The state Ethics Commission has rejected Mike Huckabee's request to rewrite a letter of caution it issued to the former governor for not revealing the donors to a fund for his official portrait.

Ethics Commission Director Graham Sloan said Friday that he told Huckabee's attorney that the panel would not revise the letter to remove a reference to Huckabee acknowledging that he violated the law. Attorney Kevin Crass said Huckabee did not agree in a settlement with the commission that he would acknowledge any wrongdoing for not releasing the fund's donors.

Huckabee released the names of the donors in April in response to a complaint filed with the commission that he violated a 2001 law requiring him to report the names of those giving gifts to him on behalf of the state.

Friday, Sloan released a letter he sent to Crass rejecting the effort to revise the letter of caution.

Sixty-one staffers, appointees and lobbyists gave more than $31,000 total to the special events fund established to pay for Huckabee's official portrait at the state Capitol.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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