Rodney Forte, executive director of the Metropolitan Housing Alliance, pleaded innocent Thursday to a charge of failing to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. He is set to stand trial on the Class C misdemeanor charge in January.
A Little Rock judge issued an arrest warrant Oct. 30 for Forte over accusations that he has failed to produce documents requested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for the past three months. He wasn't taken into custody but was issued the citation at the housing office last week.
Forte's defense attorney called in the plea to the criminal division of Little Rock District Court, said Matthew Flemister, a public defender. Judge Alice Lightle set a trial start date for Jan. 21 in District Court.
Hayden Shugar, Forte's attorney, did not return calls for comment Thursday. Shugar is a lawyer with Little Rock-based Wright, Lindsey & Jennings LLP, which represents the Metropolitan Housing Alliance.
Forte declined to comment.
"We are involved in a legal matter, so we're not going to speak on any of this until everything is final," he said Thursday.
According to an arrest affidavit issued by the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney's office, Forte faces the charge for failing to comply with the law by "unlawfully, negligently failing to provide copies or make available for inspection requested public documents."
Staff writer Chelsea Boozer made her first Freedom of Information Act request Aug. 13, and she and City Editor Danny Shameer subsequently made numerous attempts to receive all of the requested information, which included employee documents, work orders and tenant complaints.
Forte and Marshall Nash, the housing agency's director of administrative services whom Forte had designated to handle records requests, responded to some of the newspaper's records requests but did not complete others. The records the Democrat-Gazette received included public information that had been redacted, according to a criminal complaint filed by Boozer and Shameer that formed the basis of an arrest affidavit written by the prosecuting attorney's office.
On Oct. 28, Nash sent an invoice to the Democrat-Gazette charging $16,378 to hire outside workers to help the agency comply with the request, an action the Little Rock city attorney and other Arkansas Freedom of Information Act experts said is illegal.
The Democrat-Gazette has still not received the records.
Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley told the newspaper last week that the housing agency's actions were "over the top," "outrageous," and "absolutely indicative of bad faith on the part of the agency and the responsible individuals."
Metro on 11/07/2014