DA Investigating Terrill, Christian, Leftwich for Corruption

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater announced today that he is investigating State Rep. Randy Terrill (R-Moore), State Rep. Mike Christian (R-OKC) and State Sen. Debbe Leftwich (D-OKC) for possible political corruption charges.

At issue is whether legislators conspired to create a state job specifically for a state senator in exchange for her agreeing not to run again for her seat, Prater said. The $80,000-a-year job is at the state medical examiner's office.

Also of interest is that...

[State Rep. Mike] Christian said Friday: "There is absolutely no truth to these allegations. I've been planning to run for this seat for quite a while now, regardless of whether Senator Leftwich sought re-election."

I'm finding that hard to believe.

Terrill and Christian are very close - Terrill is essentially Christian's legislative mentor. Terrill and Leftwich also have close ties, mainly through their association with the Oklahoma Public Employees Union.

Speculation is that either State Rep. Mike Reynolds (R-OKC) or State Rep. Richard Morrissette (D-OKC) may have uncovered this. My money would be on Reynolds, who is well known for being a corruption hound.

This whole situation does not surprise me. If something illegal has been going on, I hope that the culprits are caught and dealt with. Public officials have no business abusing the public trust in this manner.

NewsOK.com has the entire story here.