JP candidate wants opponent’s son off Election Commission
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008
A Tontitown area woman running for the District 1 Washington County Quorum Court seat against incumbent Tom Lundstrum has exercised her statutory right to remove Lundstrum’s son, Tom Lundstrum Jr., from the Washington County Election Commission because they are related.
Green, a Democrat, faces the senior Lundstrum, a Republican from the rural Springdale area, in the November general election.
District 1 includes Johnson, Tontitown and Elm Springs.
Green stated in an e-mail sent to the Northwest Arkansas Times on Wednesday that she requested Election Commission Chairman John Logan Burrow to ask that the junior Lundstrum be removed from the commission this year. Green said it is important for the fairness and appearance of being fair for the Election Commission.
“ His father is my opponent, and therefore it seems to be only fair, ” she said. “ I am disappointed that I am the one that had to ask. I feel Mr. Lundstrum should have stepped down. ”
That way, she said, Lundstrum is not putting her in an “ awkward position” to ask him to leave the commission.
“ He knows that if his father is running against an opponent, then it’s not going to appear to be fair in November, ” she said.
When contacted Wednesday, Lundstrum Jr. said, “ I think within the law she has a position to ask for me to step aside. I guess there’s some sort of minimal procedure whereby she does that. I’m not sure exactly what point she’s trying to prove other than the law allows it. ”
He said Green is taking away the time and money spent by the county for his training as an election commissioner, in a presidential election year, “ on speculation I have a desire to go to prison and throw an election for my father. ”
If he were the other two commissioners, Democrats Burrow and Pete Loris, Lundstrum said, “ I would take it as a slap in the face that they would let something like that happen if I remained on the commission. ”
Burrow said he asked Green to consider waiving the statutory provision in this case “ because Tom has been such a stalwart man of integrity on the Election Commission. There was no question in my mind that he would handle that election fairly and honestly. ”
He acknowledged, however, that Green has the right to exercise the provision.
“ I just kind of regret that this happened, ” Burrow said.
The provision in the statute states that “ no person may serve as an election official if married to or related within the second degree of consanguinity to any candidate running for office in the current election if objection to his or her service is made to the county board within 10 calendar days after posting the list of officials. ”
The next step in the process is for the county Republican Central Committee to designate someone to serve in the capacity Lundstrum is serving, Burrow said.
Although Green said she requested that Burrow ask Lundstrum to be removed, Burrow said, “ I don’t believe there’s any option. Whenever there’s a person who’s related to the candidate, the opposition has the right to request they not serve as an election official. ”
Burrow, who is serving on the Election Commission in lieu of the chairman of the county’s Democratic Central Committee, said he has served with Lundstrum since 1995 — except for a hiatus when Lundstrum worked on a campaign. Lundstrum serves on the Election Commission in lieu of the chairman of the county’s Republican Central Committee.
Lundstrum said he worked daily on Republican Fay Boozman’s campaign for U. S. Senate in 1996 and removed himself from the Election Commission until that election was over. Phil Schoettlin replaced him during his absence, he said.
“ He had months to prepare, ” Lundstrum said. “ He did a great job, but he was ready. ”
Green noted that she was allowing enough time — six months before the general election — for the removal.
She said she was approached by Burrow on May 19 after a county Democratic Central Committee meeting.
“ He asked if I would please not do this, especially don’t do it two weeks before the election, ” she said. “(Burrow and Lundstrum ) had obviously talked about it. ”
Burrow said Wednesday that he and Lundstrum had not visited about it prior to Burrow asking Green not to exercise the provision for removal.
“ I brought it to her attention that the statutory right existed, ” he said. “ I asked her to waive that right in this particular instance. ”
He said he discussed the matter with Lundstrum during the May 20 primary.
By asking for Lundstrum’s removal, Green said, “ I’m not saying he’s a bad person. By using my right to ask him to resign, I’m not implying or saying that he is a bad person. I’ve never met the man. ”
Lundstrum, who talked about the good working relationship and trust he has with Burrow and Loris, said, “ The county would be best served for her to remove her objection and let me do my job. I’m just down there doing a job. I’m not down there trying to manipulate elections. ”
He said he does not understand asking somebody who has “ never done this before ” to walk into the room in November and contribute to the running of the election.
“ I don’t get it. It’s just silly, ” he said. “ I just don’t understand what her motivation is other than seeking some press. I just think it’s unfortunate that she is willing to take that experience out of that seat for that one night. ”
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