Fite avoids election eligibility hearing

“Tom Fite is hiding.”

Such was the Tuesday evening response from Fort Smith attorney Brian Meadors when asked about a Pulaski County Circuit Court hearing on Fite’s eligibility to be elected in the race for Arkansas House District 83.

Tom Fite (R) and Leslee Milam Post (D) are after the Arkansas House seat opened with the term-limited Rep. Beverly Pyle, R-Cedarville, unable to seek re-election.

However, Fite faces a legal challenge to his ballot status. Michael Grulkey has filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court saying Fite has a 1984 criminal conviction that makes him ineligible for election.

Fite faced a federal jury trial in February 1984 on several counts of medicaid fraud and bribery. The trial, held in the Eastern District of Arkansas, ended in a mistrial, and Fite eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge and was given three years probation. (Fite has refused to respond to several attempts by The City Wire for comment on the matter.)

Fite also is making the process difficult to formally adjudicate, according to Meadors, the attorney for Grulkey.

According to Meadors, Fite’s attorney, Greg Almand said Fite was not correctly served the papers to appear in court. Therefore, Almand argued, Fite was not technically required to attend Tuesday’s hearing in Little Rock. Meadors said a process server gave the summons to Fite’s father, which Tom Fite lists as his primary residence. Meadors said it’s interesting how family members and Fite’s attorneys knew about the hearing, but not Tom Fite.

Nevertheless, Judge Collins Kilgore reset the hearing for 1:30 p.m., on Wednesday (Oct. 27), which requires Meadors to make a second attempt to serve Fite with the summons.

“I think that Mr. Fite needs to be a man and come to court and defend himself,” a frustrated Meadors said Tuesday evening. “I hope he reads your story and decides to come out of hiding and be responsible about this.”

Barring Fite being able to avoid future hearings, Meadors said he hopes for a ruling prior to next Tuesday’s election. The legal challenge made by Grulkey asks that the votes not be counted. It’s too late to remove Fite’s name from the ballot, Meadors explained.

“I expect the judge to issue one (ruling) prior to the election. Or, I should say, I would be surprised if he did not rule prior to the election,” Meadors said.

Meadors already has one election-related victory under his belt. On Tuesday (Oct. 26), the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed a ruling that makes Greenwood Mayor Kenneth Edwards ineligible for reelection.

The Tuesday ruling from Associate Justice Robert Brown affirms a Sept. 29 ruling by Sebastian County Circuit Judge J. Michael Fitzhugh. The original ruling was in a civil case filed by former Greenwood Mayor Garry Campbell that challenged Edwards eligibility after Edwards was found guilty of theft of property related to stealing political yard signs from private property.

Meadors laughed when asked if the Edwards ruling potentially sets a precedent for the Fite case.

“If Edwards doesn’t have a defense, Fite certainly doesn’t have a defense,” Meadors said.