Implied in his lawyer’s public response to the Ethics Commission’s investigation of Dennis Milligan was an assertion to the effect of, “Dennis Milligan would never do anything that broke any rules or act as if the law does not apply to him, and how dare anyone suggest as much?”
I mean, sure, the stories about Milligan’s improper actions as Saline County Clerk are myriad, but it’s not like he just routinely ignores even the most minor laws simply because his delusions of grandeur give him an ego that is grossly out of proportion with his actual ability or accomplishments. After all, if he really didn’t think he had to obey the rules and laws, he would do ridiculous things like parking a garishly decorated truck in a metered spot without paying the meter, right?
fore·shad·owfôrˈSHadō/verbgerund or present participle: foreshadowing
So it was that I was driving on Capitol yesterday, headed toward the building of the same name, when I spotted this:
It immediately struck me as odd that he would be parked in a metered spot at all, considering (a) the Treasurer’s Officer has a primo parking spot on the Capitol grounds:
and (b) there are free two-hour-parking spots both in the lot just beyond Milligan’s truck in the first picture above AND on the street just in front of his truck (the latter of which would actually be closer to the building than his current parking place):
Curious about the whole thing, I decided to take a look around. Which is when I walked around to the other side of the truck and noticed this:
Now, sure, anyone could accidentally forget to come back out and feed a parking meter. After all, this was just an isolated incident as far as I knew.
Which is why I made it a point to drive down Capitol again this morning as a follow-up. Around 8:15am, I turned left and saw this:
And, whaddaya know?
But…um…maybe he was only running inside and wasn’t going to stay at the Capitol today for some reason, so he figured he could get in and out before Code Enforcement came by and ticketed him. That seems reasonable, if still kind of strange given the Treasurer’s parking spot right near the Capitol doors.
Which is why I drove back by a little after 1PM today:
And, if you look closely, you can see the meter blinking red, which is parking-meter-ese for “this deadbeat STILL hasn’t paid to park here.”
Of course, this raises more than a few questions. Why he is parking in this space, rather than a free space or his assigned spot, all of which are closer and wouldn’t require him to carry change, is still unclear. Why he figures that he can park in this space and not pay the meter is also unanswered (unless the answer is simply “because he’s an egotistical jackwagon who thinks he can do whatever he wants”). But maybe the biggest question is, why the hell isn’t Little Rock Code Enforcement ticketing this truck for sitting there all day on an expired meter??
I’ve put a call into Code Enforcement for an answer, but haven’t heard back yet. If you’d like to ask them for yourselves, or you’d like to encourage them to actually ticket him for this, their number is 501-371-4685.
UPDATE: Drove by at 3:15PM, and there was no truck in sight, either parked illegally or in the proper parking spot on the Capitol grounds. So, if there’s an upside, I guess it’s that Milligan’s flouting of parking rules keeps him from spending a whole day mucking things up within the office.