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If you are wondering how Ted Harden of White Hall can be a candidate for Jefferson County judge and seek re-election to his justice of the peace seat on the same ballot, wonder no more. It’s legal, so say a number of Arkansas attorneys general.
It’s one of a number of quirks in Arkansas’ election laws. Pine Bluff Alderman George Stepps was elected to the city council and the Dollarway School Board and serves on both bodies. Efrem Elliot is a state representative and also serves on the Dollarway board.
State Rep. James L. Word of Pine Bluff asked for a legal opinion to determine if a person can run for two positions simultaneously. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel answered earlier this week that the answer is “generally ‘yes’.”
“If so, what is the procedure if that person is elected to both offices, in this instance, justice of the peace and county judge?” Word asked.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“With regard to your second question, there is no statute addressed to this particular scenario,” McDaniel replied. “However, the holding of these two positions simultaneously would very clearly be contrary to law. And the general rule in that circumstance is that the officeholder will retain the last office accepted.
In other words, if Harden, the only Republican candidate for county judge and JP for District 12, is elected to both positions in the November general election, he must decide which office to occupy by taking the oath of office. He indicated he would serve as county judge and resign from the court if he were elected to both.
Deputy Attorney General Elisabeth A. Walker, who actually wrote the opinion that went out over McDaniel’s signature, noted the question of someone seeking two offices at the same time has been raised a number of times before. We can remember the same question being posed in 1994, 2000 and 2006.
Good news
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The unemployment rate dropped in all seven Arkansas metropolitan areas during March, including Pine Bluff. The 9.3 percent jobless rate here was down a full percentage point.
The Pine Bluff statistical area includes Jefferson, Lincoln and Cleveland counties.
If you sold a house in Jefferson County during the same month, there was more good news. The average selling price of $98,595 was up 10.76 percent from March 2011.
Home sales in Arkansas were up 1 percent in March compared to a year ago, the Arkansas Realtors Association said. The organization noted 2,017 homes sold in the state in March, compared to 1,996 during the same month in 2011.
Just explain why
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Pine Bluff taxpayers picked up the $798 tab to buy an iPad 2 for Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones just four months before spending $747 to buy her an iPhone 4 and accessories.
Davis-Jones did not respond to questions about the electronic gear submitted by email after attempts to contact her on her new iPhone were unsuccessful. Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. said he approved the purchase of the iPhone because the chief needed to be able to tie into the department’s server and its $30,000 camera surveillance system, which the department announced in November to aid in the investigation of crimes.
The city purchased an iPad 2 with Wi-Fi and 3G connection capabilities and 32 gigabytes of storage for Davis-Jones for $797.51 on Aug. 3. The monthly cost for the data access plan is an additional $37.99.
We are still waiting on a response on the implementation of the five camera system. There is no written documentation on that issue, City Hall says.
That camera system includes separate monitors and recorders for each camera site.