From
The Sunday Sun:
I must respond to the editorial commentary that appeared in your paper on April 15, 2007, to correct some inaccurate statements and explain what I have accomplished in office for the benefit of the citizens living in my district in Eastern Oklahoma County.
First, there was no ‘indictment’ as has been reported because no grand jury of 12 honest citizens would issue one. The attorney general himself filed an ‘Information’ alleging campaign finance violations of which I am innocent. The politically motivated charges and Drew Edmondson’s “presumption of guilt” has resulted in a Bar complaint against him.
Edmondson’s allegations, which you cited in your editorial as “straw donors,” do not concern straw donors at all. Rather, the allegations concern a single in-kind contribution for a mailing to my campaign for $3,980 from a political action committee that was fully and accurately reported in my campaign finance reports filed with the State Ethics Commission. This kind of contribution is entirely legal and proper for 101 state representatives, 48 senators, all of our congressional delegation and every other elected official in the state and countless candidates that received similar PAC contributions and reported them as I did. However, I repaid these funds over a year ago to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
Your confusion about ‘straw donors’ comes from another case in the news, unrelated to me, in which Gene Stipe and Steve Phipps are accused of using fifteen people as ‘straw donors,’ or donors who use someone else’s money to illegally contribute to a campaign, to contribute tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign donations to Gov. Brad Henry, U.S. Representative Dan Boren, State Auditor Jeff McMahan, among others, all Democrats. Even the attorney general received Stipe/Phipps donations and just this month repaid thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from his own campaign coffers.
Read more...Labels: Brent Rinehart, Gene Stipe, Jeff McMahan
Posted at 5/01/2007 12:38:00 PM
