When citizens ask their government for public records, Arkansas law is clear: officials must respond within three business days and produce all responsive records, or explain why they can’t.
So how do Independence County officials measure up? IndependenceWatch.com has been tracking every Freedom of Information Act request filed with county officials since November 2024. The results paint a troubling picture of systematic evasion.
== JUDGE KEVIN B. JEFFERY: GRADE F ==
Between February 17-18, 2026, citizen Bryan Norris filed a FOIA request seeking all communications between Judge Jeffery and Senator Kim Hammer across all platforms: official email, personal email, text messages, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Signal.
What followed was a masterclass in selective disclosure:
Response #1 (Feb 17, 3:42 PM): Jeffery stated he had “no official county communications” with Hammer. Note the careful word: “official.” The request covered all communications, not just “official” ones.
Response #2 (Feb 18, 9:37 AM): After a follow-up specifically listing four categories of communications to address, Jeffery said neither he nor his staff conducted county business with Hammer. He still did not address text messages individually.
Response #3 (Feb 18, afternoon): After a SECOND follow-up again explicitly requesting that each platform be addressed individually, Jeffery responded about WhatsApp (“no”), Facebook Messenger (“no”), and personal email (“no”). But once again, he SPECIFICALLY OMITTED any response about SMS/text messages.
Three requests. Three responses. And each time, the same gap: text messages.
On February 18, 2026, a formal complaint was filed with the Arkansas Attorney General documenting this pattern of selective disclosure.
== THE LARGER PATTERN ==
This is not an isolated incident. IndependenceWatch.com has documented 40+ FOIA requests filed with Independence County officials. The pattern is consistent:
– Narrow interpretations of “public records” to exclude inconvenient communications
– Delays beyond the 3-business-day statutory requirement
– Responses that address some platforms but strategically omit others
– Use of careful language to create escape routes
IndependenceWatch.com – Accountability starts with transparency.