Quorum Court Members Meet Conservative Forum Members

by Ron Bartels, Ph.D.

Rachel Dickerson, a reporter for the Log Cabin Democrat came to the monthly meeting of the Conservative Forum. The forum is open to Democrats, Libertarians, Republicans, Tea Party Members, Constitution Party Members Independents and members of general public.  The forum focus is mainly on good government issues that affect Faulkner County residents. 

NOTE:  Conservatives, as a whole tend to favor smaller more efficient government while Liberals tend to favor large less efficient government.  Conservatives focus on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (less governmental micromanagement).  Liberals seem to focus on less protection for life, less individual liberty in favor of larger government and fewer rights to pursue personal agendas.

This month’s meeting was held at the Catfish & More Restaurant on the north side of Conway, Arkansas.  The local owned and operated restaurant has an excellent meeting room and top-notch southern cuisine.  At this meeting the members of the Quorum Court were invited and many accepted the invitation.  The meeting was lively cordial and informative.  Attendees at the meeting submitted written questions, which were read to the Quorum Court Members who agreed to answer questions from the public.

The questions ranged from concerns about the condition of the old courthouse building, to roads, the Hot Check Office Rental Agreement controversy, the Fair Board and business development.

However the main local news media chose to ignore the controversial group of questions.  This is typical of many main line media groups today.  They want to protect their relationships with certain politicians and so cover just the part of the news that protects their local interests.  This has been a prevalent complaint and is part of the reason why so many folks have chosen to get their news from the Independent Free Press via the Internet.

Such is the case we are covering in this report.

The reporter covering this even left out one of the most interesting parts of the Conservative Forum.  That was the discussion pertaining to the special interest ordinance passed by the quorum court to specifically benefit Marcus Vaden, 20th Judicial District Prosecutor and Robbie Wills, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Arkansas has a long and continuing history of political corruption.  People in Faulkner County are sick and tired of corruption and want to focus on cleaning up government.  Nick Wilson was a powerful Senator noted for his corruption and it came to a point where the citizens of Arkansas had enough and the once powerful Senator went down for the count.

Citizens have the right to expect government officials to act on the interest of the public, not on how much additional money they can put in their own pockets.

The State of Arkansas passed the Nick Wilson Anti-Corruption Law to prevent politicians from putting extra money on their pockets from the taxpayers.  In one part of the legislation, there is a five percent (5%) limit to in one part of the legislation and ten percent (10%) limit to benefiting personally from State Business in Arkansas.

Mr. Vaden and Mr. Wills each own twenty-five percent (25%) interest in the property the hot check office has been located in since 1993.  They receive $2000 per month from renting out part of their building located at 1510 Mill Street.

When the Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration learned of the matter, they reported that they could not grant an exception to the Nick Wilson Anti-Corruption Law.  Marcus Vaden, ever the cleaver politician simply wrote a special interest ordinance to enable this unethical practice to continue unabated.

Now, the money that was going directly to the Vaden & Wills Partnership was being laundered through the Faulkner County Quorum Court.  This apparently passes some sort of muster since Faulkner County does not have an anti-corruption ordinance to prevent unjust enrichment from the taxpayer treasury.

Justice Roberts pointed out that he saw room in another of the prosecutor’s office and if used, would save $2000/month.

In the office at 1510 Mill Street, there is an open door way, which runs directly into the law offices also located there.  The girls that staff the hot check office come out of the law offices.  There is another question that needs to be asked.

“Has there been a time study completed to ascertain that the law firm in the same building is not benefiting from the services of the employees paid at taxpayer expense?”

My fellow citizens, this whole arrangement does not pass the smell test.  Maybe we need to demand that the quorum court and the State of Arkansas look very closely into this matter.   Corruption is any acquisition of wealth with injustice for shady purposes.  It seems that the corrupt person finds excuses for corruption and even starts believing that it is proper.

Some folks point to what they call the eleventh commandment in Exodus 23 verse 8. 

Exodus 23:8  And thou shalt take no bribe: for a bribe blindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous. ASV

Could it be that the taxpayers need to reduce the costs of running this office by merging it into another of the prosecutor’s offices?  He has multiple offices.

Could it be that the taxpayers need to have the office located away from the Vaden/Wills property?

Could it be that the quorum court needs to pass an anti-corruption ordinance similar to the Nick Wilson Law so that politicians can’t unethically line their pockets?

Some folks say that big money and lots of power corrupt politicians.  To some extent, that is true.  What is also true is the when we shine the light into the dark areas of politics; it goes a long way toward keeping an honest politician honest.  This is the very reason for the Freedom of Information Acts at the State and Federal levels of Government, which apply to all levels of government.  It is the duty of a free press to shine that light, where no one else looks.  An honest politician welcomes the scrutiny of the press but a crooked one ducks, dodges and hides.

One last question, why did this reporter, Rachel Dickerson, leave this controversy out of her report?  Is she in someway involved in keeping the light of legitimacy from shining on the darkness of corruption?  I challenge Rachel to join me in opening up the shades of darkness and to expose all of governance to the purview of the public domain.  After all, we need Good Government, not Corrupt Government.