For the last three years, our county in Arkansas has been in the middle of whether or not a casino would be built here and which casino vendor had the rights to build it.
Somehow, I managed to get more involved than I ever anticipated that I would be, especially in the last eight or nine months.
Most of it has been through a local Facebook group, Pope County Majority. I’ve tried to use the online abilities and skills that I’ve developed over the last couple of decades along with some of those from my past working career to keep group members informed.
I’ve also been interviewed by print and television reporters for pieces they were doing about the Pope County casino issue.
Unfortunately, some of those fighting to stop the casino filed lawsuits, ethics complaints, and allegations of violations of Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). They also took it political two years ago, using mailers and ads paid for by outside “dark money” sources believed to be associated with Choctaw Gaming of Oklahoma.
Several incumbent quorum court justices were defeated—representatives of individual districts in the county—and were replaced with anti-casino people. The lawsuits against county officials failed, the ethics complaints were found to have no basis, and the FOIA allegations were dismissed for lack of specifics on the who, what, where, when, and how of the alleged violations.
In Arkansas, counties have a legislative body called the quorum court (QC). In other states, similar bodies are called by other terms, such as the county commission, board of supervisors, commissioners’ court, county council, board of chosen freeholders, county court, or county legislature. The individual QC members, called justices of the peace—JPs or justices for short—, represent individual districts within the counties. The JPs have no judicial authority, though they can perform marriages.
The county chief executive is the county judge. The county judge has very limited judicial authority. He is the head of the executive branch of county government including all county departments.
When the new anti-casino JPs took office in January 2021, they initiated resolutions and proposed ordinances aimed at hindering or stopping the construction of a casino in Pope County.
In 2018, a voter-initiated constitutional amendment authorized one casino each in four geographically separated counties in Arkansas, one of which was Pope County. Administrative and judicial delays at the state level have hindered the start of the project in Pope County while the facilities in the other three counties are in full operation.
There was and is nothing that the new JPs could legally do at the county level to stop the casino.
Still, they tried.
In October, the case that was the major hindrance to the building of the casino was decided in the Arkansas Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB), owner of the future Legends Resort and Casino | Arkansas. This was the result that Pope County Majority had long supported and hoped for.
A casino operating license was issued to CNB/Legends in November.
The anti-casino justice on the quorum court continued in their efforts against the casino and tried to obstruct any project or initiative the county judge pursued.
While I knew many of them wouldn’t read what I wrote, I sent a series of open letters (email) to the Pope County JPs explaining where they were wrong. (I’m not an attorney and I don’t have any legal training, but I have received positive affirmation of my opinions from a former Arkansas Attorney General.) These letters were published on Pope County Majority for the members and were copied (email) to local and state media outlets as well as the county judge.
- November 8, 2021—A Resolution and a LOT of Misunderstanding
- November 28, 2021—A meaningless ordinance that reflects poorly on Pope County—especially if passed
- This “open letter” was heavily referenced in a December 2nd article, Casino election ordinance to get final reading tonight, in the Russellville Courier. The article is behind a paywall.
- “It’s amazing that our Quorum Court continues to pursue an ordinance that will be meaningless even if it is passed and signed,” Goad wrote. “Has anyone on the Court conferred with the office of the Secretary of State to determine if such an election as is considered by the ordinance is possible under Arkansas Law? Has the question been referred to the Arkansas Election Commission?
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“Besides the question of whether such an election can be held, the ordinance, as written, will be invalid because it is in conflict with Arkansas’ Constitution and state law,” Goad stated.
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Goad also wrote that the proposed ordinance is invalid since the circumstances it states, “Casino Applicant(s) who are applying to the Arkansas Racing Commission… for a license to conduct Casino Gaming…” cannot happen as a license was awarded for a casino in Pope County on Nov. 12, 2021, and there can only be one license awarded.
- “It’s amazing that our Quorum Court continues to pursue an ordinance that will be meaningless even if it is passed and signed,” Goad wrote. “Has anyone on the Court conferred with the office of the Secretary of State to determine if such an election as is considered by the ordinance is possible under Arkansas Law? Has the question been referred to the Arkansas Election Commission?
- This “open letter” was heavily referenced in a December 2nd article, Casino election ordinance to get final reading tonight, in the Russellville Courier. The article is behind a paywall.
- December 9, 2021—Here we go again, and again, and again…
- December 13, 2021—More Pope County Mess? —Special Called Meeting of Pope Count Quorum Court.—May benefit Gulfside and/or Choctaw? To anyone who might be interested.
- December 16, 2021—Open and Honest—Here’s some Documents—Another Open Letter
- December 18, 2021—Comments for the Special Called Quorum Court Meeting
- December 19, 2021—What we knew then—March 2019
- January 3, 2022—That 2018 local vote
- January 5, 2022—About that Ordinance
On December 13, 2021, seven of the justices called for a special meeting of the quorum court where there was to be a “Discussion of casino litigation and the possibility of letters on behalf of other operators.” Two of the local “leaders” of those opposed to the casino were on the agenda supposedly to ask JPs to endorse resolutions of support for casinos other than the one who had already received the license. The meeting was scheduled for December 16.
Also on December 13, a mutual friend asked me if I would be willing to meet with the county judge. We arranged for a meeting for the next morning. The same day, another friend shared a number of publically available documents related to financial contributions during the 2020 campaigns of several justices. I started posting what I knew about the special called meeting, including one of the open letters above.
The meeting with the county judge was interesting. I learned a lot of things and had a number of things I already knew confirmed.
Then, on December 13, the special called quorum court meeting went totally a different way than anyone expected.
I was there with remarks I was prepared to give and happened to be seated next to the CEO of Cherokee Nation Businesses.
As the time for the meeting approached, there were whispers that it might have been canceled. Then, when a meeting began, it wasn’t the meeting we were expecting, but, rather, the jail committee meeting. Some of us were really confused.
As it turned out, the justice who requested the special meeting, probably because of the rumblings of community pushback against his agenda for the meeting, tried to get it canceled earlier in the day. There are no specific rules for canceling a meeting so the county judge decided, after conferring with a state organization, that to cancel a called special meeting, the same 7 justices would have to request that.
The meeting didn’t get canceled. Five of the seven who signed for it didn’t show and neither did the special guests that were scheduled to speak. All but one of the people who addressed the quorum court spoke in opposition to the proposed agenda item, “Discussion of casino litigation and the possibility of letters on behalf of other operators.” This included several Pope County mayors, an attorney for CNB, myself, and several other private citizens from the area.
The only person who spoke supporting the proposed agenda item is a partner in a Little Rock lobbying firm who was representing Choctaw Nation Gaming.
Needless to say, the meeting didn’t quite go the way that the justice who requested it thought it would. Of course, he wasn’t present participating. Maybe he watched it on YouTube while it was being live-streamed or maybe he watched it later with the other folks that didn’t show up.
Note: The viewpoint of the camera only shows the quorum court. People addressing the court are off-camera in the “official” video.
The meeting and the social media response to it turned out to be an interesting closure to 2021.
For a while, Haw Creek is going to be my primary personal online effort while I bring it back to what it once was and, hopefully, better.
Comments on this entry are closed.
I too hope to see more of your blog posts henceforth. I have missed them.
I plan to do more, though I will continue my”work” on the Pope County Majority group.