CONWAY — A prosecutor said Monday that he has asked the Arkansas State Police to investigate the issue of a Faulkner County justice of the peace who resigned after questions arose over the address on his political practices pledge.
Mark Bailey, who represented District 8, resigned from the Quorum Court on Oct. 3.
Bailey, a Republican who was seeking re-election, urged residents to vote for his opponent, Green Party candidate Michael Yoder, but it was too late to get Bailey’s name off the ballot.
Asked about the Bailey matter, Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland said, “I can confirm that we’ve asked the state police to come in and conduct an investigation as to circumstances surrounding the allegations.
“The investigation will center around allegations that there was wrongdoing related to” Bailey’s election filing, added Hiland, a Republican.
Hiland said no one has asked him to look into a residency question regarding another candidate - Mark Elsinger, a retired police major who is one of two men challenging Conway Mayor Tab Townsell’s re-election bid.
Frank Shaw, chairman of the Faulkner County Election Commission, said Monday that he has received “complaints” about Elsinger.
“I’ve had a few calls and several comments or questions,” said Shaw, a Democrat.
In filing for the nonpartisan mayoral race, Elsinger listed 2905 Antelope Road in Conway as his address. He confirmed last week and again Monday that he has, however, been “staying more” at a house at 53 Valley Road about two miles outside Conway since he remarried about 2 1/2 years ago.
Elsinger said he still owns the Antelope Road home, which he moved into in 1980, and that he has been remodeling it and plans to move back into it in November.
“I never really totally, completely moved out of my house,” Elsinger said. “I packed a couple suitcases of clothes, and that’s what’s over there” at the house that lies just outside Conway and which his wife owns.
Elsinger said he has been sleeping at his wife’s home “most of the time, not all of the time” and that his furniture, tools and other personal belongings remain at his Antelope Road home.
“It’s kind of like having a country home or a second home,” Elsinger said. “My official residence is 2905 Antelope. That’s where I get my mail. That’s where my phone is.”
His son has been living in that home during his absence but plans to move out. Meanwhile, his wife’s son is currently sharing the other home with her and Elsinger and plans to continue living there after they leave it, Elsinger said.
Elsinger started the remodeling work on the exterior of his Conway home about two years ago and has been working on the interior this year, he said.
“We were going to be staying there permanently, win lose or draw” soon, he added. “The election has nothing to do with it.”
Elsinger said he hopes to be back in the Antelope Road house within a couple of weeks but said Thanksgiving is “the absolute drop-dead date we’re looking at.”
Elsinger and businessman Randy Herrold are challenging Townsell’s bid for a fourth term.
In the Faulkner County justice-of-the-peace race, Bailey gave his address as 701 Reedy Road, No. 5, Conway, on a political practices pledge filed Feb. 28 with the county clerk’s office.
No such address could be located during a recent search of the area on Conway’s west side.
On one side of a small road was a house at 679 Reedy Road. On the other side was a house at 705 Reedy Road.
A street sign identified the road between them as 701 River Drive Road, which led to the River Drive Mobile Home Park. No mobile home or other structure sat on the vacant Lot No. 5.
Asked if he was aware of Hiland’s action, Bailey said, “I’m not in a position to make any comment.”
On whether there had previously been a trailer or other structure on the lot, Bailey said, “I’m not able to make any comment. I’m sorry.”
Shaw said he had just gotten off the phone with someone who was complaining about Elsinger’s residency.
“My answer to the individuals who complained is the same as it was in the [justice-of-the-peace] issue. [And that] is that the Election Commission has no authority to remove people from the ballot. That must be done by a circuit court,” Shaw said.
The Nov. 6 election already is complicated enough with “a huge turnout” expected, Shaw said.
“These other issues are distractions the Election Commission would rather have done without,” he said. “I wish they didn’t exist. We’ve got all we can do without these extraneous problems.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 10/30/2012