LITTLE ROCK — The Democratic Party of Arkansas says state Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb has crossed ethical lines by taking a taxpayer-funded job in Bryant city government.
State Democratic Party spokeswoman Candace Martin criticized Webb on Friday for accepting the job of acting city attorney for the city of Bryant. The hiring was first reported on the website MySaline.com.
Bryant Mayor Jill Dabbs, a Republican, appointed Webb to the position Thursday night at an annual salary of $65,000. He is expected to serve two or three months.
The mayor said at a Bryant City Council meeting that Webb, a Benton resident who has an office at state GOP headquarters in Little Rock, will not work 8 to 5 in Bryant but will be available by phone or email during those hours.
“Considering his partisan position that he currently holds, and the fact that he’s not going to serve in normal office hours, the whole thing seems very unethical,” Martin said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Dabbs, Webb and a spokeswoman for the state Republican Party did not immediately return calls seeking comment Friday.
Will Bond, the state Democratic Party’s chairman, also is an attorney who does legal work outside of his Democratic Party duties. Martin said Bond’s situation is different because he is not paid by taxpayers.
“If he’s on the taxpayer dime, he needs to be serving the taxpayers, not partisan interests,” she said of Webb.
She also noted that the Democratic Party chairman is not a paying position. Webb draws a $60,000 annual salary as GOP chairman.
The Bryant city attorney’s job became open with the resignation of Nga Mafouz, who was paid $123,000 annually.
In 2001, Webb was reprimanded by the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct after the panel found he violated three rules of professional conduct but committed no fraud by accepting about $321,000 as beneficiary of a client’s will.
In August, the state Ethics Commission cautioned Dabbs for raising her salary from $65,000 to $71,000 without the approval of the City Council. Dabbs gave up the raise and returned the money.