Vote buys earn two probation

Former state Rep. Hudson Hallum and his father were sentenced Thursday to serve three years’ probation with nine months of home detention for taking part in a 2011 scheme to buy votes for the younger Hallum with cheap alcohol, chicken dinners and cash.

The two also were fined and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

Hudson Hallum, now 31, resigned from his District 54 House seat after pleading guilty Sept. 5 to election-fraud charges alongside his father and campaign manager Kent Hallum, 54, who owns Hallum Motors in Marion, and two other men. They were Phillip Wayne Carter, 43, then a West Memphis councilman and Crittenden County juvenile probation officer, and Sam Malone, 32, then a police officer serving on the Crittenden County Quorum Court and the Crittenden County School Board.

The four admitted they engaged in a scheme involving absentee ballots to ensure that Hudson Hallum won three special elections in 2011 - a Democratic primary April 20, a runoff May 10 and the general election July 12. The seat had been vacated by Fred Smith, who resigned in January 2011 after learning that a theft charge from his past was a felony, making him ineligible for public office.

Standing at a lectern Thursday in the Little Rock courtroom of U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker, Hudson Hallum acknowledged his crime, apologized and said he was ready to accept whatever punishment she gave him.

“When I started out running for public office, I didn’t intend to do anything wrong or violate the trust of the public,” Hallum told the judge. But, he said, he went astray, endangering the livelihoods of other people in the process, and, “I’m terribly sorry for it.”

“I broke a system that puts confidence in our government,” he said, adding that “because of me,” people in the district he once represented “no longer have that confidence.”

One of his opponents in the primary and the runoff, Kim Felker of Crawfordsville, attended the sentencing and elaborated on his remarks after court, saying, “It just eroded the confidence of our voters. … It made our district look sleazy.”

Felker declined to comment on what she thought of the sentences, and said she was grateful for the work of the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Little Rock. She said as a result of the corrupted election, “I am through with politics forever,” adding that she believes she can do a better job of helping her community through volunteer work.

Federal sentencing guidelines recommended a prison sentence of six to 12 months, or a probationary sentence with confinement options, for Hudson Hallum, the main defendant in the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tricia Harris didn’t request a particular sentence, but told the judge that Hallum had stepped forward, admitted wrongdoing before facing a potential indictment and “has been straightforward” with prosecutors.

Hallum’s attorney, Glenn Lovett Jr. of Jonesboro, requested the probation option, noting Hallum’s youth and his “very stable employment history” as a paramedic and firefighter in Crittenden County. Lovett also noted that Hallum’s crime wasn’t a violent one, and that probation “will allow Mr. Hallum to continue to provide valuable services to the community as a paramedic.”

The judge agreed to give probation in lieu of prison time, but said Hallum’s three years of probation must begin with nine months of home detention with electronic monitoring, for which he must contribute a “copay.” She said he also must pay a $20,000 fine and serve 100 hours of community service, as directed by the U.S. Probation Office.

Baker also ordered Hallum to participate in substance-abuse treatment, and to abstain from alcohol for the duration of his probation.

She didn’t impose the alcohol restriction for Hallum’s father, Kent Hallum, noting that he has a “low risk of substance abuse.” She gave Kent Hallum the same sentence as his son, except that she fined the elder Hallum $10,000 - half the amount she fined his son.

Federal sentencing guidelines suggested a slightly longer penalty range of eight to 14 months in prison, or probation, for the elder Hallum because he has a criminal record that wasn’t discussed in the courtroom. But the judge also heard from Jonesboro attorney Bill Bristow, who said, “What I think that we have here is a situation where a loving and supportive father broke rules trying to aid his son,” yet accepted responsibility and exhibited remorse “early on.”

Bristow also noted that Kent Hallum hoped to remain able to work in order to keep open two businesses that he and his father started 25 years ago.

The elder Hallum told the judge he was “truly sorry,” and said, “I’ve got more to face than you in this court. I’ve let my family down. .. I knew what we were doing was wrong, and I could have stopped it.”

Harris, the prosecutor, also told the judge that the elder Hallum admitted his wrongdoing early on, and that she believes he is “truly remorseful.”

Last month, Baker sentenced Malone and Carter, the other two defendants in the case, to three years’ probation. She ordered Malone to serve the first seven months under home detention, with electronic monitoring if necessary, and imposed five months of home detention, again with electronic monitoring if necessary, for Carter. She ordered Carter to pay a $2,500 fine,and ordered Malone and Carter both to perform 100 hours of community service. She didn’t impose a fine on Malone because she determined he couldn’t afford to pay it.

According to prosecutors and the FBI, Hudson Hallum hired Carter to implement his campaign’s absentee-voter strategy, while Malone assisted in implementing the strategy. The Hallums assigned Carter and Malone, among others, to identify absentee voters in the district, obtain and distribute absentee ballot applications to particular voters, determine when the county clerk’s office mailed the ballots and make contact with the absentee voters to “assist” them in completing the ballots. Unsealed envelopes containing the votes were then delivered to the Hallums for inspection. The Hallums either forwarded the ballots on to the clerk’s office or destroyed them, depending on whether the votes were for Hallum or someone else.

Prosecutors said some voters “held on to” their votes to obtain money for food, prompting a discussion between the father and son about how much they should pay for an individual vote as a opposed to a family vote.

Hudson Hallum then came up with the idea to buy large amounts of cheap vodka and whiskey, and deliver the liquor in a black limousine to entice votes from certain residents in the district. Authorities said that Kent Hallum and Carter then arranged for a discounted price for 100 half-pints of vodka from a Memphis liquor dealer.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat Harris said last month that the case “essentially dismantled a corrupt election machine in Crittenden County that had been in place for many years.”

On Thursday, he said, “Today’s sentencings of a father and son for their roles in a voter fraud scheme demonstrate just how pervasive public corruption can be.”

At the time of the fraud, District 54 included West Memphis, Marion, Earle and Turrell, as well as other rural areas of Crittenden County.

Smith, the legislator whose resignation prompted Hallum to run for the seat, later regained it after a judge voided his felony conviction. Although the action didn’t come in time for Smith to get back on the ballot as a Democrat, he later won re-election in the fall of 2012 as a member of the Green Party. The area is now known as District 50, reflecting boundary-line changes after the 2010 Census.