Judge rejects part of hard-drive suit
Posted on Saturday, December 22, 2007
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox denied a Freedom of Information Act request Friday filed by a Bella Vista man seeking information from governor’s office computer hard drives that were destroyed when Mike Huckabee was governor.
Jim Parsons said he was told that a backup copy of the information on the hard drives was put on computer tape before the drives were destroyed.
During a short hearing, Fox pressed Parsons’ attorney, Oscar Stilley of Fort Smith, asking why he did not include Huckabee’s former chief of staff Brenda Turner in the complaint. Turner has been identified by Parsons as the person who was given the backup tapes.
“She’s the one that’s got what you say you need,” Fox said.
In an affidavit submitted by Huckabee’s attorney, Kevin Crass, Turner stated that the records were in storage.
Stilley countered that he believed Turner was acting as Huckabee’s agent so that naming the former governor should be sufficient to bring the Freedom of Information Act claim.
Fox denied the information request but left the other issues in Parsons’ complaint in place. Among other claims, Parsons alleges that the money spent to destroy the tapes was an “illegal exaction” of tax funds.
His suit also claims that the former governor used a statefunded emergency fund as a “slush fund” that Huckabee “could use upon his whims for political purposes with or without the agreement of those delegated to review and approve expenditures from the fund.” The action seeks reimbursement of some of the allocations and asks that Huckabee be barred from holding state office for five years.
Fox did not rule on any other issues in the suit, nor did he rule on a motion to dismiss the suit entirely, deciding to give Stilley an opportunity to file a brief in opposition to the dismissal motion. Stilley said he would file a response.
A court official said the deadline for the brief is Jan. 9.
After the hearing, Crass said he hoped Turner would not be added as a party in the suit.
“I would hope he [Parsons ] would stop the recklessness,” Crass said. “Mrs. Turner is a private citizen who is not subject to the FOI. I hope they’ll let it go.” But Stilley said it was “highly possible” that a future suit would name Turner.
Parsons said the judge’s ruling was “just one battle.” “That’s not the war,” he said. “What we’re trying to establish today is we’re trying to get the records back so we’ll know what the governor’s record was for the last 10 years.” Last week, the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct voted unanimously to initiate disbarment proceedings against Stilley and announced he would be suspended in the interim.
The committee’s director, Stark Ligon, said Stilley has seven days from his receipt of the suspension order in which to seek a stay. The order has not been sent out yet, Ligon said Friday.
Stilley said he would seek a stay, saying “none of my clients are displeased with me.”
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