Dunn Fires At Edmondson Over Holland Attack, Claims Media Ignores 'Abuses'

Republican attorney general candidate James Dunn said Saturday afternoon that Attorney General Drew Edmondson's suggestion the Ethics Commission adopt new rules to prevent attacks like the one on Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland "is illegal, it is a prior restraint on the First Amendment, it is an attempt to change the rules to protect a temporary insurance commissioner and her attorney general buddy. Edmondson and Holland are attempting to shift the focus from compelling allegations against Holland."

"It's simply an outrageous suggestion, and every journalist and every citizen should be angry. Frankly, the press in Oklahoma is going to have to get more aggressive: Mr. Edmondson has gotten a press pass on his abuses, and frankly I think he thought he could get away with another careless suggestion that sounds more like a Taliban leader than a responsible elected official," Dunn said.

"Over the past year," Dunn's statement said, "several news reports across the nation and region detailed abuses in the attorney general'as office, (particularly those of sexual intimidation and harassment against employees who were involved in the poultry lawsuits), which were so profoundly troubling that Dunn called for a federal grand jury to investigate. Oklahoma press ignored that event, and now Dunn says Edmondson expects and receives press passes on such questionable behavior as Edmondson's financial arrangements with law firms that make obscene profits, profits that have been funneled back to Edmondson and to Commissioner Holland.

He added, "It is ironic that both Mr. Edmondson and Mike Turpen's law firm, Riggs Abney, are the only ones trying to rescue the embattled insurance commissioner" Dunn says. I don't know who Just the Facts America is, but I know that Mr. Edmondson and Ms. Holland have not denied the charges. I do know that Mike Turpen and Riggs Abney's client, Pre-Paid Legal of Ada, has funneled tens of thousands of dollars to Holland and Edmondson's campaigns. That's been going on for years, and the mainstream press seems to have been struck dumb regarding that arrangement, but they are panting about discovering just who might be behind that...."

"Mr. Edmondson's call to essentially repeal the 1st Amendment during elections should be the most troubling to journalists. Perhaps he is fearful that Just the Facts America is coming after him, since virtually no investigative work has been done on his seedy arrangements. But as a citizen of Oklahoma, I hope the mainstream media begins to shine light on the powerful, and begin to look seriously at why a seemingly responsible public official would limit free speech, instead of encourage it," Dunn added.