|
|
| |
| Sat, Aug. 30, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Election challenger says runoff tricks 'un-American' Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The chairman of the St. Francis County Election Commission denied wrongdoing Tuesday in a disputed 2006 Senate runoff election in East Arkansas. Frederick Freeman denied accusations that he stuffed ballots in an effort to get Jack Crumbly elected, and said he was not Crumbly's campaign chairman. "It didn't happen," Freeman said in response to suggestions by attorney Mike Easley that he "took an armful of absentee ballots from poll workers." The exchange came on the first day of testimony before a Senate committee trying to determine whether Crumbly was legally elected to the District 16 seat. Former state Rep. Arnell Willis of Helena-West Helena is challenging the election results and is seeking to be declared the winner. Testifying Tuesday, Willis called the 2006 runoff election "un-American ... it was downright shameful." "This is not a Third World banana republic," he said. "This is the United States of America." In his opening arguments to the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, Easley, Willis' lawyer, said he would prove there was widespread "political corruption and schemes to subterfuge the voting process" in the 2006 runoff. "The odor of impropriety hung like pall over this election," he said. Crumbly's attorney, Robin Carroll of El Dorado, told the seven-member committee that the allegations against his client were exaggerated and that Easley "cannot produce one (person) who says an impostor voted on their behalf." Carroll also noted all of the witnesses in support of Willis were either Willis' campaign workers or on Easley's payroll. "Sen. Crumbly won the race fair and square," Carroll said. Easley, of Forrest City, called eight witnesses during the daylong hearing in the old Supreme Court chamber at the state Capitol. Two more are expected to testify today before Carroll begins calling his witnesses. Most of the seats in the old Supreme Court Chamber were full during the hearing. Several senators and House members attended, as did Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. Once testimony is completed, the committee will meet privately to decide on a recommended to the full Senate whether Crumbly should keep his seat. Willis, a three-term state House member at the time, appeared to have won the June 2006 runoff against Crumbly, the Earle school superintendent, after the initial vote count showed Willis ahead by 28 votes. However, a recount put Crumbly ahead by 74 votes, and a second recount confirmed Crumbly as the winner. Willis filed a lawsuit in St. Francis County Circuit Court challenging the election results. A special circuit judge ruled in February that the Legislature, not the courts, should decide who should occupy the Senate seat. Two of the witnesses who testified Tuesday, Freeman and Forrest City City Councilwoman Louise Fields, were described by Easley as the two key players in getting Crumbly elected. Freeman stuffed the ballots and Fields, who Easley described as the "absentee queen," forged names to absentee cards and helped people vote illegally, the attorney alleged. Freeman denied the allegations and said he was never alone in the St. Francis County Courthouse stuffing ballots, as Easley suggested. Freeman did admit forwarding an e-mailing in November 2005 about Crumbly establishing an exploratory committee for the Senate race. The e-mail, he said, was simply meant to say that Crumbly was "a good guy ... worthy of consideration." Easley also mentioned Freeman's wife works in the Earle School District, where Crumbly is superintendent. Fields, under questioning by Easley, said she helped people vote absentee, but denied forging any documents or helping people get to the polls illegally. Aundra Smith of Little Rock testified he is still registered to vote in Forrest City and that Fields got him to sign an absentee voter request form. He said he did not vote in the election but later found his name was listed on voter records as having voted. Calvin Holden, who worked for Willis on the campaign, testified he saw Fields at a U.S. Post Office with several boxes of absentee ballots. Fields denied ever having more than two absentee ballots at a time, which is the law, and denied forging any names on the voting rolls. Also testifying Tuesday was Dawn Reed, a handwriting expert, who said she reviewed the absentee ballots and voter rolls and concluded that the names of several voters were forged. She described what she found as a "forgery frenzy." |
