# Stephen Bright Chief of Staff to the Arkansas Treasurer of State during the Walther tenure (August 2023 - January 2025). Email signature: > Stephen D. Bright > Chief of Staff > Office of the Treasurer of State > Phone: (o) 501.682.3817 > Cell: 501.951.4814 > Fax: 501.682.3820 > [email protected] > 500 Woodlane, Suite 220 > Little Rock, AR 72201 ## Documented Israel Bonds-related role Bright is documented as the Walther-era Chief of Staff substantively coordinating Israel Bonds press communications between Treasurer Walther and the press-team principals (Heather McKim, Eric Munson). Sub-batch 3 documented appearances: (1) **Bright initiated the October 2024 Israel Prayer Ceremony speaking-notes preparation request to McKim** on 10/4/2024 9:24 AM: > We just spoke to the Treasurer about the Isreal on Monday. He asked for us to look at the press release we did for the Isreal bonds and get that to him this morning. Could you help me put that together this morning? He wants to keep his comments to a few minutes. Thanks so much. McKim's 9:44 AM response: "See the attached press release we did last October for Israel bonds. If I can have a few minutes to familiarize myself on Monday's event, I can help draft some comments." McKim used the 10/27/2023 press release content as the speech template — leading to Pulley's 10/7/2024 7:53 AM date-confusion catch (per R1 documentation). (2) **Bright reviewed the 10/27/2023 Walther press release** on the November 2023 $10M Israel Bonds purchase. McKim's 10/27/2023 2:12 PM "Please read and respond - Priority" email circulated the draft to Pulley, Munson, and Bright. Bright suggested adding explanation of what Israel bonds are: "Would it be possible to put a sentence or two explaining what Israel bonds are and how the purchase of these bonds helps Israel? I don't think a lot of people know what they are. No big deal if not." McKim responded "I think the main message is the support of Israel" and did not add the explanation. (3) **Bright cc on Munson's 11/2/2023 forward of Damon Dortch's daily P&S Transactions Dashboard report to Walther** showing the $57M Israel Bonds total post-purchase position. (4) **Bright cc on Munson's 12/3/2023 SFOF Israel Bonds virtual call participation question** to McKim, David Scott, and Bailey Hall. (5) **Bright on the Munson 6/6/2023 Foreign Asset Investment data response distribution** (per Munson's cc list to Selby Tucker). Bright's role as Walther-era Chief of Staff places him in the substantive Treasury-Treasurer-coordination tier alongside Munson (Chief Deputy Treasurer). The wiki documents Bright primarily as a press-communications coordinator and Walther-relationship intermediary; substantive investment-decision involvement is not documented. ## Cross-references [[treasury-foia-r2-9-23-25]] source page [[larry-walther]] the Treasurer Bright served as Chief of Staff for [[heather-mckim]] Chief Public Affairs Officer who Bright requested press-communications drafting from [[eric-munson]] Chief Deputy Treasurer; Bright's structural counterpart in the Walther executive team [[bailey-hall]] Treasury calendar coordinator copied alongside Bright on Israel Bonds coordination