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Beebe: MLK Commission may need to be restructured Thursday, May 1, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state's troubled Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission may need to be restructured during next year's legislative session, Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday. Also Wednesday, a member of the commission dropped a lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of some members. The commission, which has been rocked by infighting and accusations of wrongdoing, suffers from "systemic problems," Beebe told reporters. "I think there's some systemic problems with the whole setup of the Martin Luther King Commission. It's been evidenced by what we're seeing," he said. The 26-member commission is too big, which makes it difficult to obtain a quorum, and the leadership structure - including co-chairs who may have conflicting agendas - may need to be reworked, the governor said. Beebe said in March that infighting on the commission was an embarrassment to Arkansas. The commission is charged with promoting the principles of the slain civil rights leader for whom it is named. "I suspect that in the coming session there will be an effort by a lot of people to look at how you make that thing better," Beebe said Wednesday. Little Rock attorney Jimmy Morris Jr., a member of the commission, said Wednesday he dropped a lawsuit he had filed challenging the legitimacy of some commission members. Beebe had said he would not make appointments to the commission while the suit was pending. "If I drop the lawsuit, they can make appointments to replace those on the commission who have been term-limited, and that remedy is faster than a lawsuit," Morris said. Beebe said he had not decided whether to make any new appointments to the panel. Beebe declined to comment on allegations linking the commission's newly hired executive director, DuShun Scarbrough, to an insurance fraud ring, except to say that he hopes there will be a thorough investigation. An April 18 court filing in a fraud case brought by the state Insurance Department alleges Scarbrough made misrepresentations to an insurance carrier on five accident claims between 1996 and 2000. Scarbrough, who has not been charged with a crime, has said the allegations are false. The Insurance Department has accused Little Rock cousins Mark Anthony Watson and Frederick Odell "Rick" Watson of running a car-insurance fraud ring in which more than 40 traffic crashes were staged over almost 12 years. A filing in the case states that Scarbrough made misrepresentations in connection with accidents on Aug. 12, 1996; Aug. 7, 1997; and Oct. 13, 1997. Scarbrough was a passenger in either of the Watsons' vehicles, according to the filing. He accepted insurance checks for $5,000, $6,000, $1,256 and $2,081. The filing also states that Scarbrough made misrepresentations in connection with an Aug. 7, 1999, accident in which a rental car he was driving, with Mark Watson as a passenger, intentionally struck another vehicle. Scarbrough accepted $3,367 for rental car damage and $1,924 for bodily injuries. The filing further states that Scarbrough made misrepresentations in connection with an April 1, 2000, accident when he was driving a rental car, with Frederick Watson as a passenger. A trial in the case is set for July 29. ------- The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
