The debate over Issue 2 is heating up in Pope County as officials on both sides are trying to sway voters before Election Day.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Wednesday, both sides of the Issue 2 debate held events to explain their side to voters ahead of Election Day.

If Issue 2 passes, the Legends Resort and Casino planned for Russellville, which Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB) would operate, will not be built.

“We have spent millions of dollars acquiring land, designing a project, working with political leaders, business leaders [and] community leaders to deliver and design a project that you all would be proud of,” CNB CEO Chuck Garrett said to the crowd at Wednesday’s event.

Pope County Judge Ben Cross also spoke at the event.

He touched on several points, including the jobs and tax dollars that the casino and adjoining restaurants, shopping centers and other businesses would create.

Cross also mentioned that Local Voters in Charge (LVIC), the group pushing Issue 2, has received funding from an out-of-state organization that didn’t get the license.

“The ones behind Issue 2 are anything but local,” Cross said. “It is an initiative funded by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a casino applicant themselves, who our community rejected.”

Records show that the Choctaw Nation has contributed considerably to LVIC.

But Hans Stiritz with LVIC said the same can be said about the group pushing against Issue 2, Investing Arkansas.

They recently received over $6 million from Cherokee Nation Businesses, preceded by another $2 million donation.

“I want to point out that our opposition campaign is also heavily backed,” Stiritz said. “Actually, to a greater extent than our campaign, by an out-of-state, Oklahoma casino interest trying to protect their investment in Arkansas.”

CNB is based in Oklahoma, but it has also had an office in Pope County since the 2018 passage of the original amendment granting the county a casino license.

Stiritz pointed to that statewide election as proof that Pope County doesn’t want the casino.

“Three of those communities at that time,” Stiritz said. “At the county level, voted yes on Amendment 100. They’re now operating casinos in their counties. Only one county voted no. That was Pope County.”

Pope County voted against the amendment in 2018 by a margin of around 60-40, whereas the other three counties mentioned in the amendment (Jefferson, Crittenden and Garland) all voted yes.

Cross said that happened because voters didn’t know what they were voting on, and his office’s transparency has changed things.

In particular, he pointed to a 30-day period in 2019 where his office laid out casino plans for open inspection and heard from residents about what they may want in a resort and casino.

“In 2018, that data reflected the unknown,” Cross said. “Six years later, the voters have the known. They know what reality is because they had a process to partake in it… six years later, there’s a tangible, real project where people know what they’re getting. In 2018, nobody knew what to expect.”

In a press release sent out Wednesday, opponents of Issue 2 also said that “mayors of Pope County’s six incorporated cities have also documented their support of the Legends Resort and Casino.”

But Lane Scott, who serves as Justice of the Peace for District 11 in Pope County and supports Issue 2, said it’s impossible to know for sure if Pope County now supports the casino and said the results from the 2018 election are what should be looked at.

“It’s always been about forcing a casino in a county that voted against it,” Scott said.

If Issue 2 passes, Pope County’s casino license will be revoked, reducing the number of casino licenses in the state from four to three.

Any future casinos would require another amendment to create more licenses and a special election in the county where that casino would be located.

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