Former Senator Jeremy Hutchinson is expected to cooperate with the government and plead guilty to a variety of charges. He’s charged with everything from stealing campaign funds to accepting bribes to pass legislation for his clients.
The newest charge claims Hutchinson was paid $157,500 from an orthodontist to alter the “Dental Practices Act”. Conduit News first reported this allegation in a 2017 interview with the former President of the Arkansas State Board of Dental Examiners, Dr. Jim Phillips. When asked about a controversial appointee Governor Asa Hutchinson had selected to the board, Phillips claimed Dr. Ben Burris paid Jeremy Hutchinson a six figure sum to end the regulation prohibiting Orthodontists from practicing outside their specialty. Read Dr. Phillips account and watch the full interview below.
The etiology of this actually began five or six years ago when a local orthodontist named of Ben Burris decided that he wanted to do more than just orthodontics in his practice. He wanted to do general dentistry. At that time state law rules and regulations prohibited a licensed specialist from doing general dentistry…Dr. Burris decided that he wanted to do general dentistry and hygiene specifically in his practice. Well this didn’t sit well with the general dentist here in town because he would take their patients and do hygiene in his orthodontic office. Sometimes he would do things that they didn’t want to do as far as treatment plans but the bottom line is this became a significant issue. He was brought before the State Board of Dental Examiners which basically voted against him and censured him for practicing outside of his specialty. Well, apparently this didn’t sit very well with Dr. Burris because he enlisted the help of a senator, Jeremy Hutchinson…the governor’s nephew. I understand that this was a cash transfer to initiate this legislation to what we call open the dental practice. – Dr. Jim Phillips
