Arkansas House ousts member over tax case

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas House voted Friday to expel a member who pleaded no contest to not paying his state income taxes, making him the first person to be kicked out of that chamber since the 1800s.

Lawmakers voted 88-4 to oust Republican state Rep. Mickey Gates, easily eclipsing the two-thirds vote threshold in the majority-GOP House to expel someone.

Gates, who was arrested last year and charged with not filing returns from 2012 through 2017, pleaded no contest in July to one count of not filing or paying income taxes and was sentenced to six months of probation.

Republican Speaker Matthew Shepherd sought Gates’ removal after Gates refused to resign.

“I would suspect that none of us particularly like filing and paying taxes, but nonetheless it’s our obligation,” Shepherd told members before the vote.

An attorney for Gates declined to comment about the expulsion. Gates invoked Jesus, the Titanic and the integration of Central High School during a 25-minute speech before the chamber, telling colleagues they were being asked to make a decision before a final ruling in his case.

“I am still afforded the right of due process and the right of the presumption of innocence until I am found guilty,” Gates said. “I have not been found guilty.”

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for the purposes of sentencing.

Gates entered his plea under a law for first-time offenders that allows the case to be dismissed after he serves probation and fulfills the other obligations of his plea deal. Under that law, Gates doesn’t have a felony conviction, since a final judgment has been deferred. Gates also agreed to pay at least $74,789 in taxes, penalties and interest owed to the state for 2012 through 2014, and a hearing to determine the remaining amount for 2015 through 2017 will be held in December.

After the vote, Gates said he plans to run for his seat again and that he was unlikely to challenge the expulsion in court. He said he plans to sue if the state tries to prevent him from running again. A high school administrator last week said he planned to challenge Gates in the Republican primary next year.