the reason she forgot was she was getting surgery on her foot about the same time her deadline came in January to file her financial form.
With respect to her 2004 form violation, Brooks said she was a new council member and thought she had filled out the information thoroughly.
“There was no malice or any attempt to hide anything,” Brooks said.
Brooks said she believes Anderson's filing a complaint against her is unfortunate.
“We only make $6,000 a year doing this and people want to give us a hard time like this,” Brooks said. “The election is over and people need to move on. She ran for mayor last year and came in fourth with only (about) 400 votes.”
Brooks said she accepted the offer from the ethics commission for a $150 fine for failing to include all necessary financial information on her financial statement, but she didn't agree with it.
“But I accepted it because I wanted to move on,” Brooks said.
Brooks said she was a new council member and felt she should have been given more understanding.
