By Ray King
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Democratic Party nominee for District 12 of the State House of Representatives was ineligible to serve, agreeing with a ruling from a Pulaski County Circuit Judge.
Jimmie Wilson won the Democratic Party’s nomination for the seat which was vacant after a previous state representative resigned and left the state. After Wilson won the nomination, he was challenged by the State Republican Party and David Tollett, the Republican Party nominee for the district, which includes all of Phillips County and parts of Desha and Arkansas Counties.
They contended that because Wilson had been previously convicted of crimes that disqualified him under the Arkansas State Constitution. In 1990, Wilson pleaded guilty to five counts of misdemeanor offenses in federal court. Former President Bill Clinton pardoned Wilson a year later.
In October, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce ruled from the bench that Wilson was not eligible to serve because of his misdemeanor convictions and the pardon did not restore his eligibility. That ruling included a provision that any votes for Wilson would not be counted and the certification of any final tally was put on hold pending a ruling by the State Supreme Court.
An appeal of the ruling was filed by Michael John Gray, Chairman of the Democratic Party in Arkansas and Nicole Hart in her official capacity as chair of the Democratic Party of Arkansas’ nominating convention for District 12.
Arkansas law says that no person convicted of embezzlement of public money, bribery, forgery or other infamous crimes is eligible to hold office in the legislature or any office of trust. Infamous was defined to mean a felony offense, abuse of office, tampering or a misdemeanor offense which the finder of fact (the court) or the defendant to admit an act of deceit, fraud, or false statements.
Writing for the high court, Chief Judge John Dan Kemp said the crimes Wilson was convicted of fall within the definition of infamous crimes. Specifically, Wilson pleaded guilty to two counts of violating federal law by “converting public money, property or records to personal use” and three counts of violating federal law “by converting property mortgaged or pledged to farm credit agencies.”
In a previous case involving Wilson, the court said that although the five counts Wilson pleaded to were misdemeanors, “these convictions involved dishonesty and breach of trust. We likewise have no hesitation in holding that the crimes involved acts of deceit, fraud, or false statement.”
Kemp went on to say that the issuance and acceptance of a pardon acknowledges a conviction of the crime pardoned and has the effect only of restoring civil rights as distinguished from political privileges.
