Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher, undaunted by an impeachment inquiry and pending criminal charges, is looking for vindication in his race for the U.S. Senate, the Associated Press reported.
“And I’ll stand the heat of day, I guarantee you, because I know that I have not ever broken a statute purposefully. I have not tried to fraudulently do anything,” Fisher said in an AP interview.
“I will accept whatever the criticism has been, but I think if I get a chance to tell my side of the story, people will understand that there has never been any intent to harm anybody. You will not find criminal intent in anything that I’ve ever done,” he said.
The 64-year-old state official is one of four Democrats on the July 27 primary ballot. The list includes Rep. Brad Carson, D-Okla., considered the front-runner.
Acknowledging he is the underdog, partly because he will be outspent by Carson, Fisher said he overcame the odds in his first race for insurance commissioner against an incumbent with loads of money.
When he got his first $2,000 donation in the Senate race, he said his wife informed him that his main opponent had over $1 million.
“I said, well, I’m closing in on him. She said you are absolutely the most optimistic person I’ve ever met in my life.”
The primary race comes during a recess in an impeachment investigation of Fisher by a House committee, which is looking at ethical issues, including the official’s handling of state funds.
Fisher and aide Opal Ellis have been charged with felonies tied to alleged mishandling of cash used to pay for an education program for insurance agents. They also are accused of improperly operating a charity, stemming from a foundation Fisher set up to provide shoes for the poor.
“I have nothing to hide. Every dime is accounted for,” said Fisher, who said he is not overwhelmed by his recent problems, which include a drunk-driving charge and an Ethics Commission reprimand. The ethics complaint concerned his office’s acceptance of gifts of furniture.
“As long as it doesn’t bother me, it shouldn’t bother you,” Fisher said of his problems. He said he hopes in the Senate race to get in front of enough people to tell “the true story.”
Fisher said he was “surprised when I heard, you know, that a lot of this was motivated by my entry into the U.S. Senate race.”
He also said he had been warned that his failure to buy newspaper advertising in his last re-election campaign would lead to him being “persecuted.”
He said he would not like the man people are reading about in the newspaper, “but that is not Carroll Fisher they are writing about.
“I work hard at the job that I’ve got,” he said. “I love being insurance commissioner. And if I don’t get elected (to the Senate), I’ll still be insurance commissioner.
“But I want to tell you something, I’ll fight as much for my rights as I will for the people of Oklahoma, because I know I am being wrongly accused.”
Fisher acknowledged the DUI was “a bad mistake” but said he was honest and suggested his legal problems were linked to administrative errors.
He said he decided to run for the Senate because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and because state Treasurer Robert Butkin and Attorney General Drew Edmondson chose not to make the race.
Edmondson’s office spearheaded the grand jury probe that led to the criminal charges against Fisher, who likened the grand jury to “a kangaroo court.”
He also was critical of the House impeachment committee and said he did not plan to appear before the panel, which he said is not asking “the right questions.”
As a senator, Fisher said he would seek to reform the Social Security system.
“My campaign is based upon my education, my training and my experience,” he said. “I’m a guy who can talk to you about senior issues because I am a senior.
“My major opponent can talk to you about senior issues because he’s got grandparents, not because he has a true understanding.”
He said he was opposed to the way the war in Iraq has been conducted and would have liked to have seen actions taken against Saddam Hussein that did not include the commitment of so many American troops.
Fisher said he did not know if he could be classified politically and would run his office in a bipartisan manner, just as he has as insurance commissioner.
“You don’t have a car that’s Democrat or Republican when you have a wreck,” he said. “You’re an Oklahoman that needs my help. And I get my dog out from underneath the porch and go fight for you.”
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Oklahoma Training Development Politics
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