HOW WE SEE IT: Clerks Back Foreclosure Agent Ban

It’s almost certain this will make our friends in the Arkansas Circuit Clerks Association feel as if they can’t win, but we have just a little skepticism about their proposed legislation.

If it is what it is on its face, we’re supportive.

But ...

Let’s offer a little background first. For years, in all 75 of Arkansas’ counties, it’s developed as a bit of standard operating procedure local judges sometime appoint the county’s elected circuit clerk as commissioner in foreclosure sales.

According to Arkansas law, circuit clerks can take a fee when appointed of one-tenth of 1 percent of each property foreclosure sale worth more than $35,000. That equates to $100 when a house sells for $100 000 during a judicial foreclosure.

This is, as we noted, a longstanding practice, and in many cases, the added income amounted to perhaps a few hundred dollars a year for some circuitmuch attention to such a pittance.

Then, when economic conditions took a plunge and major properties went into foreclosures, some circuit clerks benefited a great deal. Foreclosure sales netted them tens of thousands of dollars. In 2010, news reports showed circuit clerks in Benton and Washington counties had each pocketed more than $100,000 each in addition to the salaries they’re paid by the taxpayers.

Understandably, some circuit clerks have not enjoyed the bad press, or perhaps it was just simply the fact people knew about their windfalls on the backs of property foreclosures.

Then came Saline County Circuit Clerk Dennis Milligan, who announced he would no longer accept the fees, an act he viewed as immoral. Even then, other circuit clerks defended the practice.

The courts, they argued, need reputable and competent people to conduct foreclosure sales, so why not someone who’s already at the courthouse and already familiar with the process?

But for some, the enrichment-by-proximity didn’t sit well.

The Arkansas Circuit Clerks Association in December backed legislation to prohibit elected oftcials, their immediate family members or their employees from being appointed judges to conduct foreclosure sales and receive the fees.

If they’re serious, it seems the measure would end the uneasiness people feel with an elected oftcial getting rich. But the bill is far-reaching. It doesn’t just bar circuit clerks. It would put a ban on all elected oftcials and their families or employees.

That could impact a lot of people - including the lawmakers who would be voting on it - and one might be a little suspicious the circuit clerks association cast a broad net to make passage less likely. At least one lawmaker questioned whether circuit clerks across Arkansas are really serious about giving up that income. Until this proposal, many of them have been strong defenders of the practice.

Of course, we don’t know their motivation, and we’ll have to see how the proposal goes. At the very least, if the outright ban doesn’t gain any steam, lawmakers should cap the size of the personal fi nancial benefit clerks can receive by accepting the commissioner’s job.

Getting elected to public oft ce should never position someone to get rich off the opportunities that oftce presents. We believe that sentiment applies to the circuit clerks of this state.

Ethics, we suggest, should have ended the practice years ago, but if it takes a law, then so be it.