State legislators question legality of Board of Corrections attorney hire

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Arkansas legislators are still questioning the State Board of Corrections contract with its attorney and how the attorney was hired for its litigation against the state.

KARK News reports members of the Joint Performance Review Committee are claiming the contract was written up illegally. On Thursday, Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Corrections, Chad Brown, testified that while he does not believe there was any intent of wrongdoing, there was a lack of process. “I don’t think there’s a process in place on the board’s side of the equation, because again, they’d never gone down this path before,” Brown said.

Senator Ben Gilmore (R-Crossett) is also accusing the board of violating the Freedom of Information Act and open-meeting policies multiple times. “We’re trying to shed a light on the fact that there’s no transparency, they’re not following the statutes and procurement process and all these things the legislature has created for the people and to protect the people,” Gilmore said.

Board members who were not at the Thursday meeting, and the board’s attorney, have been subpoenaed to be at the next meeting on April 22nd.

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