Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Sheriff's candidate receives sanction

One of three candidates for Nevada County Sheriff has been sanctioned for allegedly touting his candidacy while in uniform.

According to Graham Sloan, director of the Arkansas Ethics Commission, said the commission had not yet issued the formal ruling as of Thursday, March, 27. Sloan said the commission had come to an agreement on the punishment  that candidate Danny Martin

would be issued a letter of caution. According to Sloan, its the mildest form of punishment available to the commission.

The complaint was filed by Nevada County Sheriff Bobby Carlton, Sloan said. He said Carlton alleged that Martin had campaigned for office while on duty with the Prescott Police Department, wearing his PPD uniform and driving a PPD car. State statute prohibits a candidate from using public property during campaigning and Sloan said it was the fact that Martin was in a city vehicle and wearing a city police uniform

that prompted the letter of caution.

Sloan said the evidence indicated that Martin had not gone with the intention of campaigning and that it had apparently come up as a matter of course during a conversation.

Carlton said he believed the letter to be appropriate.

Martin said he didnt believe the sanction justified and that he had a letter with the witnesss statement to the facts of the event.