PULASKI COUNTY JUDGE BARRY HYDE IS MAKING A POWER PLAY

 

©Wendell Griffen, 2022

 

 

Barry Hyde, the County Judge in Pulaski County, Arkansas, is attempting to defund the probation staff of the Fifth Division in the Sixth Judicial Circuit, the division I have served since January 1, 2011. I recently wrote about the good work done by probation officers and asked that readers urge members of the Pulaski County Quorum Court and Judge Hyde to continue funding their salaries and benefits.

https://fierceprohetichope.blogspot.com/2022/10/please-help-save-5th-division-probation.html.

State law requires that Pulaski County pay the salaries and benefits for probation officers. Judge Hyde knows that state law requires that the Quorum Court appropriate funds to pay the salaries and benefits for probation officers.

Yet, Judge Hyde is trying to get Pulaski County to default on its legal obligation to fund probation positions. He is trying to maneuver – if not manipulate – the Quorum Court to support the default. Why does he want to do that?

Why does Judge Hyde want to defund the salaries and employment benefits of probation officers who help clients overcome problems that caused them to break the law?

Why does Judge Hyde want probation clients to face greater barriers to overcoming those problems?

Why does Judge Hyde want the Quorum Court to invite a lawsuit for violating its statutory duty to fund probation positions in Fifth Division?

Does Judge Hyde have a personal, philosophical, or political agenda?

Whatever his motivations may be, he is making a power play.

Judge Hyde believes he can trick the Quorum Court into defunding the probation officer positions. If that happens, Judge Hyde will then refuse to pay the salaries and benefits of the probation officers.

Judge Hyde certainly knows that probation officers, like other county employees, cannot afford unemployment. They also cannot afford to pay lawyers to file and win a lawsuit to require Pulaski County to pay the salaries and benefits they are entitled to earn under state law. Judge Hyde is trying to trick the Quorum Count to pick on workers who cannot defend themselves.

Judge Hyde also knows that my term as Circuit Judge for Fifth Division will end on December 31, 2022. So, he is making his power play as the end of my term approaches and before Circuit Judge-Elect LaTonya Austin Honorable assumes office on January 1, 2023. If the Quorum Court goes along with his scheme, expect Judge Hyde to say that the Quorum Court defunded salaries and benefits for probation officers.

Judge Hyde does not respect state law. He does not respect the work done by probation officers in Fifth Division. He does not respect the intelligence and integrity of Quorum Court members. He does not respect the authority and role of circuit judges concerning probation.

Instead, Judge Hyde believes he can trick the Quorum Court into defunding salaries and benefits for probation officers in Fifth Division because my lame-duck status and Judge-Elect Honorable’s pending status as a Circuit Judge makes it unlikely that his ploy will be challenged before the Quorum Court or by a lawsuit.

He is mistaken.

Judge-Elect Honorable and I know that state law obligates Pulaski County to fund salaries and benefits for probation positions in Fifth Division. We want Quorum Court members and the public to know the truth about that legal obligation, the truth about the good work done by probation officers, and the truth about the legal jeopardy Judge Hyde will subject the Quorum Court to by defaulting on its legal obligation to appropriate funds for the probation positions.

I will not end my tenure as Circuit Judge – and my judicial career – by turning my back on Judge Hyde’s power play to trick the Quorum Court into defunding salaries and benefits for Fifth Division probation officers, undermine their work, and frustrate Judge-Elect Honorable’s tenure. That is why I am asking that Pulaski County residents urge Judge Hyde and Quorum Court members to continue funding salaries and benefits for probation officers in Fifth Division. Please join me, Judge-Elect Honorable, and the probation officers in making that appeal when the Quorum Court meets to vote on this issue Tuesday, November 15, 2022, at 6 PM in the Pulaski County Administration building.

But if it takes a lawsuit to compel Judge Hyde and the Quorum Court to follow state law and fund the salaries and benefits for probation officers in Fifth Division, I will stand up for Judge-Elect Honorable and the probation officers.