Fisher Without Grounds to Delay Trial, Brief Claims

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher has no grounds to seek a delay in his Senate impeachment trial, an attorney argued recently in a brief filed with the Court of Impeachment.

Last week, attorneys for Fisher filed a series of motions with the Court of Impeachment and the Oklahoma Supreme Court. A hearing in the Supreme Court case was scheduled before a referee Tuesday afternoon.

Burck Bailey, attorney for the House Board of Managers, which is prosecuting Fisher before the Senate, said the Fisher motions represent a fundamental misunderstanding of the impeachment process.

“Astonishingly, the commissioner makes a multitude of demands and assertion of rights, but does not cite a single authority related to the impeachment process,” Bailey’s brief said. “Rather, he proceeds as if an impeachment trial is a criminal matter. It is not a criminal court, and these are not criminal proceedings.

“Beyond the provisions of Article VIII of the Oklahoma Constitution, elected officials have no due process, property or liberty interest in their elective offices, which are owned solely by the citizens of the State of Oklahoma.”

The brief described the impeachment trial as “a political undertaking respecting the separation of powers and the Legislature’s oversight of the executive branch.”

It said all of the motions filed on behalf of Fisher by attorney Irven Box should be rejected, including a motion to poll senators about whether they had made up their mind about Fisher’s guilt.

The Senate trial of Fisher, 64, is scheduled to begin Sept. 27 on five articles of impeachment accusing the official of incompetency, neglect of duty and corruption.

Fisher, 64, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and rejected calls for him to resign.

Senators were sworn in as jurors last week for the first impeachment trial of a state official since Supreme Court Justice N.B. Johnson was convicted in a corruption case and removed from office in 1965.

Senators are under a Nov. 16 deadline to finish the impeachment proceedings or the process must start again.

Fisher has been charged with five felonies in two criminal cases pending before courts in Oklahoma County. Three charges are linked to his allegedly illegal operation of a charity, one is tied to alleged mishandling of an education fund set up for insurance agents and one to depositing a $1,000 campaign donation into his personal bank account.

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