Thursday, May 9, 2019

ETHICS COMMISSION SETS DATE FOR HEARING ON ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN ACTIVITY OF FAILED CHARTER SCHOOL HEAD AND CITY BOARD CANDIDATE VALERIE TATUM




You can read all about Tatum by clicking here and here.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

FORMER CHARTER SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT VALERIE TATUM ACCUSED OF STEALING SCHOOL FUNDS

SCHOOL FOUNDER & FORMER HEAD VALERIE TATUM IS REPORTED TO HAVE STOLEN $188K

According to a report filed February 13th by Phong Tran, the superintendent of the now shuttered Covenant Keepers charter school, school founder and former superintendent Valerie Tatum made $188, 905.93 in unauthorized transactions from the school's checking account.


The full police report can be viewed by clicking here.

The Arkansas Department of Education revoked the schools charter in an emergency meeting on February 15th, after learning of Tatum's theft.

The school was left with $15,000 in its operating account, not quite enough for a payroll that was due on the 15th due and well short of another $44,000 owed this week for payroll, teacher retirement, food service and other costs, according to a story on the Arkansas Blog by Max Brantley.

 Tatum is also reported to have recently removed furniture and equipment from the school. 



Joe Harris, chief operating officer of the Washington, D.C.-based Friendship Education Foundation, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Tatum, had acquired a total of $188,905.93 in three withdrawals made from U.S Bank in the past two weeks.

Friendship Education Foundation is running Covenant Keepers school this year on behalf of the City of Fire Community Development Inc., a nonprofit organization that holds the state charter that allows Covenant Keepers to operate and receive state funding.

Tatum is listed as the Agent and a director for City of Fire Community Development Inc.



When the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette asked Tatum about the allegations, Tatum declined to comment without her lawyer and would not disclose the name of her attorney.

Tatum has a sketchy history with the school and the Arkansas Department of Education.  

Tatum had been found to have been involved in self-dealing in regard to a loan she made to the school back in 2015 when the school was placed on probation.




Tatum also had some problems following state laws when she illegally ran for the Ward 2 position on the Little Rock City Board. You can read all about that on our Bad City of Little Rock blog by clicking here.

 Tatum has a complaint filed against her at the Arkansas Ethics Commission for illegal campaign contributions and could face a fine of $2,500.00 and a referral for criminal charges.

 You can read the ethics complaint by clicking here.

Joan Adcock, a long in the tooth at-large Little Rock City Director, was instrumental in keeping the school open back in 217 when the Department of Education was going to revoke its charter.  You can hear what she had to say in the video posted below.

Adcock has never made an appearance before the education board to plead for the return of local control of the Little Rock School District.

 Adcock needs to be removed as she has long outlived her usefulness. Take a look at how she really feels about folks of color. http://badlittlerock.blogspot.com/2016/12/lr-board-of-director-joan-adcock-lone.html

 Adcock once complained that SW Little Rock was becoming "little Mexico" but in order to stay in office has pandered to the Little Rock Latino community.

 We wonder what old Joan thinks about her friend Tatum and the theft of funds...will old Joan stand up for her again?

 ###

Tatum was a sorry ass administrator.  So much so that a parent filed a lawsuit against her. Tatum wanted a student to "voluntarily" leave the school for allegedly attempting to buy an iPod.



 














The lawsuit after some failed attempts by Tatum to have it dismissed was settled.




If you are curious as to why the motions to dismiss failed, it was because Tatum's lawyer failed to appear at a hearing she asked for about her motion.



 ###
***UPDATE - 5/8/19 ***

The Arkansas Ethics Commission has finally set a date for a probable cause hearing on the illegal campaign activity of Tatum - May 17th at 9:30 a.m.


Stay tuned for updates.

 ###

Saturday, January 19, 2019

JUDGE SUSAN WEAVER FOUND TO HAVE VIOLATED CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS


The Arkansas Ethics Commission has found that Circuit Judge Susan Weaver violated the law by failing to note that her campaign paid for an ad in the Faulkner County Lifestyle magazine in May 2018.

 

However, the Commission declined to sanction Weaver based on good cause. Weaver and Lori Quinn, a co-owner of the magazine, testified that the campaign asked in an email for the magazine to correct the ad before publication to specify who paid for it, but the magazine didn't do so. 

LORI QUINN
 
Quinn, testified that she agreed with the affidavit of Brandy Strain-Dayer, the other co-owner.

"This particular ad was sent to proof and we missed an email they replied it was not correct and we just missed it," Quinn said.

Perhaps a complaint should have been filed against Quinn and her rag for not following the law.

Weaver is a former district judge for Faulkner and Van Buren counties who narrowly defeated Andrea Woods, corporate counsel and executive president of Nabholz Construction, for the Division 1 position in the 20th Judicial Circuit in May 2018. That particular judicial district has a history of being one, if not the most, corrupt district s in the entire state.

Woods filed a citizens complaint against Weaver that led to an investigation by the Commission.

Woods also ran an ad in that issue and it contained the statutory wording.



Three commissioners, Sybil Jordan Hampton, Lori Klein and Ashley Driver Younger, voted to approve a motion to find that Weaver violated state law, but not to sanction her for it. Chairman Tony Juneau of Rogers voted against the motion.

TONY JUNO - ETHICS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN
Under state law, the commission may sanction ethics law violators with a letter of caution, reprimand or warning and/or fines ranging from $50 to $2,000 per violation.

The commission also voted 4-0 to deny Weaver's motion to declare the laws under which the commission operates to be unconstitutional.

We will be keeping a watchful eye on this scofflaw of a judge.

Weaver's attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig, told the commission, "We may wish to appeal on the question of constitutionality and whether a violation was found at all."

JEFF ROSENZWEIG

Under Arkansas Code Annotated 7-6-228, campaign signs, literature and other printed materials must clearly contain the words "Paid for by" followed by the name of the candidate, committee or person who paid for the material.

Good luck with your appeal shyster.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

CONWAY ATTORNEY TRIES TO VIOLATE THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION AND STATE LAWS BY DEMANDING THAT BLOGGER THAT EXPOSED ILLEGAL ACTIVITY OF HIS CLIENT REVEAL HIS SOURCES AND NOTES

SHYSTER JAMES L. BARGER AND HIS CRAZY CLIENT APRIL MATHIS

Followers of this blog will remember our numerous posts about April Mathis, a former employee of then Faulkner County Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland (now U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas) who used her position to obtain sealed court records of a case involving the current wife of her ex-husband.

You can check out these posts to get all the details:


http://badgovernmentinarkansas.blogspot.com/2017/10/more-evidence-surfaces-about-employee.html



Last week the publisher of the blog received a subpoena duces tecum and was to appear for a deposition today.

Our publisher filed a motion to quash the subpoena and thus halted the illegal attempt of shyster Barger to get his notes and identify sources of his stories. 







Arkansas, as backward as it is, has a great shield law for journalists.



 While highly unlikely, this case could impact the rights of the free press in the state of Arkansas.

One of the potential witnesses, if this matter proceeds to a hearing, might be David Sachar, the Executive Director of the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, that cited this blog and recognized it as a state wide media source in a filing regarding the removal of Saline County Circuit Court Judge Bobby McCallister.


Another might be Max Brantley with the Arkansas Times,  who frequently cites the investigative reporting from this and Bad City of Little Rock blog.

Stay tuned for details about this and while you wait, we will give you an update in our continuing coverage of the domestic relations case concerning April Mathis.

 A source provided a copy of some pleading in her case that will arouse some public interest:





It should be noted that April Mathis did not deny that she tried to kill herself. All she had to say is no, if she had not, and move on.

 Again with the question about a Department of Human Services, Division of Children & Family Services suspected abuse/neglect investigation, she could have simply responded no, if no such investigation has occurred,  and moved on.

 Another thing that creates public interest in April's case is the violation of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure in not using full names, not the initial of the first name, in case filings.



 Another point of interest is the two other attorneys involved in the case. Betty Hardy, the Plaintiff's lawyer and Charles Hoskyns, a sloppy, not-to-bright fucker, that makes a living as an ad litem.

 Those two shysters will be discussed in stories on our  Bad Attorneys in Arkansas blog.

More to come...

Friday, January 4, 2019

LRSD FOURTH GRADE TEACHER REFERS TO HER STUDENTS AS MONKEYS - ONLY 10 WHITE STUDENTS ENROLLED AT THE SCHOOL


Melanie Watson, a fourth grade teacher at Little Rock school district Watson Elementary school took to Facebook to reveal her true feeling about the students at her school returning after a holiday break.

 Watson Elementary only has 10 white students enrolled according to information we obtained earlier in the school year from LRSD.



Racist and bigots have long referred to blacks as monkeys. Click here for examples.

Upset parents protested at the school this morning and were questioned on how long they would be holding up signs in front of the school by the principal.



The teacher has deleted her Facebook page and we cannot review it to see if she made other similar racist posts.

 We have requested information from the school district and will post an update when the information is made available.


***Update- 01/04/19 12:00 pm***

 LRSD reports that they have suspended the teacher that made the racist post.

***Update- 01/11/19 1:45 pm***

 LRSD provided information regarding the racial breadown in Watson's classroom.



As we suspected, Watson has no white kids in her class.

LRSD needs to fire Watson before the end of the day. The State Board of Education gave them the ability to do that when they waived the Fair Teacher Dismissal Act for LRSD at a recent board meeting.


  

Thursday, December 13, 2018

DHS/STATE HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE SENT TO PRISON FOR 35 YEARS - HAD HISTORY OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE THAT WAS MISSED IN ARKANSAS STATE POLICE BACKGROUND CHECK



Read the story on our Bad Arkansas Department of Human Services blog by clicking here.

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

DIRTY LITTLE ROCK DEA AGENT BUSTED FOR ACCEPTING BRIBES

DIRTY DEA AGENT NATHAN KOEN

Drug Enforcement Agent Nathan Koen was arrested on December 4, 2018 and charged with federal bribery and drug conspiracy charges following allegations that he accepted payment from a drug dealer in exchange for information.
U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland said Nathan Koen was arrested Tuesday on a federal complaint that alleged he accepted bribes and helped a drug dealer’s criminal activities for two years. Koen was detained following an appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge.



Apparently he did not stow away any of that bribery cash for a rainy day or an emergency like obtaining an attorney if he got caught.


Koen had worked at the DEA’s Little Rock office since September 2016. 

If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison for the bribery count and up to life in prison for the conspiracy count.

 Oddly, there is no mention of this major arrest on the website of the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Arkansas.



Hiland is a fine one to be in his position too, as he played fast and loose with federal funds when he was Prosecution Attorney for the 20th Judicial District and his appointment as U.S. Attorney quashed an investigation buy the DOJ and FBI.

http://badgovernmentinarkansas.blogspot.com/2016/10/records-indicate-20th-judicial-district.html

Our first post on this blog was about Hiland and his refusal to provide responses to FOI requests.

 http://badgovernmentinarkansas.blogspot.com/2016/05/faulkner-county-prosecuting-attorney.html

http://badgovernmentinarkansas.blogspot.com/2017/08/cody-hiland-is-in-trouble-yet-again.html
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