We strongly suspect that Ivan Whitfield, as president of the Pine Bluff Branch NAACP, with his determined opposition to Go Forward Pine Bluff, has weaponized the organization for personal revenge against those who supported the successful opponent who defeated him in his ill-fated re-election bid for the Pine Bluff City Council.
We've heard that not all local NAACP members agree with his stance and that some have even chosen to disaffiliate with the local organization due to his tactics based on untruths.
Go Forward’s initiatives for housing, teacher certification, small business assistance, first responder assistance, blight removal, and others, by a large majority, benefit African Americans in Pine Bluff.
As we understand it, if the 5/8 cent tax is defeated, these programs will die, so it makes no sense, unless there is an underlying issue, for the leadership of the leading local African American organization to oppose the continuation of these programs.
Perhaps, it's not surprising, given Whitfield's track record which the local print media has conveniently for him, chosen to ignore. They cast him as a local hero while vilifying the generosity of private donors and volunteers, and a non-profit organization whose only reason for existence to make our community a better place. The truth is, he demonstrates a track record of deceit and lack of respect for the laws he is sworn to uphold.
There was the time when as a police officer, Ivan Whitfield left his unattended vehicle open and unlocked at a crime scene — with a Pine Bluff Police Department issued, loaded pistol left in plain sight in the vehicle. This lapse of judgment was not what you'd expect from a senior police officer.
As one might suspect under these circumstances, the service pistol was stolen from open vehicle. The story gets worse. The pistol was later recovered by Pine Bluff police officers from a person of interest during a homicide investigation.
So, a former assistant police chief who can't keep up with his gun and lets his campaign illegally operate a vehicle on the streets of Pine Bluff, is telling people to vote against a program beneficial to the majority of Pine Bluff residents. One wonders why.
Ivan Whitfield, during a losing campaign for for county judge in 2012, put a campaign van on the streets with a license that had expired four years earlier in 2008.
The van was seen by many moving across town bearing the illegal license plate. It was parked in an unused parking lot and 16th Avenue and Cherry Street and later returned to its normal parking place at the campaign headquarters. Politricks obtained pictures which substantiate the report.
The first picture shows the van parked in a small strip shopping center on Old Warren Road in Pine Bluff where the Whitfield campaign is headquartered.
Photographed 3/19/12
The Ivan Whitfield campaign van license plate clearly shows an expiration date of June, 2008.
Anyone else besides the assistant chief of police would be ticketed and fined for this infraction. What's wrong with this picture, so to speak?
Photographed 3/19/12
Here's another view of the van at the Whitfield campaign headquarters.
The campaign organization apparently believes it's O.K. for them to break the laws others have obey – as they ask for your votes.
Photographed 3/19/12
Here's clear evidence that the Whitfield van has been operated on the streets of Pine Bluff, Arkansas with an expired license tag.
Ordinary people would be pulled over and given a ticket. But who's going to pull over the assistant chief's campaign van?
Photographed 3/21/12
Here is additional evidence that the van has been operating in violation of the law on the streets of Pine Bluff.
It appears that Ivan Whitfield is doing a good job of "serving and protecting" himself and his campaign cronies.
Photographed 3/21/12
The Arkansas Ethics Commission found that, under Whitfield's leadership, the Pine Bluff Branch NAACP was guilty of violating campaign finance laws during the earlier 2023 5/8 cent tax campaign. The organization was fined.
When asked about the violation, Whitfield's defense was more or less, "I did not know about the law," a likely untrue and hypocritical statement since he has previously been a candidate in numerous campaigns, and as a police officer has heard dozens of criminals come forth with the same flimsy excuse for their criminal activites.
How can anyone believe what he says after he has clearly demonstrated his belief that he is above the law.
In the early 2000s, the city of Pine Bluff had to pay a considerable amount to settle a sexual harrassment suit against Ivan Whitfield while he was on the Pine Bluff Police force.
Just to get things straight, please understand that Politricks is no aligned with any candidate, cause, party, campaign, or any other creature, or manifestation of partisan politics. We just call 'em like we see 'em.