Suit calls for blocking state House nominee

LITTLE ROCK — A lawsuit seeking to prevent former state lawmaker Jimmie Wilson from becoming the Democratic nominee in a heavily Democratic state House district was filed in Pulaski County this week, taking on the issue of Wilson’s decades-old convictions for illegal use of federal farm loans.

Republicans had threatened to file a lawsuit to kick Wilson off the Nov. 3 ballot when he was nominated at a Democratic Party convention last week. However, the lawsuit filed in the Pulaski County Circuit Court this week was done without their knowledge, multiple GOP officials said.

The plaintiff bringing suit against Wilson’s candidacy, Lisa Elizabeth Ramsey, is represented by Union County attorney Caleb Baumgardner, who has ties to Democratic politics, according to newspaper records.

Baumgardner didn’t respond to requests for comment left at his law office on Thursday.

The lawsuit names Wilson

as a defendant along with Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Michael John Gray, Secretary of State John Thurston and members of the local boards of election commissioners and Democratic Party nominating committee members in House District 12.

The seat for the district, which covers portions of four counties in the Arkansas Delta, was vacated last month when state Rep. Chris Richey, D-Helena-West Helena, resigned to take a job in a different area of the state.

Wilson, 74, defeated two other Democratic candidates at the nominating convention last week to choose a replacement for Richey on the November ballot. That convention was delayed several times as state Democratic officials looked into eligibility issues that were raised over Wilson — before ultimately a letter was issued to members of the nominating convention warning that Wilson’s candidacy could be challenged if he was the pick.

Wilson was convicted of two federal misdemeanors in 1991 for illegally converting federal farm loans for personal use and selling mortgaged crops. He served 4½ months in prison and was later pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 2001.

Wilson served in the Legislature for several terms after his conviction, but a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2016 made anyone convicted of crimes involving “deceit, fraud, or false statement” ineligible to hold office.

Wilson’s convictions “render him ineligible to run for or hold office as a member of the Arkansas General Assembly as the crimes for which [Wilson] was convicted constitute ‘infamous crimes’ within the meaning of the Arkansas Constitution,” the lawsuit argues.

The lawsuit seeks an order blocking the secretary of state’s office and local election commissioners from certifying Wilson’s name to appear on the ballot, or to “annul” that certification if it has already been granted.

Wilson did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit Thursday.

Wilson said last week he didn’t believe the 2016 constitutional amendment could be applied retroactively to disqualify him from office. He referred further comment to his attorneys but then hung up the phone as a reporter attempted to ask who was representing him.

No attorney has entered a filing on behalf of Wilson in the lawsuit as of late Thursday, according to online court records.

The Republican nominee in House District 12, David Tollett, said Wednesday that he had been caught off guard by the filing of a lawsuit against Wilson. He said he and the Republican Party of Arkansas were still looking into filing their own lawsuit against Wilson.

In a statement released through a spokesman Tuesday, Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb said the party had asked its attorneys to research whether the party could intervene in the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Gray, the Democratic Party chairman, declined to comment on the lawsuit, a spokesman said.

The lawsuit was assigned to Circuit Court Judge Alice Gray. An initial hearing in the matter has yet to be scheduled.