Okla. Impeachment Panel to Wrap Up Aug. 26

A special legislative committee that is considering recommending the impeachment of Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher, who allegedly placed a campaign donation from a Mississippi man in his personal checking account, will wrap up its work by Aug. 26, the Associated Press reported.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Opio Toure, D-Oklahoma City, recessed the committee until Aug. 25 after two state investigators revealed details about the last of two multicounty grand jury indictments that have been returned against Fisher.

Fisher was indicted last week on a felony embezzlement count that accuses him of placing a $1,000 campaign donation from a Mississippi insurance agent into his personal checking account, which was overdrawn at the time.

The impeachment committee, composed of eight members of the Oklahoma House, is collecting evidence to determine whether the Democratic commissioner has committed impeachable offenses that warrant his removal from office.

If the committee votes to forward articles of impeachment to House Speaker Larry Adair, the full 101-member House would then vote on whether to send the articles to the Senate for an impeachment trial. Both the House and Senate are controlled by Democrats.

Fisher, 64, and his assistant, Opal Ellis, were indicted in February on four felony counts involving the operation of a charity, the Fisher Foundation, and embezzling continuing education funds.

Fisher has also been publicly reprimanded by the Ethics Commission several times, including for using his office to obtain personnel data on a political opponent and soliciting regulated companies to donate thousands of dollars in office furniture.

Fisher has said he has done nothing wrong but refused to testify before the impeachment committee.

Thomas Butler, an investigator with Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s Office, turned over a variety of documents, including Fisher’s bank and political campaign finance records, while testifying about the latest embezzlement count against Fisher.

Butler said the evidence indicates Fisher accepted $1,000 as a campaign contribution from Oxford, Miss., insurance agent Johnny Jordan Morgan but placed the money in his personal checking account.

David Hanigar, an investigator for the state auditor’s office, said bank records indicate Fisher’s checking account was overdrawn by $177 when Morgan’s check was deposited on May 22, 2003.

Checks already drawn on the account would have pushed its negative balance to $600 without the deposit, Hanigar said.

Butler said the campaign contribution was not reported to the Ethics Commission and there is no record the funds were transferred from Fisher’s checking account to his campaign fund.

Butler said Morgan, who testified voluntarily before the multicounty grand jury, does some business in Oklahoma. He said Fisher’s family is from the same part of Mississippi as Morgan’s and that they share acquaintances.

“He just thought the commissioner was a fine fellow,” Butler said.

Testimony at earlier hearings focused on Fisher’s relationship with Texas businessman Gene E. Phillips and his companies.

Phillips is the former chairman of the board for Basic Capital Management Inc., a real estate management company in Dallas. A company tied to Phillips, New Starr Corp. of Farmers Branch, Texas, donated office furniture to the insurance department in 1999 and 2000.

The furniture included a $4,398 custom-made mahogany executive desk, a $6,297 custom-made credenza and a $1,980 executive chair. Fisher returned the furniture last year after Gov. Brad Henry said it was improper to accept it.

In September 1999, Fisher personally approved the sale of American Reserve Life Insurance Co. of Tulsa to a company tied to Phillips in spite of objections by staff attorneys and financial analysts.

Fisher served as hearing officer for three Phillips insurance acquisitions that were also approved.

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Mississippi Oklahoma