One might presume that a sales tax for public safety would garner the support of police and fire personnel, but if their silence is an indication, the tax proposal doesn't have a lot of support within the rank and file.
Several letter writers to The Commercial have mentioned that a proposed three-eighths-cent sales tax has not been endorsed by the Pine Bluff Police Department's Fraternal Order of Police or the Fire Department's Fraternal Order of Firefighters. The groups, which represent and support police and fire department employees, had apparently not endorsed the proposed sales tax as of Saturday afternoon, with the election coming on Tuesday. Capt. Michael Boykin, former president of the Fraternal Order of Firefighters, said he did not think many people in his department were for the tax.
"We didn't know it was going on the ballot," he said. "No one reached out to us about it. I doubt there's a lot of support from the fire department."
Boykin was president of the FOF for 10 years but had recently stepped down from that role.
One of the complaints about the proposed tax has been that the language on the ballot is brief and not specific as to how the tax proceeds will be spent. The one phrase that speaks to the tax's purpose says the tax "will be used for police and fire department purposes."
"Another public safety tax was passed somewhere around 2000 and it didn't really help us," Boykin said. "This one is vague. I don't think our organization will actually support the tax because we've had this happen to us before."
Boykin also expressed irritation that a fire department seal is being used on campaign signs and other media, giving the impression that the city's fire department is collectively on board with the Go Forward-sponsored tax.
"Go Forward has been using the fire department emblem on its campaign material," Boykin said Friday. "We've been told the image is not copyrighted, so even though the FOF organization hasn't voted in support of the tax, they just put them on whatever they want."
Campaign signs on display urging support for the Go Forward-sponsored tax also carry the image of a police department seal, the seal of the city of Pine Bluff and the seal of Go Forward Pine Bluff. It was unknown if Go Forward had sought any buy-in from police department personnel prior to placing that department's seal on the Go Forward signs.
Go Forward chairman Tommy May was asked Friday about the use of the police and fire department emblems on Go Forward campaign material, but he declined to respond.
Ivan Whitfield, a former city council member who was at one time chief of the Pine Bluff Police Department, has been an outspoken critic of the Go Forward tax both when he was on the council and now as president of the NAACP. He said he had been told there had been a meeting between Mayor Shirley Washington and some police department employees who wanted to see in writing how the tax dollars would be spent but that the meeting ended without any resolution.
"The officers were asked, 'What, you don't trust this lady?'" Whitfield said, referring to Washington. "It didn't go well."
Washington could not be reached for comment.
Whitfield said he faulted Washington and those on the city council who rushed the three-eighths-cent tax to the ballot without discussing it more thoroughly.
"This tax wasn't discussed at the committee meeting level," Whitfield said. "It was simply handed down from the big house. It's like the mafia to me."
Whitfield and others who were on the council at the time have complained that Go Forward officials hold more sway over what goes on in the city than council members, calling those officials "city council number two." The three-eighths-cent tax proposal, for instance, was given to the council by Go Forward to put on the ballot. Normally, Whitfield said, something of the magnitude of a "forever" sales tax would come through a council committee and be discussed for several weeks.
"No one ever took the time to discuss the pros and cons of the tax," Whitfield said. "The council was just told to do it, and that's what they did – follow the direction of the boys on Main Street."
Whitfield said he had talked to police officers and firefighters and that they had told him they didn't think the tax would benefit them. He said he recalled a previous public safety tax that was passed but that, in the end, it didn't help the departments.
"My recollection was that once the tax money started coming, the council reduced our budgets so we were basically worse off than before," Whitfield said, referring to a time when he was a police officer. "And without any language specifying how exactly this money would be used, this tax could be as bad or worse."
Even Fire Chief Shauwn Howell was unclear about what the tax would mean for the fire department, Whitfield said.
"I don't want to get him in trouble by saying this, but when this all blew up, I called the chief and told him I was a supporter of public safety and I asked him, 'What are you all going to get out of this tax?'" Whitfield said. "He said, 'You're going to have to tell me because I have no idea.'"
Attempts to contact Howell and Police Chief Denise Richardson for this story were unsuccessful.
As for use of the police and fire department emblems on Go Forward campaign literature, Whitfield said he had filed a complaint with the state Ethics Commission over the matter and been advised that the emblems are not copyrighted.
"It gives the impression that those departments are behind the tax," Whitfield said. "The truth of the matter is that they haven't endorsed it. I've said wherever I go that the people behind this tax have not explained this tax. The fact that neither the FOP nor the FOF has endorsed it should tell the public all they need to know."
May didn't respond to questions about the apparent lack of endorsements from fire and police personnel, but he noted their bosses had given the tax vote a thumbs up.
"GFPB is grateful to the support of our mayor and the Pine Bluff Police and Fire Chiefs," he wrote. "... All three have endorsed both taxes."
In addition to the three-eighths-cent tax that is on Tuesday's ballot, there is a five-eighths-cent sales tax that voters are being asked to vote on. That tax, which is a renewal of the current sales tax, funds Go Forward initiatives and would sunset after seven years. The last day of early voting will be on Monday. On Tuesday, polls are open from 7:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.