ARK. ATTORNEY GEN RELEASES RECORDS -Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has released her full personnel file from her time at the state Department of Human Services, two days after a judge ordered the files opened. Rutledge produced eight previously unreleased pages of her file regarding work performance and filing for unemployment benefits.
Those included two written warnings following Rutledge missing a court hearing and not returning phone calls, as well as files Rutledge alleges were doctored by her supervisors following her leaving the agency in 2007. Rutledge told Arkansas Public Media that none of the infractions documented in her file would merit the "gross misconduct" she alleges was written in her file as a reason for her termination.
Rutledge explained “None of the instances that are listed here resulted in any harm to any cases, or, most importantly, any harm to any children."
Rutledge abruptly left her position in the Office of the Chief Counsel in December 2007 to work on former Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign. A Democratic Party of Arkansas staff member, sued the department this month to obtain redacted portions of Rutledge's employee file. Rutledge, a Republican, faces Democrat Mike Lee in the Nov. 6 election.
