LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Gov. Mike Beebe says he supports the state Democratic Party's efforts to block a former legislator from returning to the state House seat he left almost three years ago to settle a felony sexual assault charge.
Dwayne Dobbins, a Democrat who was accused of fondling a teenager, filed Monday to return to the House seat his wife now holds. He faces no opponents in either party, although Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney said he was trying to find a write-in candidate to run against Dobbins.
Gwatney said Tuesday that he asked Dobbins to withdraw his name from the race, and House Speaker Benny Petrus raised the possibility that the General Assembly could refuse to seat Dobbins as a member if elected.
The Democratic governor said Tuesday he would support Gwatney's action.
The seat is currently represented by Sharon Dobbins, who won the seat in a special election after her husband's 2005 resignation. She did not file papers seeking re-election.
The governor said it was too soon to tell if he would campaign for a write-in opponent.
"I think it was obviously a setup deal to file at the last minute and have your wife not file when everybody thought (she would)," Beebe told The Associated Press. "I think obviously if he filed at the last second when everybody thought his wife was going to file, that's not an accident."
Dobbins says he has no plans to withdraw.
"If we are to show compassion in things and people, those out there that say they love one another ... this is an opportunity to show it," Dobbins told the Arkansas News Bureau. "We've got to move on, and that's something that is very important."
The Dobbinses have not responded to repeated calls to their home seeking comment.
Dobbins resigned in 2005 after he was arrested on a felony sexual assault charge and pleaded guilty in a plea deal to misdemeanor harassment. Prosecutors said he fondled a 17-year-old girl at his home.
He was sentenced to one year's probation, fined $1,000 and ordered to undergo counseling.
Prosecutor Larry Jegley said that while the plea agreement required Dobbins to step down, it did not restrict him from seeking elective office in the future. |