In Pope County, Arkansas, They created Ordinance 2018-O-42 and the ballot initiative that placed it on the books.
Who are They ? (click link)
[On this page, “They,” “Them” and “Their” refer to only one group no matter what name They use.]
After Ordinance 2018-O-42 was passed, They said there had to be a vote before there could be a casino.
They never thought the vote would happen.
When the previous County Judge wrote a little letter of support for Gulfside, They sued him.
After the Racing Commission and the legislature required that the support documents come from current officials, They dropped the lawsuit.
They thought the casino issue settled and the judge’s letter invalid.
They thought the vote would never happen.
Gulfside upset Their complacency when, in May 2019, Gulfside submitted an application that included the previous county judge’s supposedly invalid letter of support.
In June, the Racing Commission rejected all five applications because none had a proper document of support.
They thought the vote would never happen.
Sentiment had been changing in Pope County, though,
and
Gulfside vowed to take the denial of the casino application all the way to the Arkansas Supreme Court if need be.
Seven months after Amendment 100 was approved, the Quorum Court believed there was a need to see what the true sentiment of Pope County was on the casino.
A special called meeting of the Quorum Court was scheduled for June 11, 2019, to discuss options and hear from the public.
They were stunned when They heard about the meeting being called.
They had thought the vote could never happen.
A local pastor sent a letter to other River Valley pastors smearing the Quorum Court for daring to call the special meeting.
Some (of Them) spoke at the June 11 Quorum Court meeting, telling the Court that a special election was too expensive and that the issue should be put on the 2020 general election ballot.
One (of Them) even pleaded with the 2018-O-42 author, an attorney, “Help us.”
He did and it wasn’t pretty.
What he and others said showed the Quorum Court that the Ordinance didn’t mean what the Justices thought it did.
They had thought the vote could never happen but now were afraid it might.
The Quorum Court learned that the vote required by Ordinance 2018-O-42 was impossible to implement.
It was likely that if action wasn’t taken, Pope County might end up with a Gulfside casino. If there was going to be a casino, most Justices and the County Judge wanted control of what the county was going to get.
Whatever action was taken, it couldn’t be a vote because the vote required by Ordinance 2018-O-42 was legally impossible to implement.
Materials related to proposals from all five potential applicants were made available for anyone to view in the Pope County Courthouse.
By August, vetting and negotiations by the County Judge resulted in an Economic Development Agreement (EDA).
A special called Quorum Court meeting was set for August 13, two days before the Racing Commission was to meet to discuss Gulfside’s appeal of the denial of its license application.
The agenda for the Quorum Court meeting included a review of the EDA and a resolution “regarding Ark. Constitutional Amendment 100.”
They knew the meeting wasn’t about the vote that couldn’t ever happen.
They had to act.
On August 12, a letter was sent from Them to the Pope County Prosecuting Attorney alleging violations of open public meetings requirements of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The letter included 7 affidavits, dated that day, August 12, concerning an occurrence from over 3 months earlier, in early May; some of the affidavits had virtually identical recollections.
Why did they wait 3 months?
One affidavit was from an individual currently running for Pope County Judge.
On August 13, They sued the County Judge and all the Quorum Court Justices, including the individual currently running for Pope County Judge.
At the special called Quorum Court meeting on August 13, the Quorum Court passed a Resolution in Support of Cherokee Nation Businesses, LLC/Legends Resort and Casino, LLC Casino License Application. During the meeting, justices and the county attorney explained that Ordinance 2018-O-42 was not only unconstitutional but impossible to fulfill legally.
Spending money to put it on a ballot would have been an illegal exaction.
An illegal exaction is an expenditure of public funds that is illegal, misapplied, or arbitrary.
On August 16, They sued the Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) in an attempt to prevent the ARC from considering the Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB) application.
On September 4, They incorporated allegations of violations of FOIA open public meetings requirements into the lawsuit They had filed against the County Judge and all the Quorum Court Justices.
Later that month, They sent out a letter addressed “Dear Pope County Citizens” asking for financial contributions for a legal bill in excess of $20,000. The contributions could be brought to the letter’s author at a local church or mailed to the office of a Russellville realtor.
Their letter was credited as being from “United for a Better Pope County,” a name that They would be using in coming months in a disinformation campaign paid for by dark money (Choctaw?) against incumbent candidates on the Pope County Quorum Court.
On October 28, Pope County Ordinance 2018-O-42 was repealed.
The next day, a circuit judge ruled 2018-O-42 unconstitutional and tossed the FOIA allegations.
They, of course, appealed the judge’s ruling to the Arkansas Supreme Court, where, of course, They lost… again.
———————————