Judge leaves Bonds in race

At least for now, Lance Bonds remains on the ballot as the Stone County Democratic nominee for sheriff and none of the county’s election commissioners are going to jail, a Pulaski County circuit judge decided Friday. But a ruling is yet to be made on the legitimacy of Bonds’ candidacy.

Circuit Judge Jay Moody’s decision means that Bonds could be elected sheriff in 10 days, then stripped of his position.

Asked to hold the Stone County Election Commission in contempt and remove Bonds, 41, from the Nov. 2 ballot over accusations the commission ignored Moody’s August order that stripped Bonds of his candidacy, Moody said he couldn’t reach any conclusions about wrongdoing until a judge decides whether Bonds’ subsequent nomination was properly done. That judge is likely, but not certainly, going to be Moody.

The battle to be the next sheriff of the north Arkansas county, which has a population of about 15,000, has been going on for six months, encompassing three elections - one of them struck down by Moody - three court hearings and two lawsuits, one of them pending.

The Republican candidate, Russ Aiken, challenged Bonds’ candidacy in court in July, claiming that a special election ordered by Gov. Mike Beebe to settle a tied runoff between Bonds and incumbent Sheriff Todd Hudspeth was invalid. The governor can only order a special election in four circumstances, Aiken’s attorney Charles Kester argued, and none of those involved a tie vote in a runoff.

Moody agreed in an August ruling, negating the special election and leaving the Democrats without a candidate.

Two days later, county Democrats called a nominating convention, selected Bonds again to be their candidate and applied to the county election commissioners to certify his candidacy, which the commissioners immediately did. Commission attorney Daniel Brightwell said the agency was only doing its job when presented with what Democratic officials said was a legitimate candidate.

But Aiken and Kester cried foul over the move and petitioned Moody to hold the commission in contempt, claiming the commission had willfully ignored Moody’s order by certifying Bonds’ nomination and putting him on the November ballot. They asked the judge to sanction the commission - with the punishment to include jail time - and order Bonds removed from the ballot.On that same day, Sept. 9, Aiken and Kester filed suit in Stone County Circuit Court challenging the legality of the Democrats’ convention.

After an hour of testimony Friday from election commissioners Betty Allred and Vernon Humphrey and former commissioner Bob Turner, Moody said that a judge would have to decide on the legality of the nominating convention. Moody said he could sanction the commissioners only if he finds that they deliberately certified a fraudulent nomination.

“I’m not going to rule on contempt ... until the validity of the convention is resolved,” Moody said.

Kester and Bonds’ attorney, William Almand, said they want Moody to hear the convention challenge and have asked the Stone County judge to transfer the lawsuit to Pulaski County Circuit Court. The lawyers believe the case will be moved, but when that lawsuit could be transferred remains in question, leaving open the possibility that Moody could be deciding the validity of Bonds’ candidacy after the election next month.

The only action of the day was Moody’s denial of Kester’s request to force the election commission to pay his fees and expenses, $14,040 - $13,485 in legal fees and $555 in expenses - because he won the lawsuit challenging the Democratic election.