FORT SMITH - Former Sebastian County Circuit Clerk Ken Blevins has filed a civil suit in Circuit Court against County Judge David Hudson, accusing him of sabotaging his administration and running him out of office.
The suit, filed Wednesday for Blevins by Rogers attorney Ken Swindle, asks a judge to award him compensatory and punitive damages for what he said were Hudson’s efforts to “undermine public confidence in the plaintiff and to replace the plaintiff in his duly elected position either by recall or in an election.”
Blevins listed his damagesas loss of employment, legal costs and emotional distress.
Also named as a defendant in the lawsuit is the Association of Arkansas Counties as the liability insurer for Sebastian County.
Contacted for comment Wednesday, Hudson said he has seen the suit but hasn’t been formally served. He said he sent a copy of thecivil complaint to the county’s attorney.
“I really don’t have anything to say about it,” he said.
Blevins’ single term as circuit clerk was plagued by county grievances, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints and a federal court lawsuit by office employees and attempts in Circuit Court by them to unseat him.
Blevins blames his troubles and his lost re-election bid on Hudson.
The suit states that after Blevins’ election in 2010, in which he says he was the first Republican to be elected circuit clerk in Sebastian County and the first man since 1978, he met with Hudson, also a Republican.
During the meeting, the suit states, Hudson told him that it was a shame his Democratic opponent Cindy Glimer didn’t win and that unless he did a good job as circuit clerk, he would face a Republican challenger in the next election.
“It really made things clear that Defendant, Hudson, wanted to establish his dominance,” the suit stated.
Within weeks of that conversation, according to the suit, several employees in his office filed grievance claims against him, alleging sexual harassment, hostile work environment, retaliation, wage discrimination and character defamation.
Blevins claims in the lawsuit that the employees had conspired with Hudson to force him to promise not to run for re-election.
He ran for re-election last year but lost in the May primary to Republican challenger Denora Coomer, who served for several years as Circuit Court administrator. Coomer went on to defeat Democrat Kathy L. Guthrie in the Nov. 6 general election.
“A major reason for said loss was the illegal grievance procedures supervised by the Defendant, Hudson, against the Plaintiff,” the lawsuit stated.
Coomer said Wednesday that contrary to statements in Blevins’ lawsuit, she did not run for circuit clerk in 2006 as a Democrat against Circuit Clerk Nancy Brewer. According to county records, Brewer ran unopposed that year.
Blevins claimed that Hudson rigged the grievance hearing on the employee complaints by illegally selecting the hearing off icers and offering to pay one of the off icers, Tom Cannava, to interrupt Blevins’ testimony “and create an outcome that Defendant, Hudson, wanted.”
After hours of testimony at the May 12, 2011, hearing by the three employees who filed the grievances, Blevins had just begun to present his side of the argument when he was interrupted by Cannava. He scolded Blevins for how the women said they were mistreated by him and told Blevins he thought he should resign from office.
The grievance committee ruled against Blevins and in favor of the employees. The committee members, having no authority to punish him, told Blevins to apologize to the employees but he refused.
Blevins claimed in the suit that Cannava went to Hudson after the hearing for payment for interrupting Blevins’ testimony, implying that Hudson wanted Cannava to disrupt the hearing.
In November 2011, Blevins fired two of the employees who had filed the grievances against him.
He stated in the suit he fired them for cause but that Hudson, using the courts, the prosecutor and the sheriff, forced Blevins to reinstate them.
Hudson illegally appointed members of the grievance committee that heard the appeal of the two women whom Blevins fired, according to the suit.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 07/26/2013