Former Sebastian County Circuit Clerk Ken Blevins loses Supreme Court appeal

Barring any unusual legal moves, an almost five-year saga of discrimination and sexual harassment is over related to an odd two-year term of Republican Ken Blevins as Sebastian County Circuit Clerk – a saga that included Blevins being named to a national bad boss list that included former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday (April 7) issued an opinion on an appeal of by Blevins of a lawsuit he filed against Sebastian County Judge David Hudson and the Association of Arkansas Counties. Blevins claimed that actions by Hudson and others represented abuse of process and harmed his chance at a fair re-election.

That challenge resulted from accusations of misconduct and sexual harassment in 2011 against the former Circuit Clerk. Blevins fired employees Tyanna Caldwell and Cassie Vega on Nov. 16, 2011, but a grievance committee ruled Dec. 7 that he did not have proper cause.

The grievance hearing was held when six employees of the Circuit Clerks office filed hearing requests with Hudson in which they summarized several months of behavior from Blevins that included:
• Frequent inappropriate touching;
• Frequent inappropriate comments of a sexual nature;
• Retaliation against employees who complained;
• Moving employees to different jobs without adequate time to train;
• Sharing details of employee counseling sessions with other employees; and,
• Wage discrimination.

Blevins ignored the hearing outcome and a letter from Hudson saying he had to reinstate the employees. Sebastian County Prosecutor Dan Shue was forced to prepare a document, signed by all six judges in the Sebastian County Circuit Court system, that forced Blevins to allow Caldwell and Vega to return to their jobs on Dec. 12, 2011.

Blevins would lose the May 2012 GOP primary to now Circuit Clerk Denora Coomer, with Coomer garnering almost 65% of the vote.

In the 11-page opinion, Associate Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson rejected Blevins’ claims that Hudson does not qualify for immunity in his actions.

“When a public officer is granted discretion and empowered to exercise his independent judgment, like a judge, he becomes a quasi-judicial officer and may enjoy judicial immunity when he is acting within the scope of his authority,” Goodson wrote.

Goodson also wrote: “Finally, both Hudson’s order as well as the order entered by the circuit court judges of Sebastian County note that Hudson was acting in his judicial capacity in entering the order. Utilizing our criteria enumerated above, it is clear that there is a need for county judges to be free from harassment and intimidation and insulated from political influence when they enter orders in a judicial capacity.”