Lawmakers told Janet Moore, chairman of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, that she is rude and disrespectful and has an attitude problem after she debated Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, in a committee meeting Tuesday.
She had denied Stubblefield's request to ask her questions in June during an agency hearing on behalf of a constituent who wanted to keep coin-operated machines. The constituent saw the machines as amusement devices, but the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board ruled that they were gambling machines.
In Tuesday's meeting of the legislative Joint Performance Review Committee, lawmakers listened to a brief audio recording of Moore denying Stubblefield's requests for questions at the June board meeting. The committee then discussed the case with Moore.
"I read your manual -- the rules and regulations manual. In fact, I read it twice," Stubblefield said Tuesday. "Nowhere in that book does it say you have to allow me to ask a question."
If he could have asked his questions earlier, Stubblefield said, Tuesday's meeting might not have been necessary. Stubblefield is a member of the Joint Performance Review Committee.
"We cannot answer questions, I said four times at least during the hearing," Moore said.
"So you don't think anybody's entitled to answer a question?" Stubblefield said.
"May I answer that?" Moore said.
"After 40 years of paying your fines, or paying your fees?" Stubblefield said.
"May I answer that?" Moore said.
"And your taxes?" Stubblefield said.
"I'll answer that," Moore said.
"Yes, answer that," Stubblefield said.
"The only power the agency board has is the power that y'all give us," Moore said. "You passed a statute that says specifically what we can and cannot do, and nowhere can we entertain a question or give advisory opinions."
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board hearing in question centered on Thomas D. Hanson, who has an Alcoholic Beverage Control permit and does business as Tommy Dean's Inc. in Altus, about 43 miles northwest of Russellville. Hanson was fined $4,000 and given one year of probation for allowing "gaming machines on permitted premises," according to a list of approved orders by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
Hanson was issued a violation order dated April 21, which he appealed. The agency's board upheld the order in a 5-0 vote on June 15, according to board records.
Stubblefield said Tuesday that he was involved in the case because it centered on some of his constituents involved in the business.
"There was evidence presented -- pictures shown -- of Mr. Dean's eight machines," Stubblefield said Tuesday, referring to what was shown at the board hearing. "Can you describe those? Can you give me a description of the front of those machines? Did they have a slot ticket dispenser?"
Alcoholic Beverage Control agents testified during the June board meeting that the machines were video slot machines that would either give a ticket or credit for prizes, Moore said.
Stubblefield said the machines did not have slots to dispense winnings of any sort.
"There were no payout devices. There were no winnings. There was nothing to win," he said. "You simply inserted a coin, and you played the machine for amusement."
Moore said Stubblefield's constituents did not provide that information during the hearing.
Stubblefield said Alcoholic Beverage Control agents gave false testimony.
"During the hearing, my constituents were cut off from the hearing. There was a sense of aggravation by you and your board," Stubblefield said. "You actually did not even allow the men to complete their testimony or their statements. In fact, to be honest with you, there was a lot of discourtesy and disrespect."
Stubblefield said the state Department of Finance and Administration has collected taxes on the machines in question for decades.
Moore said the business had paid an amusement tax, but that has no bearing on what the machines do.
"If you put a sticker on my forehead that says 'beautiful fairy princess' -- and look at me, we all know I'm short, fat, old and have gray hair. You know I'm not a beautiful fairy princess," she said. "Putting an amusement sticker on a gambling machine does not make it an amusement machine."
Moore said the machines qualify as gambling machines under a 2002 Arkansas Supreme Court ruling.
Sen. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, asked Moore what jobs she had before Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed her to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
Moore said she was a circuit judge, municipal judge and city attorney for various municipalities.
"Let me say this, from what I've heard in the audio and what I've seen here with your smirks and your little head twitching, I respect you for the jobs you had before ... but you've got an attitude problem that I see that's not becoming of an [Alcoholic Beverage Control Board chairman]," Rice said. "I would like to see a change."
Rice said Moore needs to ensure that residents have a voice.
"I'm 66 years old," Moore said. "I'm the way I've been forever. I am blunt. I am open. And I tell it as I see it. If I smirk, I smirk. If I smile, I smile. I am not going to change my demeanor."
Stubblefield said he would like Moore to return to a future Joint Performance Review meeting with a representative from the Finance and Administration Department. Alcoholic Beverage Control is a division of the department.
Metro on 07/27/2016