Candidate on maltreatment list in ’06
Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008
An ex-lawmaker who has filed as a candidate for a state House of Representatives seat was placed in 2006 on the state’s Child Maltreatment Central Registry.
Dwayne Dobbins resigned from the District 39 seat in the House in August 2005 in a plea bargain after he was accused of fondling a 17-year-old girl. Seven months later, an administrative law judge placed Dobbins’ name on the maltreatment registry.
A month later, in April 2006, Dobbins alleged in an appeal of the law judge’s ruling that the state Department of Health and Human Services action of placing him on the registry should be overturned because “he was denied confrontation of witnesses against him by the failure of the complaining witness to ever testify under oath in any matter.”
It was not clear Wednesday whether Dobbins’ name remains on the list. The administrative appeal was filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, and court records examined Wednesday do not reveal a conclusion in the matter. A state official said the matter was confidential and that she could not publicly disclose whether Dobbins’ name is on the list now.
Dobbins at first faced a felony second-degree sexual-assault charge. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor harassment charge in August 2005. He was sentenced to one year of probation, was fined $ 1, 000 and agreed to give up the House of Representatives’ District 39 seat.
His wife, Sharon Dobbins, won the seat in a special election and was expected to file for re-election this year.
But less than two hours before the filing deadline Monday, Dwayne Dobbins filed as a Democrat for the seat, leaving state Democratic Party leaders scrambling unsuccessfully to field a candidate to oppose him. No one else filed for the seat.
The Department of Health and Human Services is now the Department of Human Services, and spokesman Julie Munsell declined to discuss whether Dobbins’ name remains on the registry.
But she said that in a hypothetical case in which a person’s name was put on the list in 2006, the person appealed the ruling and the appeal is still pending, that person’s name would be on the list until the circuit court overturned the listing.
There has been no activity in Dobbins’ case regarding the registry listing his name since June 2007, according to the Pulaski County clerk’s office Web site.
The child maltreatment registry and the registry checked for criminal backgrounds are separate lists. So, a check of the maltreatment registry would not show up in any criminal background checks, Munsell said.
She said that if a job requires contact with children, however, employers must check the maltreatment registry before hiring. Day-care workers, for example, cannot be hired if their names are listed on the registry.
A person on the maltreatment registry for neglect may have his name taken off after a certain amount of time, but if the person is on a list because of a criminal violation, his name remains on the list until it is removed by appeal or further administrative action.
Dobbins has not returned numerous phone calls to his home over the past three days, and no one answered the door at his North Little Rock home.
Dobbins was quoted by the Arkansas News Bureau as saying he has no plans to withdraw from the race and called the possibility of returning to elected office a “blessing.”
“If we are to show compassion in things and people, those out there that say they love one another... this is an opportunity to show it,” Dobbins said in a story published Wednesday. “We’ve got to move on, and that’s something that is very important.”
State Sen. Tracy Steele, whose district encompasses the House district in which Dobbins seeks election, said he hadn’t spoken with the former representative.
“I have reserved comment until I have had the opportunity to talk with former Rep. Dobbins,” Steele said. “I’d prefer to wait until I talk with him and we’re at a juncture where cooler heads will prevail.”
Steele, a friend of Dobbins, said he had no prior knowledge that Dobbins would be filing to run.
“Nobody has heard from them as to why they made the decision and what circumstances were in play,” he said. “They need to have the opportunity to explain themselves, and it’s going to be difficult to do that while they’re being attacked.”
The matter should be left to the people of the district, Steele said.
“Once we come out from behind the barrage of criticism and threats that’s been thrown at them, I think they’ll have an explanation,” he said.
The former legislator hasn’t returned state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney’s calls.
On Tuesday, Gwatney appealed in the media for Dobbins to abandon his campaign. Gwatney offered to have the party refund the $ 3, 000 filing fee.
“I left another message with him [Wednesday ], and I have spoken to two people who I think may have a line with him,” Gwatney said.
“But, I’m not out of options if he chooses not to resign,” the chairman said, referring to a plan to recruit a write-in candidate if Dobbins doesn’t leave the race.
Included with Dobbins’ appeal, was a copy of the final order listing him on the registry. It noted that there was a January 2006 hearing involving the Department of Health and Human Services Children and Family Services Division and the Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Division.
The order summarizes the facts of the case, in which the 17-year-old “went to his [Dobbins’ ] house to use his computer to register for a test, the ACT. It was common for them to be together. While she was at his house, Mr. Dobbins raised her shirt and her bra, touching her bare breasts. This happened several times. Also, Mr. Dobbins undid her pants and rubbed her stomach and her inner thigh area.”
Administrative Law Judge David Mackey found reason to place Dobbins on the agency’s child maltreatment registry.
Gwatney said Dobbins’ being on the child maltreatment registry concerns him.
“We have young people come and work in the Legislature as pages,” Gwatney said. “They come from all over the state — Fayetteville, Forrest City, Lake Village and El Dorado — and I can’t imagine him serving in the House of Representatives in that situation.”
“He does not need to be a member of the House,” he said.
Dobbins is black. The chairman of the legislative black caucus, Sen. Irma Hunter Brown, D-Little Rock, told The Associated Press that she has “great concerns” that Gwatney is trying to get Dobbins to get out of the race.
Sen. Hank Wilkins IV, D-Pine Bluff, who also is black, said he has empathy for Gwatney and Dobbins.
“I’m glad I wasn’t in the position to have to make the decision [Gwatney ] had to make,” he said.
Rep. Stephanie Flowers, DPine Bluff, said she was shocked by Dobbins’ filing and would try to prevent Dobbins from running if she were in Gwatney’s position.
“That district needs to be looking at writing in somebody. It puts a very hard and ugly light on that district over there,” Flowers said.
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