A departing state representative and former Harlem Globetrotter filed suit against his former party in a complaint accusing state Democrats of conspiracy, racial discrimination and slander in getting him tossed from the 2012 Democratic primary ballot.
Green Party Rep. Fred Smith of Crawfordsville is seeking a jury trial in federal court, as well as damages, for the Democratic Party's efforts to disqualify his candidacy in 2012 over Smith's criminal record.
Smith was elected as a Democrat in November 2010, but shortly after the start of his first legislative session, he resigned after being found guilty in Chicot County Circuit Court of theft of property delivered by mistake, a felony, which by state law disqualifies someone from holding office.
When Smith attempted to file March 1, 2012, for the Democratic primary, party officials said he could do so if his record was expunged.
A week after he filed for office, he requested the expunction, and it took another week for his record to be cleared.
Led by former party Chairman Will Bond and other state Democrats, the party sued Secretary of State Mark Martin and asked Martin to take Smith's name off the ballot. Martin refused.
Smith's name was removed from the primary ballot when Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mary McGowan ruled that Smith had been ineligible to run at the time he filed.
Smith went on to win the 2012 race after the Green Party allowed him to run as its candidate. He lost in the May Democratic primary this year.
Martin, McGowan, Bond, current party Executive Director Candace Martin and outgoing Gov. Mike Beebe were all named in Smith's complaint, arguing that the Democratic Party conspired against him because of his race and sought to tarnish his good name. Smith is black.
"[Bond] had not verified his accusation [of a criminal record] was true, he decided to deny [Smith] from his personal vistas because he did not like [Smith] because he was not 'white,'" the complaint reads. "[False information] was crafted and fostered by [Bond] and [Martin] together as a group that amounted to be damaging and in direct conflict of the truth about the matter in regards to [Smith's] background, personal conduct and behavior in office."
Smith is representing himself in the case.
An attorney for the Democratic Party, Benton Smith, wrote in a statement: "We are confident this lawsuit will be dismissed because the issue has already been resolved in court."
Smith argues that though he pleaded guilty to the 2009 theft charge, he was given a suspended sentence and thus never convicted.
McGowan read the law differently, stating that Smith's one-year probation, as well as his admitted guilt, proved that he remained "guilty as charged" at the filing deadline.
Smith further argues that McGowan revealed her "own personal prejudice and ... bias" in her ruling and said her ruling was made without authority, or cause, because there was no need to expunge his record which he maintained was clean.
"[McGowan], politically, she fell in bed with the Democrats," Smith said Friday.
McGowan declined to comment on the case Friday night.
Martin was sued for complying with McGowan's order, which Smith argued "violated [Martin's] oath of office where he is to be neutral and must investigate and not participate in any nefarious actions."
Through spokesman Laura Labay, Martin declined to comment on ongoing litigation.
Beebe, according to Smith, could have intervened on his behalf as head of the state party, but instead, he worked with others to ensure that Smith was excluded from the process and that the Democratic nomination went to a white man instead.
Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said his office hadn't seen the suit yet but that it typically doesn't comment on ongoing litigation.
Metro on 11/01/2014