The Oklahoma attorney general's office today concluded the state properly awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to a group working with a lobbyist who had an extramarital affair with a state senator.
NewsOK
BY JOHN ESTUS and ANN KELLEY Oklahoman
Published: December 31, 2010
The Oklahoma attorney general's office on Thursday said nothing criminal occurred when a multimillion dollar state contract was awarded to a group supported by a romantically linked senator and lobbyist.
The $10 million-a-year contract for new state juvenile detention centers has been dogged by claims that bidding was set up to favor clients of lobbyist Haley Atwood, who had been having an extramarital affair with Sen. Harry Coates, R-Seminole.
Investigators with the attorney general's office found the senator and lobbyist's romantic affair was “irrelevant” and couldn't have influenced the bidding.
“There was no evidence that the process was compromised or undue influence was exerted to justify further investigation of this matter as a potential criminal violation,” a multicounty grand jury investigator wrote in a letter Thursday to Senate Pro Tem-elect Brian Bingman.
The Oklahoman earlier this month reported that Coates, 60, Atwood, 29, and some state officials worked hand-in-hand this year to help Atwood's clients win the contract, going so far as to change state law so one client — private juvenile academy operator Rite of Passage — could qualify for the contract... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Fri, December 31, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski