-By Warner Todd Huston
On Saturday the FBI arrested two-term Arkansas State Treasurer Martha Shoffner (D, Newport) on charges of “extortion under color of official right,” a violation of the Hobbs Act.
Shoffner has been under scrutiny in Arkansas for a seemingly unexplainable investment she made of state funds. After a legislative audit last year it came to light that in 2011 her office sold 11 bonds that hadn’t matured and then bought similar bonds from the same brokers, resulting in a loss of more than $58,000 of the state’s money.
Republicans have been clamoring for her resignation for sometime over this failed investment strategy.
In December of 2012, state authorities decided to hand over their investigation to federal authorities once it appeared that, along with the failed investing practices, Shoffner had also converted campaign funds to her personal use.
Now Shoffner has been arrested by the feds for violating the Hobbs Act–which prohibits actual or attempted robbery or extortion affecting interstate or foreign commerce.
The Treasurer was arrested at her Newport home at 4:30 PM on Saturday, May 18, and is being held without bond in Pulaski County jail.
Neither Shoffner nor Governor Mike Beebe’s office have commented on the arrest.
Shoffner will appear in court on Monday for a hearing.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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