Panel deliberates vote-contest case
Posted on Friday, March 28, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/221052/
A state Senate committee deliberated about four hours Thursday a historic election contest case, then spread further action over the next several days.
Meeting in private, committee members discussed testimony they had received in two days of hearings this week and examined election documents submitted as evidence in the case.
Former state Rep. Arnell Willis of Helena-West Helena contends he won a June 13, 2006, Democratic Party primary runoff but victory was snatched away by election irregularities that resulted in Jack Crumbly of Widener being sent to the Senate to represent District 16.
Willis wants the committee to recommend to the Senate that Crumbly be removed and Willis seated, instead.
It takes a two-thirds Senate majority to expel a member, something the Senate hasn’t done in 34 years.
Crumbly maintains the election was legitimate and that he should continue the four-year term he began serving in January 2007.
“We hope to come to a decision next week,” said Sen. Steve Faris, D-Central, chairman of the State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, speaking of the recommendation the committee will make.
This is the first election contest case the Senate ever has taken up, Faris said.
The committee met for more than a dozen hours Tuesday and Wednesday. The hearings could lay the groundwork for changing election laws when the Legislature meets in 2009, Faris said. He didn’t have any specific proposals yet.
Willis lost to Crumbly by 68 votes in the official count.
Willis’ lawyer told the committee 881 votes should be tossed, a number he called sufficient to render the election outcome unacceptable.
Crumbly’s lawyer said only about 30 ballots should be considered disputed.
The committee won’t meet today because some of its members have schedule conflicts, Faris said. Committee members are taking information to their homes this weekend to study.
“The deliberations are still going on,” Faris said.
The committee will meet Tuesday after the Legislature adjourns for the day in the special legislative session that begins Monday to take up Gov. Mike Beebe’s plan to raise the state severance tax on natural gas.
“We have got a bunch more books to go through as far as voter registration lists,” Faris said. “We are rehashing a lot of the names and the information that was given.
“ The worst thing we can do as a committee is to rush into a decision without digesting all the information properly.”
He declined to discuss details of the deliberations.
“We are asking questions of one another and attempting to come to a fair decision for both parties in this situation,” Faris said.
The committee includes Sens. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway; Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle; Randy Laverty, D-Jasper; Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins; Ed Wilkinson, DGreenwood; Shawn Womack, R-Mountain Home; and Crumbly, who has recused from the proceedings in this case.
Willis’ attorney, Mike Easley, said Thursday that he wants the committee to recommend that Willis be declared the winner in the race. He said he believes he proved fraud in the election.
Crumbly’s attorney, Robin Carroll of El Dorado, disagreed, disputing Easley’s accusations.
Crumbly said he’ll wait and see what happens.
“I am certainly apprehensive, but I can imagine Mr. Willis is, too,” he said.
Willis said he’s thankful that the committee allowed Easley to “put on proof that has been suppressed over two years,” as he tried to litigate the issue in court.
“But the naked truth came out over the last two days,” Willis said. “I just hope and pray that the members of the committee will act on that truth and right the wrong that occurred on June 13, 2006.”
Under the procedures adopted for the election contest, the committee “shall make” one of these recommendations: If the evidence indicates fraud or irregularities influenced the results of the election and it “rose to a level that would have changed the outcome of the election,” the committee “shall recommend” that Crumbly be expelled from the Senate seat and Willis placed in it. If the evidence indicates fraud or irregularities influenced the results of the election “to the extent that it is impossible to determine the true winner,” the committee shall recommend Crumbly be expelled and the seat be declared vacant. If the evidence indicates fraud or irregularities “did not rise to the level that influenced the results of the election” and Crumbly was duly elected, the committee shall recommend that Crumbly maintain his position in the Senate. If the evidence indicates “no fraud or irregularities” and Crumbly was duly elected, the committee shall recommend Crumbly maintain his position.
Under the procedures, Faris will present the recommendation, a summary of the hearings and a transcript to the Senate’s top official, President Pro Tempore Jack Critcher, D-Batesville.
The Senate “shall be given time” to review the recommendation and any documents before convening to consider whether to approve the recommendation. The Senate could amend that recommendation by a majority vote.
Faris estimated it would be at least two months before the Senate would consider the recommendation.
A court reporter could take her at least 30 days to complete the transcript of the hearing, he said.
The two-thirds majority for expelling a senator is a requirement set by Article 5, Section 12 of the Arkansas Constitution.
If the Senate expelled Crumbly and declared the seat vacant, Article 5, Section 6 of the constitution says, “The governor shall issue writs of election, to fill such vacancies as shall occur in either house of the General Assembly.”
The last time an Arkansas legislative chamber expelled a member was 1974, but that wasn’t an election contest. The Senate expelled Guy H. “Mutt” Jones of Conway after he was convicted in a federal tax case.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 15 state lawmakers from 13 states have been expelled since 1970.
Two were from Michigan and two from Massachusetts. There was one apiece from Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and West Virginia.
Some expulsions have involved events more serious than elections. In 1837, an Arkansas House speaker, John Wilson, stabbed a lawmaker who died. Wilson resigned, but his resignation was refused, and, instead, he was expelled by the House, according to Call the Roll: The First One Hundred Fifty Years of the Arkansas Legislature.