NWA editorial: Up to something?

Secret break room cameras become political issue

It's shocking.

It's outrageous.

What’s the point?

A clash over installation of audio and video recording equipment is an election-year dust up over political shenanigans.

It's scandalous.

It's an invasion.

It's against the law..

Can you tell it's an election year? Or are we listening to attorney Jackie Chiles in a "Seinfeld" episode?

For decades, the question of allowing cameras in the courtroom has raged in judicial circles, but in Washington County, the subject is far, far more serious: Should there be cameras in the break room?

The break room in question is adjacent to the second-floor space in the Washington County Courthouse where 15 members of the Quorum Court and County Judge Marilyn Edwards gather monthly to make decisions regarding county government. In the Quorum Court Room, cameras broadcast the meeting's activities, but the break room has served as a place of respite for justices of the peace to have a snack or to hang out before meetings get under way.

Last August, however, Edwards had the county's information technology department purchase cameras for $1,016. The cameras, which are designed not to look like cameras, can also capture audio and came from a company called Home Spy. They were installed in the aforementioned break room.

Why? Well, that's really where the drama comes in.

County officials installed signs in the break room advising it was under surveillance. County Attorney Steve Zega and George Butler, Edwards' chief of staff, have said the goal was to catch someone stealing employee lunches and snacks from a refrigerator.

Perhaps it's worth noting here that Edwards is in her final year as county judge. Instead, she's running in the March 1 primary to unseat District 9 Justice of the Peace Eva Madison, and there's no Republican challenger in the fall.

But it was a different Madison, a girl named Sue, who last fall complained to Edwards about the cameras after seeing the signs. Sue Madison is Eva's momma, how do you do, and she said being recorded by hidden cameras in a room she considered private was bothersome.

According to Butler, the cameras were turned off after the elder Madison complained and have never been turned back on. A single recording made was irretrievably destroyed before anyone watched it, he said.

Problem solved, right?

Edwards has said Sue Madison asked her to keep the complaint over the cameras last fall quiet, but Madison denies that. In any case, it was on Jan. 21 that Sue Madison publicly demanded more explanation as to why "we were taped both audio and visual without our knowledge."

Last week, Eva Madison told a committee of the Quorum Court people ought to be upset that hidden cameras were installed. An attorney, the younger Madison alleged federal and state laws may have been violated. The advice of County Attorney Zega: If she thinks so, contact law enforcement authorities.

Justice of the Peace Harvey Bowman, a Republican, said Edwards, who has long been concerned members of the Quorum Court discuss county business outside the view of the public, was trying to "capture something that could be very intimidating." He said the judge was "being very vindictive."

Robert Dennis, another Republican on the Quorum Court, said the previously settled matter was brought up now as a "political move."

Who to believe? Well, perhaps, all of them.

At best, there are curious shenanigans going on involving both sides of this dispute. Edwards wanted to catch members of the Quorum Court violating the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act by discussing county business privately. And if that activity is going on, we would love for them to get caught. Anyone engaging in such activities is committing a disservice to the public he or she represents, and committing a crime in the process.

Even with the signs, however, the foundation for spending more than $1,000 on the "spying" equipment doesn't make sense. The break room isn't used a lot by county employees, and why would the county need audio to monitor fridge thefts? The signs didn't indicate any capability for audio surveillance. At best, the county judge was attempting to be sneaky.

Claims of illegalities? That's a stretch, even for an attorney.

The truthiest part of this entire debate came from Justice of the Peace Butch Pond, who dismissed any claim of privacy for elected officials using a break room in a public building.

"That break room does not belong to the Quorum Court -- that building belongs to the taxpayers of Washington County," Pond said.

Perhaps most astonishing is the fact this political squabble is emerging out of a contest for a seat on the Quorum Court. It's an important governmental body, but it's not the presidency.

And cameras in a break room don't amount to Watergate.

Commentary on 02/07/2016

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