A candidate for Arkansas House District 94 is running despite a past misdemeanor conviction that appears to prohibit her from holding office under the Arkansas Constitution.
The decision to continue her campaign landed House District 94 candidate Laura Missy Wardlaw in a lawsuit on Monday.
Wardlaw is the wife of the current representative for District 94, Jeff Wardlaw, who is term-limited. She was found guilty in 2018 for passing a hot check.
The Arkansas Constitution says that no person convicted of embezzlement of public money, bribery, forgery or other infamous crime, shall be eligible for the state's legislature or other state office.
UA Little Rock Bowen School of Law Professor Robert Steinbuch says that includes a hot check conviction.
"A hot check conviction means you gave someone a check; you knew there were insufficient funds, and yet you did it in a dishonest fashion," Steinbuch told KATV. "She's simply not entitled to hold office in the state of Arkansas."
Steinbuch says he's called out Wardlaw on the issue, but she appears not to be giving up the race.
"When I reached out to her about that hot check conviction, she did not return my inquiry, and she pulled down her website and Facebook site for her campaign. But shortly thereafter, a few days later, it was all back up," Steinbuch said. "And so I suspect, I don't know, that she thinks she's qualified to run for office."
Legal precedent doesn't appear to be on Wardlaw's side.
In 2020, the Pulaski County Circuit Court ruled that Democratic nominee Jimmie Wilson was ineligible to serve in the state legislature because of decades-old financial misdemeanor convictions—a ruling the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed.
So why don't election commissions bar such candidates from running in the first place? Why does it take a lawsuit?
"Seemingly, that's the process by which one needs to seek removal of a candidate who is disqualified under the Constitution yet refuses to drop out," Steinbuch said.
And that's exactly what John Kyle Day, Wardlaw's opponent in the District 94 Republican primary, is doing. Monday afternoon he filed a lawsuit against Wardlaw.
“I am offering this suit as a public service. Because of Arkansas statute, our State Constitution, and numerous judicial precedents, my opponent is barred from either being elected to or holding public office in the Natural State,” Day said when contacted by the Eagle Democrat. “In the past fifteen years, numerous political candidates (including the 2016 Republican State Representative nominee right here in Drew County) were barred from election and service because of this very same crime. Due to this obvious disqualification, my opponent would be removed and the citizens of these three counties in District 94 will be without representation in the legislature, while we the taxpayers will be subject to a divisive, needless, and expensive special election. This problem must be solved immediately if the citizens of Southeast Arkansas are to be justly served.”
Both Day and Steinbuch question Wardlaw's running to take her term-limited husband's seat in the House.
"Legislators have tried to run their spouses to fill that seat. I'm both philosophically as well as legally opposed to this," Day said.
The Eagle Democrat staff also reached out to the Wardlaw camp for a comment. Attorney Landon Sanders provided the following comment:
“With this being an active lawsuit, we cannot offer any statements at this time.”
As details or information become available we will keep you updated.
