The state's major newspapers and wire services face a quandary today. For months, the state's top press organizations have all but ignored allegations of corruption in Democrat Attorney General Drew Edmondson's office in connection with the poultry lawsuits. Today, their attempt to shield Oklahomans from the truth gets harder. The Oklahoma Political News Service reported in December that Mike Turpin attempted to kill an unflattering report by Oklahoma City television reporter Ali Myer. Meyer embarrassed Oklahoma's lazy capitol and print reporters with her monumental 10-minute piece on how the lure of riches prompted abuses of power by top officials in the attorney general's office. The capitol press corps' response to being owned by a TV reporter was to pretend it didn't happen. A report such as Myer's in almost any other state in America would have resulted in a press frenzy, and certainly investigations by authoritative figures, especially considering that Democrat political hack Mike Turpen, who stands to make millions of dollars from the poultry suits, tried but failed to kill the story. To our knowledge, not even one press organization even attempted to investigate Myer's claims, or even Turpen's outrageous attempt to muzzle a respected reporter. Even more curious was the lack of response from state Republican officials, which many seasoned political observers simply chalked up to inexperience and fear of Edmondson. Despite the fact that arguably the nation's worst press corps continues to ignore a potential scandal with national implications, the poultry cases could begin to unravel today in Tulsa federal court. The allegations of corruption on a massive scale, (and some other actions by AG officials so unbelievably grotesque that decorum does not allow us to present the information here) did not escape the attention of the lawyers representing the Arkansas poultry companies. They want Edmondson back under oath so that they may pursue the myriad of misdeeds that Myer's report exposed. So while the state's major media sees, hears and speaks no evil on today, OKPNS readers can get a preview of the fireworks. Click here to see the pleadings that Edmondson and his allies in the media don't want you to know about. Especially note how that they couldn't buy West's cooperation, and how the AG attempted to get West to destroy public documents, which is what happens when a public official knows the press won't lift a finger to expose him. Click here to read Tyson's Motion to Compel. Excerpt: One of the conditions that the Attorney General attached to his settlement offer was that Ms. West "would have to take confidential documents and have them destroyed."

Labels: AG, Drew Edmondson, OK Media, Poultry Lawsuit

Posted at 2/15/2007 07:55:00 AM