With all of the night-time legal dramas on TV, my favorite being Boston Legal, when I received a tip by e-mail that a deputy in the Tulsa County Commissioner's Office was allegedly handling the commissioner's divorce procedings, I must admit I thought we were going to have a real-life legal drama right here in Tulsa.

But as it turns out, the only "scandal" may be that Attorney Terry Simonson is a workaholic.

The Tulsa World reports Attorney Terry Simonson acknowledges that he still works on private cases, some of which are new, but most of which were started prior to his taking his new position in the County Commissioner's office last year. He says he helped Randi Miller with her divorce, but the work he did was not "legal work":

He has said previously that the only time he identified himself as Miller's attorney was Jan. 7, when he went to the Court Clerk's Office to schedule a mandatory parenting class.

He also appeared briefly at the hearing to tell the judge that Miller was running late.

Simonson said Friday he has severed his ties to the case.

"I filed a request to get out of Commissioner Miller's case, so that's over."

KTUL Tulsa writes:

Tulsa County Personnel Director Terry Tallent says there is no policy that prohibits a county commission employee from working a second job.

Miller says Simonson's outside work has not interfered with his official duties and that he works more than 40 hours per week.

Keep up the good work, Mr. Simonson.

Labels: Randi Miller, Terry Simonson

Posted at 2/20/2008 10:47:00 AM