I didn’t go to law school

My mother wanted me to go to law school. She was probably right. She was usually right. I like to think that I could have made a decent attorney. I certainly don’t mind a good, civil argument. But I’m not sure I could have figured out a way to pay for law school, and you have to have a college degree to get into law school. And you have to actually go to class (or at least you did in the late ’80s) to get a college degree. And I was drawn to a career in newspapers.Add that all up, and here I am.

Ironically, I’m called on to write about legal matters fairly frequently — sometimes very complicated legal matters, like the SWEPCO fiasco a few years ago or the infamous $18 fee more recently. I like to think I do OK writing about legal topics, even though I’m not at attorney and I certainly don’t get paid like one.

If there’s one law I am very familiar with, it’s the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. When I believe a government entity is violating the FOIA — as the Carroll County Quorum Court did at its most recent meeting onAug. 15 — I’m usually correct.

It’s fair to say some members of the quorum court are miffed at Maj. Jerry Williams, chief deputy for the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office. They’d like to be rid of him, but they don’t have the legal authority to demote or fire him. They do, however, control the amount of money appropriated to the sheriff’s office.

So, the idea was to take away the money that pays Williams’ salary.

Let me be clear about a couple of things: I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with some JPs’ thoughts on Maj. Williams, nor am I saying that they intentionally broke the law by going into executive session on Aug. 15 to discuss a proposal to “rescind” Williams’ position. My belief is that they thought they were doing the right thing, based on advice from attorneys.

My belief is also that they clearly violated FOIA. They broke the law, however unintentionally, and two attorneys advised them to do so.

The law allows a governing body to go into executive session only for certain purposes, mostly related to personnel — hiring, firing, promoting, demoting, etc. But if a governing body has no authority to hire, fire or take any other action regarding an individual employee, how can that body go into executive session to discuss such an action? The bottom line is the whole thing was an end run in an effort to effectively fire Williams, despite the quorum court’s lack of authority to actually do so.

I protested at the time, to no avail. Deputy prosecuting attorney Steve Simmons insisted that the executive session was permissible because its end result would have the effect of a firing or a demotion.

In the end, the quorum court approved the ordinance rescinding Williams’ position. County Judge Ronda Griffin vetoed it the next day, citing procedural concerns.

When District 3 JP Harrie Farrow, expressed concerns over the propriety of going into executive session, District 7 JP Kellie Matt pointed out that Simmons “went to law school.” Yes, he did, graduating from the Texas Tech School of Law in 1995. And Mr. Simmons and I had a civil conversation about the issue. We disagreed but we weren’t disagreeable, to steal a turn of phrase from a friend of mind.

Still, I was right. I didn’t go to law school. But, at least as far as the Freedom of Information Act is concerned, I do know the law.

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Scott Loftis is managing editor for Carroll County Newspapers. His email address is SLoftis@cherryroad. com.