Senate district 22 race heats up before election day; Wallace asked to exit the race

State senatorial candidate Dave Wallace has been asked to exit the district 22 race after a wrongful death lawsuit was filed in connection with a deadly bus crash Aug. 28 near Laplace, La.

The Craighead Democratic Party Central Committee issued a letter Wednesday afternoon asking Wallace to remove himself from the race. A defiant Wallace, R-Leachville, told Talk Business & Politics the letter is nothing more than gamesmanship from his opponent incumbent Sen. David Burnett, D-Osceola.

“He’s desperate. He can’t run on his record,” Wallace said. “These allegations are all false … this is just politics.”

The letter was written and distributed by Brian Richardson, a member of the Craighead County Democratic Party and an advisor to Burnett.

Wallace’s company, Wallace, Rush, and Schmidt Inc. was hired on a government contract to remediate homes and buildings destroyed by flood waters in Louisiana in August, he said. A bus, traveling at high speeds and filled with illegal immigrants was on its way to a WRS job site in Baton Rouge when it struck multiple vehicles on Interstate 10 near Laplace.

Three people were killed in the collision, and more were injured, according to the Louisiana State Police. The bus driver, 37-year-old Denis Amaya Rodriguez has been charged with two counts of negligent homicide, negligent injuring, reckless operation, and driving without a valid license. He had a lengthy traffic citation record prior to the crash and had been in the country illegally. Rodriguez is being held on a $1.7 million bond.

Rodriguez was hired by the bus company, Kristina’s Transportation LLC., and none of the workers would have been allowed to work unless they had proper documentation, Wallace said. The wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Kristina’s Transportation in East Baton Rouge Parish. WRS is listed as a defendant in the suit, according to the Times Picayune in New Orleans.

“There’s absolutely no proof that we hired illegal immigrants,” he said. “That is false.”

The transportation company hired Rodriguez, and they’re responsible for his actions, Wallace said. His attorney, Jesse Wimberley has previously said WRS didn’t charter the bus or hire Rodriguez.

Burnett told Talk Business & Politics the allegations against Wallace and WRS are legitimate.

“This is not low ball politics … these things really happened,” Burnett said. “It’s no trick at all. He needs to answer for these things … voters deserve it.”

Wallace blasted Burnett, noting he got a “C” rating from the National Rifle Association. He also claimed Burnett is soft on prolife issues, and is a “liberal, masquerading as a conservative Democrat.” Burnett defended himself, saying it’s difficult for a Democrat to get higher than a “C” rating from the NRA, and he has always been pro-life. An avid gun owner and hunter, Burnett said he attended the NRA banquet and has given money to the organization.

“I don’t appreciate these low-ball, dirty tricks,” Burnett said.

The senator, who first won the seat in 2010, has had to deal with his own controversies. He was the judge during the infamous West Memphis Three case. Three West Memphis 8-year-olds – Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore – vanished from their neighborhood, May 5, 1993. The next day their mangled, nude bodies were found in a drainage ditch not far from their homes. A month later three Marion teens – Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr. – were charged with capital murder in the grizzly attacks.

Numerous documentaries, books, and media reports suggested the men were innocent, and Burnett made critical errors from the bench that allowed the convictions to take place. The three men negotiated an Alford plea deal in 2011, one that allowed them to maintain their innocence, but at the same time they acknowledged the state might have enough evidence to convict them in a new trial.

Burnett said he stills believes the men are guilty, and he did his job properly.

WRS has also been accused of not paying temporary workers, another charge Wallace denied. Since the work began in Louisiana, his company has paid more than 2,000 workers, he said. One worker didn’t pickup a $500 check, and that’s the basis of the claim, he said.

“False, false, false. It’s totally false,” he said. “We tried to pay that person.”

Burnett and Wallace admitted the race has been acrimonious on both sides. Burnett is fighting an ethics charge after he turned in campaign paperwork that wasn’t filled out correctly, he said. He has not been cited by the Arkansas Ethics Commission and has turned in a revised copy, he said.

Wallace, elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2014, was reprimanded that same year by the AEC. He accepted a $5,000 contribution from Georgia-based Labor Smart. It was more than state law allows. He was ordered to pay a $500 fine, and give $1,000 back to the company.