KRISTI STAHR: She prompted lawsuit the Election Commission voted to settle.

The ACLU has announced a lawsuit against the Pulaski County Election Commission for its refusal to hire Barry Haas as an election worker in September.

The Republicans on the Commission had long been irked about Haas’ long service as an election worker because he was a plaintiff in lawsuits over the Republican-inspired Voter ID law.

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But, the ACLU argues, refusing someone a public job for their political view is a  violation of the 1st Amendment.

The suit names all members of the Election Commission at the time — Chair Kristi Stahr and David Scott, the Republicans, and Democrat Susan Inman. Inman questioned the decision not to hire Haas at the time. Stahr defended it by saying he’d said he wouldn’t enforce the law requiring the presentation of a photo ID. She offered no proof and didn’t allow Haas to be heard. He disputes Stahr categorically.

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UPDATE: I have learned Stahr is resigning from the Commission at the end of this month.

Haas is represented by a leading 1st Amendment lawyer, John Tull. Said the ACLU news release

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Plaintiff Barry Haas’ free-speech rights were disregarded when he was denied an appointed position for the September 2021 special Little Rock tax election due to his personal political and ideological views.

“Barry Haas has served Pulaski County with integrity and dedication for nearly 20 years, making sure our elections are run smoothly and according to the law,” said Gary Sullivan, legal director of the ACLU of Arkansas. “Like all Americans, Mr. Haas has the right to free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and this sacred right was violated when he suffered retaliation for his personal political views at the hands of the Pulaski County Board of Election Commissioners.”

The lawsuit alleges Haas was denied the appointed position after a Board of Election Commissioners meeting where Chairwoman Stahr claimed he was refusing in person and on social media to follow Arkansas’s photo I.D. requirement as an election official.

“I previously challenged Arkansas’s voter-identification laws requiring photo I.D. in court, because I believed the laws were unconstitutional and bad policy,” said Barry Haas. “Contrary to Chairwoman Stahr’s false claims, I have always upheld all election laws, never said I would refuse to follow the law and I do not maintain any social media accounts.”

One lawsuit over the Voter ID succeeded in striking down the law, but a Constitutional amendment to reinforce the measure survived a court challenge. Haas was a plaintiff in both cases.

Here’s the lawsuit. It was filed in federal court, safely removed from the Republican-tilted Arkansas Supreme Court, but not from federal Judge Lee Rudofsky, who drew the case. He’s a long-standing Federalist Society member and recent Trump appointee who recently refused to get off an ACLU case involving his former employer, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. He represented the state in successfully defending the voter ID law after the Constitution was amended. Will he find a way to argue that’s of no moment in the Haas case? The ACLU unsuccessfully tried to get Rudofsky to respect ill appearances and get off a case over Republican legislative gerrymandering in which his old boss Rutledge, for whom he held a fund-raiser, was a defendant.

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No word yet if the ACLU will try for recusal here. Let me guess: Rudofsky will argue if challenged, that the voter ID law itself isn’t at issue, only Haas’ speech rights. Who better to judge the credibility of a Republican-appointed election commission chair’s spurious claims and a plaintiff whose rights have been abridged than the lawyer who fought to preserve a limitation on voter access against this same plaintiff and whose job is owed to recent Republican Party connections.

Among others, the suit argues Haas was effectively barred from employment without due process — no opportunity to defend himself. The suit seeks an injunction against the commission and for attorney fees. Unfortunately, no damages are sought against the commissioners personally. It’s also too bad that the former chair, Evelyn Gomez, isn’t around to share in defending against the lawsuit The Republicans grumbled about Haas throughout the 2020 election cycle. Gomez was a lawyer on the other side in Haas’ first, successful lawsuit.

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If partisanship was an issue, neither Stahr nor Gomez should be allowed to participate in overseeing elections. But that’s how the system works.

This, by the way, is how you control elections. Allow only YOUR partisans to work in the process.

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UNRELATED BUT: Stahr has turned up in recent social media postings about a group protesting the Little Rock School District’s mask rules for students.

UPDATE: Stahr sent a letter to others today saying she’d be leaving the position Jan. 31. I have asked what her future plans are. Part of the letter:

While my second term does not end until December 31 of 2022, Monday, January 31 will be my last day to serve on the Board. Simply put, I am ready for new challenges, of which I do not think would be appropriate to accept, if available, while serving on the Board.

My thought process on resigning now is this – if a new challenge were to present itself, the citizens of Pulaski County would be best served by the least amount of interruption. I want to ensure that whoever takes my place will have adequate time to get familiar with the election processes and attend the State Board’s commissioner training before the Primary.

 

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The letter goes on to say what a great job she has done.

 

 

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