DIRTY POLITICS IN THE CITY OF LITTLE ROCK

Election day is this coming Tuesday. The citizens of Little Rock will be electing a new mayor and have a chance to make changes on four seats on the board - Wards 1, 2, 6 and 7.

At least one candidate has been caught (and documented) removing other candidates signs and LR Public Works and the Arkansas Department of Transportation has removed some that were in the public right of way that candidates blamed other of taking.

Candidates or their supporters have placed push cards in mailboxes which is a violation of federal laws.

Candidates have taken contributions from organization that fight against tenant rights and equitable landlord/tenant laws.  

The Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police, most of whose membership is white and does not even reside in the city of Little Rock targeted a candidate for the city board that has exposed corruption in their ranks.

One of the most bizarre efforts to influence a city ward election has been by Miles Mcferrin Goggans, a former Clinton staffer and registered lobbyist from Star City.

LITTLE ROCK VICE MAYOR /WARD 3 DIRECTOR KATHY WEBB AND GOGGANS IN 2010

Goggans is a sketchy individual in that he was involved in a scandal back in 2010.

The scandal involved identity theft and fake letters sent to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In 2016 Goggans was involved in another controversy involving donation to the gubernatorial campaign of Asa Hutchinson.

Googans was rewarded for his helping to fill Asa's coffers by getting appointed to state boards.

Googins also reaps financial benefits from the government.

Googans is registered to vote in Star City.

So it seems extremely strange that he is sending out mailers that bring up a old issue regarding Ward 2 Director Ken Richardson missing some board meetings.

  
We posted about about that back in March 2017.  

What we know now is that Richardson was absent from meetings due to out of town conferences he was attending on behalf of the city, personal illness and heart surgery of his mother.

Why is Goggans sending these mailers out? Because someone has hired him to do it just like they did to send out the forged letters back in 2010. 

Was it an opponent of Richardson? Was it a fellow board member trying to keep him from being reelected? Was it Kenton Tremar Buckner seeking revenge against Richardson for his proposed ordinance to make arrests for possession of marijuana the lowest possible priority for LRPD, something Buckner stated that LRPD was doing anyway?

By the way, a week or so after the LRBOD rejected Richardson ordinance, the city of Jacksonville, AR adopted a similar measure much like major progressive cities have done across the United States.  

LRPD officers frequently use the pretense of smelling marijuana coming from a vehicle in a traffic stop as an excuse to search the vehicle and harass the driver, more often than not a person of color.

Several candidates for the board have missed the deadline and failed to file a required campaign contribution and expenditure report.

A couple of the directors have filed questionable reports that indicate illegal contributions.

One of them is Doris Wright, incumbent Ward 6 Director. She accepted an illegal contribution from a business resulting in a complaint to the Arkansas Ethics Commission. 
 

You can read the full complaint by clicking here.

The other candidate that has filed unbelievable reports is Valeria Tatum. 

We reported about her being an ineligible candidate in this post. 

A lawsuit will be filed tomorrow morning to have her declared an ineligibility candidate and her votes not be counted. We will post an update about it tomorrow.

The good news for many in the city is that as of November 16th,  befouled LRPD police chief Kenton Tremar Buckner will no longer be our problem. 

The new mayor and the new board of directors will need to demand that troubled city manager Bruce Moore involve citizens in the selection process.

With a new sheriff coming to Pulaski County and a new chief coming to Little Rock, we have an opportunity to make positive changes in our community and form a real partnership to address crime and reluctance of officers to live in the city that the are paid to serve and protect.

 #TimeForChange #CleanOutLRCityHall

CITY MANAGER RESPONDS TO COMPLAINT ABOUT DEPARTING CHIEF'S USE OF THE "N" WORD - HE WILL NOT DO A DAMN THING

WE GOT 99 PROBLEMS BUT BUCKNER AIN'T ONE

LITTLE ROCK BOARD OF DIRECTORS WIMPS OUT - INELIGIBLE CANDIDATE ACCEPTS ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTIBUTIONS IN EXCESS OF $17,000.00

Tonight at the LRBOD agenda meeting, at-large director Joan Adcock brought up the matter of the ineligible Ward 2 candidate Valerie Tatum.

This is a video of the limited discussion. 

Instead of doing the right thing and instructing city attorney Tom Carpenter to take legal action, they sat their on their fat asses and said nothing.

Don't fret troubled citizens, for several resident of Ward 2 are filing a lawsuit tomorrow and will do what the board is afraid to do.

Expect more details tomorrow.

If you thought things could not get any crazier, wait until you see Tatum's Campaign Contribution and Expenditure report.  

Tatum self-reports three illegal contributions that were in excess of permitted amounts to the tune of over $17,000 and failed to detail expenditures in excess of $34,000. Under Arkansas laws, individuals, political parties, county party committees, legislative caucus committees, and approved political action committees can contribute no more than $2,700 per candidate per election.

Valerie Tatum CCE 10.30.18 by on Scribd

Tatum did a lousy job of filling out the form leaving out required details like addresses and places of employment as well as not explaining how funds were spent as previously mentioned.

Tatum claims to have a doctorate, but she had great difficulty in following the directions on how to properly fill out the form.

You know a complaint is on it's way about this to the Arkansas Ethics Commission as well as one for another LRBOD member, Doris Wright.

We can't make this shit up. 

#TimeForChange #CleanOutLRCityHall

LITTLE ROCK BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND CITY HEADED TO COURT OVER FAILURE TO REPOND TO A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST - TROUBLE BREWS OVER RESIDENCY OF BOARD CANDIDATE

Records obtained from a sources connected to Little Rock City Hall have leaked emails that indicated members of the Little Rock Board of Directors conducted meetings via email and text messages in violation of Arkansas laws.

Now those board members are panicking and fighting release of those emails and text messages sought in a Freedom of Information request made by the publisher of this blog. An appeal of denial of rights under the AFOIA is being filed today and the board members will be sued as individuals and in their official capacity. They will be served notice of the action at tonight's agenda meeting. 

How many of them will skip the meeting tonight to avoid service?

The matter of the disputed candidacy of Ward 2 candidate Valerie Tatum is what was discussed in the "electronic meetings" of the board. Topic of discussion was whether the city should take legal action to have Tatum disqualified and if a special called board meeting should take place to deal with the matter.

It has been speculated that the matter will be addressed at the agenda meeting tonight, but don't count on it.

This board is filled with tired, worn-out individuals who don't really give a damn what happens in this city.

You can see that by attending board meetings or watching the meetings on public access TV or live-streaming on YouTube.

***
Background:

When Valerie Tatum submitted her affidavit of candidacy for the Ward 2 position on the Little Rock Board of Directors, the address she gave as her residence was in Ward 1. A huge problem for the city clerk as she should have taken the time to verify residency in the Ward.

We know Tatum was a Ward 1 resident from her voter registration which clearly indicated she was a resident of Ward 1 and had voted in Ward 1 back in May.

Based on a complaint made to the city attorney Tom Carpenter about Tatum's eligibility, Carpent made a review of the records and determined that Tatum was not a qualified candadte due to residency. 

This is what Tatum's attorney sent the city attorney:

2018.10.18 Letter to Thomas... by on Scribd

 This is an email exchange between City Attorney Tom Carpenter and
 Tatum's attorney Jess Askew:

Well, the mayor and members of the board did not want the city attorney to file a legal action because Tatum is backed by the Walton Foundation and Dickson Flake as Tatum is neck deep involved in a charter school.

The city had no problems suing mayoral candidates Warwick Sabin and Frank Scott but balked at doing the right thing and taking oin Tatum's illegal candidacy head-on. 

H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-C-Y!!!

Tatum has a home in Maumelle and claims a homestead exemption on it.

When an individual from another town can move into a ward in the city and then run for office in another ward, city leadership must take action.

There is a similar case that will be heard in Hot Spring this Friday involving State Representative Laurie Rushing.

All eyes are on the Little Rock Board and last term mayor Mark Stodola.

They need to do the right thing and let the city attorney take the course of action he intended to take from the start.

There are residents of Ward 2 that are prepared to step up and take action if the board wussies out tonight.

That will be a stain on the city and the legacy of its leaders.

And great blogging material too.

 


 

CITY DIRECTORS BLOCKING CITIZENS FROM COMMENTING ON SOCAL MEDIA PAGES - CONTENT DISCRIMINATION AND INVITATION TO LAWSUITS

Have you been blocked from commenting on a city director's social media? 

If so contact us as we are exploring filing a lawsuit against each director that has blocked us from posting comments.

Courts have ruled that public officials cannot block individuals from commenting on social media pages.

A public official in Arkansas has been sued this month for doing just that.

All sitting board members except Erma Hendrix, have accepted funds from  a Chamber of Commerce affiliated and fronted Political Action Committee. This seems sketchy as the board has voted time and time again to hand over around $300k a year to the CoC for the past decade for "economic development" with little or no accountability for how the funds were spent.

Many directors, including Doris Wright and B.J. Wyrick have taken contributions from organizations like the Realtors Association PAC that fights equitable landlord/tenant laws yet they claim they support tenant rights.

Does the NRA give funds to candidates that support tighter gun laws?  

Does the Realtors Association PAC expect Wright and Wyrick to have their back?

Hell yes they do. 

And when watchdog individuals like our publisher calls out city directors on their shenanigans  and sketchy actions they refuse to address the questions posed to them, turn tail and run, then block him from posting questions or comments on their social media pages.

It's an election year and it's time for change and time for some lawsuits to make these elected officials obey the law and not violate our rights.

10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT KENTON TREMAR BUCKNER - FOR OUR FRIENDS IN SYRACUSE

KENTON TREMAR BUCKNER - LITTLE ROCK POLICE CHIEF (2014-2018*)

* If Buckner does not get the job in Syracuse, word from City Manager Bruce Moore is his days are numbered here. 

As we did for the citizens of Charleston back in February, as a public service to the citizens of Syracuse, we offer 10 things you need to know about the individual the citizens of Little Rock hopes and prays is your next police chief.

1. Kenton Tremar Buckner believes that the majority of crime is caused by people of color in Little Rock. He said the same thing when in Louisville, KY.

Buckner's comment drew the ire of the Racial Diversity & Cultural Commission. Buckner had a contentious meeting with them and demanded a letter grade.  They gave him a 'F". Click here and here for details.


2. Kenton Tremar Buckner believes that his decisions are not to be questioned by anyone, including city leadership and if they do so it is "dangerous".

3. Kenton Tremar Buckner believes that laws do not apply to himself or police officers.

Buckner does not believe in giving any law enforcement officer a ticket for speeding or causing an accident while on or off duty.  Click here for details.

When an LRPD officer was captured by a security camera urinating in the open street, Buckner thought it was acceptable.  Click here for details.

 
4. Kenton Tremar Buckner is not a safe driver.

Buckner has wrecked his city issued ride at least twice. Both accidents were his  fault. Click here for details.

 
5. Kenton Tremar Buckner does not believe in open records or transparency.

LRPD routinely refuses to provide documents or video recordings when requested pursuant to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. It is only after threatening to take legal action (there is a section of the AFOIA that permits the filing of legal action for denial of rights under the AFOIA) that they relent and provide the documents. Click here and here for details.

Our publisher has filed and won two AFOIA appeals against Buckner. Buckner admitted that the failure to comply with the law was a "failure in leadership" and that it "fell on him".


6. Kenton Tremar Buckner is a hypocrite.

(a) Buckner has questioned the need for black officers in Little Rock to have and belong to the Black Police Officers Association. The BPOA is highly critical of Buckner and did not want him hired as police chief.  Yet he uses Little Rock tax dollars to maintain memberships and attend conferences for the  National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives ("NOBLE") and the National Forum for Black Public Administrators ("NFBPA"). Click here for details.



(b) Buckner suspended an officer that was seen talking with a former classmate.  Unknown to the officer her former classmate had a felony record - a fact she was not aware of.  LRPD has a police about hanging out with felons and sketchy characters. Yet Buckner is often seen with a convicted sex offender at many civic functions. Click here for details.

7. Kenton Tremar Buckner likes fancy cars.

BUCKNER'S PERSONAL PIMP RIDES

Buckner has two personal vehicles. A 2000 Mercedes-Benz and a 1966 Cadillac.  We question Buckner's use/misuse of his city provided ride when he has two pimp rides he could use to go to church, to go eat lunch on weekends and after work, and to go bar hopping to get shots of Bourbon or run personal errands.We suspect Buckner is too cheap to purchase his own gas. Certainly with the frequency he causes accidents it's nice to pass the cost of insurance claim payouts to the city's insurance carrier.  And with no citations issued his own insurance company has no idea that he had been the cause of accidents so they can raise his rates as he is a risk.

 
8. Kenton Tremar Buckner is a liar.  

(a) Buckner said that "disagreement is a sign of healthy communication", however he blocks individuals that have conflicting viewpoints from his own from posting on department social media sites. Click here for details.

In Q&A with Buckner from the summer of 2015 he said this about use of social media:

Reporter: Somebody told us that you've been big about getting Facebook likes on the LRPD Facebook page. Is social media a part of that puzzle of community policing?

Buckner: Sure it is, because whoever told you that thought it was important enough for you to know that. It's certainly important to us. We feel like social media is a viable means for us to get out our message. We're no longer 100 percent dependent on the media to tell the story for the Little Rock Police Department. We want to connect with people via social media. Many people, particularly young folks, use social media as their communication avenue, and we want to make sure we're putting things out through those avenues so people can see what's going on in their community, people can see what's going on with their police department, people can see things that they can engage with, whether it's some kind of initiative [such as] when we did the [KTHV, Channel 11] cereal drive [for the Arkansas Foodbank]. We put things out there like that. When you can reach almost 15,000 people on Facebook, and they in turn turn around and send it to other folks they know, now we're beginning to spread the word other than, maybe, just seeing me in a news conference or something that's in the paper. We can do that at our leisure, rather than just waiting on someone to come here and do the story when they think it's good for them.


(b) When the city of Little Rock was experiencing record high numbers of homicides and violent crimes,  Buckner was asked by members of the city Board of Directors if he thought his department could benefit from assistance from the Arkansas State Police,  he vehemently pushed back.  Buckner did not tell the truth in that he had asked the Arkansas State just two days before his appearance before the board. Click here for details.

Buckner was forced to unblock individuals from LRPD social media pages after a promise of another lawsuit by our publisher, who was a victim of Buckner's content discrimination.

Buckner used his city issued cellphone to respond to messages on internet dating websites. He lied and said he was from Memphis and used the pseudonym "NegoPapi".

All this was confirmed in a deposition of Buckner. Buckner also admitted he used the "N" word.



9.  Kenton Tremar Buckner is careless with weapons.

(a) Buckner lost a city issued handgun and cannot explain how it happened. It later was found in posses of a felon would would not provide information how it came into his possession.  Smells of shenanigans.

(b) Buckner left a handgun in his city issued SUV and it was discovered when employees of city fleet services picked it up from police HQ for servicing and cleaning (it was found under the drivers seat according to sources). Fleet services notified Buckner and he had them immediately bring it back to him and told them to not say anything about the gun being left in the SUV.

10. Kenton Tremar Buckner likes to travel using public funds.

BUCKNER LIKES TO SCARF DOWN ON SNACKS WHEN TRAVELING

While employed by the city of Little Rock, Buckner spent $10,865.35 per year traveling and attending seminars. Click here for details.

In 2017, as things were falling apart at the seams at LRPD, Buckner used $14,000.00 in public funds to attend a leadership school at Harvard to boost his resume to make him more attractive to a potential employer, like the city of Charleston.

We could have titled this post 100 things you need to know about Kenton Tremar Buckner, but you get the point with these 10.


 ************

Things that Kenton Tremar Buckner does not want you to know.

Buckner has objections to Little Rock police officers having facial hair even though he sported a butt-hole tickler mustache when on the Louisville KY police force.

  

A persistent allegation from LRPD personnel is that Buckner once called for assistance from an officer, the son of an assistant police chief, to remove handcuffs from his arm at his residence.

Buckner has failed to address this allegation or respond to requests for a response.

Buckner used the LRPD Facebook page as his own personal page and posted comments about where he was attending church services or eating a meal.

Buckner would not issue tickets to a police Chaplin for having fictitious tags (the Texas plate) on his car and parking in a handicapped spot with no handicap license plate or hang tag near LA Fitness.

Buckner has a temper and frequently makes snippy comments about individuals that have upset him. Recently, an individual was in city manager Bruce Moore's office and Moore called Buckner to check on a matter.  The individual could hear Buckner screaming at his boss Moore through the telephone handset.  One wonders what Buckner has on Moore to not be reprimanded of fired for such a display of insubordination.  

Kenton Tremar Buckner failed to pay state taxes when due and had a lien filed against him.

In 2017 when Little Rock was experience it's highest number of violent crimes and homicides since Bangin' in the Rock days, Buckner refused to seek help from other law enforcement agencies, until the Governor stepped in.

Buckner is desperate to get out of Little Rock and distance himself from the lawsuits mounting over his rogue undercover officers and a lying snitch that fabricated drug buys.

It's being reported that the fabricated cases by Buckner's Boy and the lying snitch are being dropped.

We will be glad to get rid of this befouled buffoon and wish you the best of luck Syracuse. Thanks for taking him off our hands!

#TimeForChange #CleanOutLRCityHall #ByeByeBuckner