LITTLE ROCK — A husband in a divorce case in Lonoke County Circuit Court says in court pleadings that his wife told him she was having an affair with Circuit Court Judge Tim Fox, a Supreme Court candidate in a race against Court of Appeals Judge Karen Baker.
The filing comes with the Nov. 2 election a week away.
The allegation surfaced in a case between Lauren Hamilton of Lonoke, who filed for divorce Oct. 12, and her husband, Shane Hamilton, who filed his answer and a counterclaim Friday, and on Monday filed an amended counterclaim that said his wife told him Oct. 8 that she had been having an affair with Fox. She was Fox’s former law clerk.
Fox, who serves Perry and Pulaski counties, did not return a call Monday from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, but Mark Nichols, a lawyer who said he is co-chairman of the Fox campaign’s finance committee, returned the call on behalf of Fox.
Nichols asked whether the newspaper’s inquiry was about the counterclaim that had been filed by “Karen Baker’s former law clerk and campaign helper.”
Asked whether he was suggesting it was a political accusation, Nichols said, “Judge Fox’s personal business is not for public discussion.”
Shane Hamilton’s lawyer, Kim Kelley of Heber Springs, acknowledged later in a telephone interview that she formerly was a clerk for Baker and had worked for perhaps all of Baker’s campaigns including the current one. But Kelley said that had nothing to do with the allegation of an affair between Lauren Hamilton and Fox, who is married.
Shane Hamilton’s first counterclaim did not mention an affair, Kelley said, but “we decided to put it out there” after she learned that news reporters would be calling as a result of rumors circulating and she wanted to spare her client the “bother” of fielding reporters’ calls.
Lauren Hamilton has “confessed to more people” than her husband, Kelley said, and telephone records will play a part in showing the truth.
Lauren Hamilton did not return a message left for her by the Democrat-Gazette at the law office that employs her.
The lawsuit was posted on the Progressive Arkansas blog during the noon hour Monday.
Information for this article was contributed by Seth Blomeley, Sarah D. Wire and John Lynch of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 10/26/2010