Four Years After His Last Campaign, GRDA's Kevin Easley Still Spending Donated Money

Former State Senator Kevin Easley hasn't had a campaign in four years, but his still-maintained committee has spent almost $100,000 in the past three years and it appears most of it went to him.

Now the CEO of the Grand River Dam Authority, Easley last was reelected in 2002 and raised almost $365,000 for that campaign. He ended the campaign, his Ethics Commission reports show, with $144,315 in cash on hand.

Easley resigned from the Senate to take the GRDA post early in 2004 and there was immediate controversy over the circumstances since he'd had a hand in writing legislation that impacted the GRDA.

The records show Easley has kept the account open and apparently has paid regular sums for "office expense" and "political community activities." His expenditures include payments to an Internet vendor, an attorney and for "business meals and meetings."

The Ethics Commission's filings show monthly payments of $500 for "office expense" without the name of the recipient listed. There are four such payments listed for the period April 1-June 30, 2006 during which Easley spent $4,943, bringing his fund's balance down to $47,323, or about $97,000 less than it contained three years ago.

Other expenditures include those for "phone expense" ($650), flowers, travel, "news reports," charity events and "Internet Service - Political Interest" ($720).

His report for the period January 1 to March 31 of this year reports a $10,416 expenditure listed as "JP Morgan Market Loss." There is no further explanation.

The Ethics Commission's handbook outlines how leftover campaign funds can be used and apparently there's no provision that bars a non-candidate today from maintaining a candidate account from yesterday, even if it was four years ago. The rules state that left-over funds can be given to the state, returned to donors, given to charity, retained for a future campaign for a 6-year period, used to defend legal actions, used for community or political activity or given to the state or local central committee of a political party.

Easley stirred controversy recently, when it was revealed he was going to open a GRDA office in the Bricktown area in downtown Oklahoma City. At a Washington hearing, U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe criticized Easley for his management of the electric power entity, particularly for costs associated with the new office in Bricktown. Inhofe questioned why the northeastern Oklahoma entity needs a posh office in downtown Oklahoma City. Inhofe said the GRDA board should remove Easley or change the authority's structure to provide more oversight.

Easley represented a Tulsa district in the Senate; the seat is now held by his mother, Senator Mary Easley. His brother, Mike, was dismissed as an Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs supervisor for attending college courses while claiming to be on the job.

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