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Senate vote spares Crumbly in disputed election, clears way for investigations Friday, Jun 13, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state Senate's vote Thursday to allow the winner of a disputed Democratic runoff to keep his seat despite admitted election irregularities cleared the way for state and federal investigations into allegations of voter fraud in St. Francis County. Senators voted 19-12 to accept a Senate panel's recommendation that Sen. Jack Crumbly, D-Widener, keep his seat though the panel concluded after a historic hearing this spring there were "flagrant voter fraud and irregularities" in his 2006 runoff for the District 16 Senate seat in eastern Arkansas. Though the uncertainty over Crumbly's possible expulsion is over, investigators are gearing up for a thorough review of the election process, as the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs requested after recommending the first-term senator not be banished from the chamber. "The U.S. attorney has a copy of the transcript ... and a special prosecutor has been appointed," Sen. Steve Faris, D-Malvern, the committee chairman, said Thursday. Faris said he met recently with a representative from the U.S. attorney's office to discuss irregularities revealed during the committee hearing, and that former state prosecutor H.G. Foster of Conway has been appointed as special prosecutor to lead a state investigation. Foster was appointed after St. Francis County Prosecutor Fletcher Long recused himself. Crumbly acknowledged after Thursday's vote that irregularities probably did occur during the Democratic runoff in which he defeated former state Rep. Arnell Willis of Helena-West Helena by 68 votes after Willis initially was declared the winner. Crumbly said he welcomed any investigation, but again denied any wrongdoing. "There were some indications of irregularities," he said. "Were there some mistakes made? The answer to that is yes. Were they intentional? Were they fraudulent? To the best of my knowledge, no." Thursday's proceeding marked only the second time in 34-years the full Senate assembled to decide the political fate of a fellow member. In 1974, senators voted to expel Democrat Guy H. "Mutt" Jones Sr. of Conway following a tax-evasion conviction. Faris outlined the committee's findings to the Senate on Thursday. "The election confidence has been so violated ... by election officials that it has made it to the Senate floor," he said near the end of his presentation, calling the matter "the saddest and most disgusting chapter in the history of the Senate." Lawmakers engaged in sometimes impassioned arguments during a two-hour debate on whether to oust Crumbly. Sen. Dave Bisbee, R-Rogers, called the District 16 runoff an embarrassment and urged colleagues to nullify the results and order a new election. "What are you going to tell a dead soldier's parents, that we didn't even have free elections in Arkansas?" Bisbee asked. "The (St. Francis County) election commission was campaigning for a candidate and the prosecutor stuck his head in the sand and (didn't) do anything." But Sen. Tracy Steele, D-North Little Rock, said there was no evidence that Crumbly influenced the outcome of the election in any way. "The only mistake Sen. Crumbly made was, he ran for the Senate," Steele said, adding Crumbly shouldn't be punished for fraud committed by others in the county. Sen Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle, who voted to remove Crumbly, said afterward he thought the Senate's credibility was damaged and that the issue would hang over Crumbly for the rest of his term. "I think there's always gong to be a cloud there over him," Glover said. Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, said the Senate enhanced its credibility by the way it handled the episode. "I think it's been handled with dignity and it's been handled with class," Broadway said. Willis, then a three-term House member, appeared to have won the 2006 runoff against Crumbly after the initial vote showed Willis ahead by 28 votes. However, a recount put Crumbly ahead by 68 votes, and a second recount confirmed Crumbly as the winner. No Republican sought the office, and Crumbly was seated in January 2007. Willis filed a lawsuit in St. Francis County Circuit 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. For three days in late March the Senate committee heard testimony, charged with deciding whether there was voter fraud and, if so, whether the fraud was enough to expel Crumbly. Willis' attorney, Mike Easley of Forrest City, argued the evidence brought into question about 800 votes, while Crumbly's attorney, Robin Carroll of El Dorado, said fewer than 30 votes were clouded. |
