LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Arkansas’ attorney general has removed her name, image and voice from her office’s television ads to keep baseless claims of political rivals from impacting her duties, an official said.
Amanda Priest, spokeswoman for Leslie Rutledge, declined to identify the attorney general’s political opponents. But she said Rutledge doesn’t consider them to be lawmakers, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
“The Attorney General is hopeful that the effectiveness of the (public service announcements) will not be lost with the changes,” Priest said Thursday in a written statement.
Priest said the attorney general’s office has spent $2.2 million on radio and TV ads from state funds obtained through lawsuit settlements in fiscal 2020, which ended June 30.
The highest amount that the attorney general’s office spent on ads since at least fiscal 2008 was $459,200 in fiscal 2014, when Democrat Dustin McDaniel was the attorney general, according to the office records.
An additional $510,000 was added to have public service announcement run through the end of the calendar year, Priest said.
This month, Rutledge announced her bid for the Republican nomination for governor in 2022. She said her office’s ad campaign in fiscal 2020 was not for promotion.
Some state lawmakers have questioned the attorney general’s ad spending. One of them is Republican Sen. Jim Hickey, who said in recent years the problem has been about self promotion.
“We can use an independent voice and we can say the Arkansas attorney general’s office and use a 1-800 number, and we’ll get the same message to the people,” Hickey has said.
Hickey has recently said that Rutledge’s chief of staff, Cory Cox, recently told him the TV ads would change in line with his recommendation.
“We need to do some type of legislation to make it consistent,” Hickey said, which he added that him and Republican Sen. Kim Hammer are working on.
But Priest said there’s no need for legislation for when an elected official can use his or her name in media or any form of communication.
Priest added that the attorney general’s office received an average of 200 to 300 calls weekly in 2019. But since mid-March of this they have received 2,000-3,000 calls per week.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI