Senate Ethics Committee adopts findings, adds statement that witnesses were credible

The Senate Ethics Committee voted unanimously to adopt its committee report as amended, adding a sentence that "the committee found all witnesses who testified at the adjudicative hearing to be credible," after members debated whether portions of a legislative auditor's memo should be included or summarized in the factual findings.

The committee, led by Chairman Mandeville, spent the meeting reviewing staff edits and several conceptual amendments proposed by Senator Smith and others. Senator Smith said he sought a document limited to factual findings and cautioned against inserting legal conclusions: "I have been very clear here that my goal is a factual finding. I've been very clear that I do not want this document to include legal conclusions," he said. Counsel proposed a concise concluding sentence to record the committee's determination of credibility; the committee approved that conceptual amendment by voice vote.

A key point of contention centered on testimony and a memo from legislative auditor and division director Angus McKeever, who, according to the transcript, "testified that his office substantiated the allegations involving Senator Ellsworth's actions related to Agile contracts as instances of waste and abuse" and said there was an "artificial division of the contract contrary to state law." Several members, including Senator Smith, argued that some paragraphs quoting McKeever risked phrasing that could be read as legal conclusions rather than factual recitation. Special counsel responded that "the memo itself is a fact" and that both the memo and McKeever's quoted testimony were admissible and relevant to the committee's appearance-of-impropriety analysis.

To reduce the risk of implying legal conclusions, the committee agreed to keep a factual statement summarizing McKeever's testimony and to delete a later paragraph characterized by members as the riskiest for appearing to endorse a legal finding. Counsel offered to combine and reword paragraphs for clarity and to supply exhibit citations for the report.

Members also discussed factual details the committee wanted in the findings, including sworn statements from Bryce Eggleston and a Secretary of State filing for Agile Analytics (cited in the transcript as exhibit 35) indicating Eggleston appears as a listed officer or director; the committee noted no additional financial documents were obtained to confirm creditor or loan interests related to Senator Ellsworth.

Senator Pope moved to accept all conceptual amendments discussed, and the committee approved that motion. Senator Pope then moved to adopt the report as amended; the committee voted by voice and the chair announced the motion carried unanimously. The committee discussed signature conventions for the report and whether all members or only the chair should sign; members expressed a preference that multiple members sign to reflect committee cooperation. The committee adjourned following the vote.

The committee did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript; the transcript records voice votes and the chair's announcements that the motions carried unanimously.