Lawsuit seeks to sideline nominee

’84 bribery plea on Fite’s record

A candidate for state representative should be disqualified because he was convicted of bribery 26 years ago, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

The suit, filed by Michael W. Grulkey of Crawford County, claimsTo m F i t e , 66, of Van Buren can’t serve in the District 83 House of Representatives seat because he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of aiding and abetting Medicaid bribery in 1984.

Article 5, Section 9, of the Arkansas Constitution states that “no person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public money, bribery, forgery or other infamous crime shall be eligible to the Gener-al Assembly or capable of holding any office of trust or profit in this state.”

The lawsuit asks Secretary of State Charlie Daniels to remove Fite’s name from the ballot before the Nov. 2 election.

“Since there’s a lawsuit filed on it, I don’t have any comment on it at this time,” said Fite, a Republican.

Fite said he has doesn’t plan to withdraw from the race.

Grulkey learned of the conviction when he read an Oct. 9 article about the race in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, according to a news release from his attorney, Brian Meadors of Fort Smith.

“It’s a whole lot different than they would like to paint it,” Fite was quoted as saying in the Oct. 9 article. “If that’s all they can find on me, and that was almost 30 years ago, they are hurting for something to find against me.”

In 1984, Fite helped run Artex Labs Inc., a Conway business that distributed private-label pharmaceutical drugs.

Fite faced 17 criminal charges in connection with Medicaid bribery, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit Medicaid bribery during a trial that ended in a mistrial. Two months later, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Little Rock to the misdemeanor and received three years’ probation.

Meadors said Grulkey is just “a concerned citizen who wants to protect the integrity of public office in Arkansas.”

Meadors said the conviction probably would mean Fite can’t serve in other elected positions in Arkansas either. He has been on the Crawford County Quorum Court for the past two years.

The suit was filed in Pulaski County because the secretary of state is listed as a co-defendant, Meadors said.

In the District 83 race, Fite is running against LesleeMilam Post, 36, a Democrat from Ozark, for the seat that was previously held by state Rep. Beverly Pyle, R-Cedarville. Pyle is ineligible for re-election because of term limits.

Post couldn’t be reached Thursday for comment.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 10/22/2010

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