
Michael Maggio
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The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s incomparable Debra Hale-Shelton uncovered an important story last week, a story that should give us all pause. In at least three cases, politically well-connected Faulkner County couples were able to keep their divorce filings from public release.
Having portions of a divorce file sealed is not terribly uncommon — more common than it should be. But the divorce files of disgraced former Circuit Judge Mike Maggio, former state Sen. Gilbert Baker and Conway Deputy City Attorney Chuck Clawson were sealed in such a way that the very existence of the petitions were kept secret from public for reasons that no one seemed willing to explain. (Even Conway Mayor Tab Townsell couldn’t get that kind of favor.)
On the same day that Hale-Shelton’s story appeared, the Arkansas Supreme Court determined to remove Maggio from his judgeship immediately rather than letting him hang around until the end of the year. Maggio had already accepted the fact that he would be banned from the bench permanently for multiple breaches of judicial ethics, and he and Baker are involved in a case being investigated by the FBI: the funneling of campaign contributions to Maggio from a nursing home operator who directly benefitted from Maggio’s unilateral decision to reduce a jury’s verdict by 80 percent.
That smelly business cost Baker a high-paying administrative job at UCA.
Chuck Clawson is the son of Charles “Ed” Clawson, the Faulkner County Circuit Judge who sealed Gilbert Baker’s divorce petition. (The Bakers, we were happy to learn, ultimately decided not to divorce.)
Little Rock divorce lawyer Barry Coplin summed up the problem here: “Everybody ought to get the same treatment, regardless of their status in life.” We couldn’t have said it better.