Judge urged to take name off state ballot

Smith ineligible, says Democratic Party

The state Democratic Party on Tuesday asked a judge to remove former state Rep. Fred Smith, D-crawfordsville, from the May 22 primary ballot in a House of Representative district in eastern Arkansas.

The party’s complaint in Pulaski County Circuit Court came after Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin last week rejected state Democratic Party Chairman Will Bond’s request to block Smith from being a candidate in House District 50.

Democratic Party attorney Benton Smith of Jonesboro said in Tuesday’s filing that the party’s investigation after the filing deadline expired March 1 confirmed its belief that Fred Smith had been convicted of a Class D felony theft and that the charge had not been expunged from his record.

He s a id Fred Smith also declined the party’s request that he withdraw from the race.

Martin shouldn’t have certified Fred Smith as a candidate under Arkansas Code Annotated 7-6-102(d) as it was known by Martin’s office that Fred Smith was a convicted felon and Smith did not produce a certificate of expunction as required by law, Benton Smith said in the

court filing.

Under Arkansas Code Annotated 7-5-207 (b), Fred Smith’s name should not be placed on the ballot, and Martin and the Crittenden County and Cross County election commissions should produce a ballot omitting his name, according to Benton Smith.

The Democratic Party seeks a writ of mandamus ordering the removal of Fred Smith’s name from the ballot or a declaratory judgment that Fred Smith is ineligible to seek its nomination, Benton Smith said in the filing.

Martha Adcock, director of elections for the secretary of state, told Bond last week in a letter that the office believes that state law “does not permit a political party to unilaterally change its previous certification to this office with no notice to the candidate or otherwise.”

Adcock said the record in the secretary of state’s office shows that Fred Smith is entitled to have his name certified to the Crittenden County Election Commission and county clerk as a candidate. She has suggested that the remedy for the Democratic Party is to file suit in circuit court.

Martin spokesman Alex Reed on Tuesday declined to comment about the lawsuit.

Contacted on his cell phone, Fred Smith said he “was willing to step down from [the House last year] to go and fix the matter of the mistake.” He said he has paid full restitution and fulfilled the conditions of his probation.

He believes that he could have stayed in his House seat rather than resign in January 2011 and that he’s eligible for the District 50 seat because “I never was convicted.

“As a man, I am trying to clear my name and get back on track,” he said. “It is not against the Democratic Party or anybody else.”

Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Deen said in a Chicot County filing last month that Fred Smith “was convicted ... of theft of mislaid property following a trial.”

According to the Pulaski County circuit clerk’s office, the Democratic Party’s lawsuit has been assigned to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mary Mcgowan.

Fred Smith is a former Harlem Globetrotter.

Fred Smith