HOT SPRINGS -- The Republican Party of Garland County decertified John Horner's candidacy for the party's nomination in the District 7 justice of the peace race in November after he told party officials and The Sentinel-Record he didn't reside in the southeast Garland County district.
Horner said he was living in an apartment at the concrete plant his building supplies company owns on Airport Road, in District 8, until his new home in District 7 is built. He withdrew from the March 5 primary against incumbent Dayton Myers later that day.
It wasn't the first time Horner's residency qualification had been questioned. An anonymous county employee alleged to state auditors and The Sentinel-Record last year that Horner served on the Garland County Quorum Court for more than a year while he lived outside the district he was elected to represent.
Horner represented District 5, which includes the upper corridor of Carpenter Dam Road and Garvan Woodland Gardens, from 2017 through 2022. Payroll records the county provided in response to a records request showed Horner continued receiving his justice of the peace salary after he sold his home in District 5 in September 2021.
"It is widely known [Horner] moved from his justice of the peace district and continued to serve on the quorum court for more than a year," the employee said in a June 22, 2023, letter to state auditors, a copy of which was provided to The Sentinel-Record.
"Once Mr. Horner moved from his justice of the peace district, he was no longer qualified to serve in that position, and the quorum court should have declared a vacancy and asked the governor to fill the position.
"I am a concerned employee and taxpayer of Garland County, and I believe that our elected officials should be held to a higher standard. I cannot sign my name because of possible retaliation and loss of my job," the letter said.
Arkansas Legislative Audit said in July it had an item related to the newspaper's request for correspondence auditors had received regarding Horner's residency qualification. Citing records-request exemptions under the Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act and for unsubstantiated allegations of fraud, the agency declined to release the item.
Legislative Audit said last month that the exemptions were still in effect.
Horner told the newspaper in November he was living with friends in District 5 after he sold his home. He hadn't responded to subsequent emails, text messages and calls at press time.
County Judge Darryl Mahoney said he was unaware of the anonymous letter when the newspaper shared its copy with him in November.
"I have no knowledge of this letter," Mahoney said in an email. "This is the first I have been made aware of it."
The District 5 address of the home Horner sold in September 2021 is on payroll records showing he received $11,412 during the 16 months from September 2021 through the end of 2022.
Horner put a post office box as his address on the 2021 statement of financial interest he filed with the county clerk's office in February 2022.
The concrete plant on Airport Road is the mailing address on the deed transferring title of the lot he bought in District 7 in October 2022.
"Mr. Horner was representing District 5 as a JP, and Garland County does not monitor elected officials permanent address," Mahoney said.
The secretary of state's office said Horner changed the address on his voter registration from the District 5 address he sold in 2021 to the Gardens Edge Estates subdivision where he plans to build his home in District 7 shortly before he filed to run for the District 7 seat in November.
No one filed to run for District 5 in 2022. The 2023-24 Quorum Court declared the seat vacant at its first meeting last January after Horner submitted his letter of resignation six days earlier. In June, the governor appointed Republican Linda Bright to serve through the end of this year.
Republican Ralf Bailes and Democrat Meredith Finn filed for the seat and will be on the ballot in the November 2024 general election.