Who Loves Jeff McMahan? 220 Abstractors Have Showered Him With $149,000 Since 2002

Stipe, Phipps And Associates Were Big Donors In 2002 Campaign Before Stipe's Federal Felony Conviction; 88 Abstractors Had Donated $67,710 To McMahan's 2006 Campaign As Of Early August

FOURTH IN A SERIES ~ State Auditor & Inspector Jeff McMahan, who has life-and-death control over the certificates of authority for abstract companies to operate, has received about $149,000 in donations from 220 abstractors and abstract company employees for his 2002 and 2006 campaigns.

Abstractor support of McMahan began in his first campaign for the office in 2002, when 132 abstractors and employees in their offices donated $81,000 at critical times in McMahan's campaign. A large part of the total came from then-abstract company partners Gene Stipe and Steve Phipps, who owned nine abstract entities doing business mostly in southeastern Oklahoma, and their associates and employees. Stipe, the Democrat former state senator forced to resign and surrender his law license after conviction on federal felony counts tied to illegal congressional campaign contributions, perjury, conspiracy and trying to obstruct a Federal Election Commission investigation, formed the companies with Phipps, of Kiowa. The two split and at last report were faced off in a legal battle instituted by Stipe last year.

The auditor and inspector oversees abstract companies and abstractors, issuing and renewing individual licenses and permits and certificates of authority. His office compiles the state directory of abstract companies, officials and owners upon which The McCarville Report Online's analysis of abstractor donations to him was based. He can take action to censure, revoke or suspend abstract company certificates of authority to operate and is required by state law to take action against any abstract company if a principle is convicted of a state or federal felony. Thus, when Stipe was convicted, the law required McMahan to seek to revoke the certificates of authority for the nine firms in which Stipe and Phipps were were partners. (Today, Phipps is listed as involved in abstract companies in Hugo, Stigler, Wilburton, Idabel, Pawnee and Antlers.) Prior to the revocation filing, the Stipe-Phipps connection to McMahan proved beneficial to McMahan; a computer-assisted review of donors to McMahan's 2002 campaign reveals that Stipe, Phipps and their abstract company associates poured approximately $75,000 into the campaign, much of it in the period leading up to the Democratic primary in which McMahan faced two opponents. Stipe and Phipps each gave the maximum, $5,000. Stipe's former longtime secretary, Charlene Spears, also implicated in the federal criminal investigation against Stipe, gave $3,000. Stipe's brother, Francis, gave $3,500. A partner of Stipe and Phipps in several abstract companies, Larry Witt of Stillwater, gave $5,000. There are approximately 50 donations that can be tied to Stipe, Phipps, Witt and their associates or employees or with an entity known as the Rural Development Foundation, formed by Phipps with the same address as an abstract company owned by the pair. The foundation has been in the news because of a controversy over the construction of a dog food factory in McAlester that, despite big promises, never got off the ground, and because of Stipe's involvement in it. The manager and an owner of the dog food factory are listed as the donors of $8,000.

The state auditor's office also is involved in the administration of the state's Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) and development projects that sometimes involve land transactions that require abstracts and titles.

Legal documents identify the 2002 Stipes/Phipps/Witt abstract companies as Latimer County Abstract Company in Wilburton, Oklahoma Abstract and Title Company in Stillwater, Choctaw County Abstract and Title Company in Hugo, Payne County Title Company in Stillwater, Guaranty Abstract Company in Stigler, Meurer Abstract and Title Company in Stillwater, Southern Abstract and Title Company in Idabel, University Land Title Services in Stillwater, and Pushmataha County Abstract Company in Antlers. Phipps was listed as the president of all the companies at the time.

McMahan donations from those tied to the companies range from $300 to the $5,000 maximum. Many of them are in amounts of $1,000, $2,000, $2,500 and $3,000 given on the same date.

Thus far in his 2006 reelection campaign through August 10th, McMahan reports he's received $67,710 from 88 abstractors. Eleven are listed on his last Ethics Commission report as having given $8,550 in the period July 11th to August 10th.

Abstractors have done more than just donate to McMahan; they've been active fundraisers for him. On August 17th, at a meeting of the Oklahoma Land Title Association, it was announced that "receptions" for McMahan would be held on August 24th and September 12th. The September reception was at the office of American Guaranty Title in Yukon, hosted by abstractors Mark Bilbrey and Chaney Haynes, donors of thousands of dollars to McMahan's campaign.

McMahan's most recent Ethics Commission report lists donations from J. Herschel Beard of Madill, owner of Marshall County Abstractors, $200; Sharon Gotcher Adams of Coyle, Pioneer Abstract Company, $2,000; Wade Rice of Watonga, Blaine County Abstract Company, $500; Dave Faulkner of Claremore, president of Rogers County Abstract Company, $750; Patsy Cravens of Tulsa, Tulsa Abstract and Title Company, $500; Dax Junker of Tulsa, company not listed, $600; Joe Robinson of Tulsa, $750; Robert Getchell of Tulsa, $750; Title Services of Oklahoma LLC of Tulsa, $750; Todd Humphrey of Enid, First American Title Company, $750; and Clifford Cox of Edmond, Capitol Abstract Company, $1,000. The last seven donations were made on the same date, July 19th.

McMahan's report for January 1st to March 31st, 2006, lists donations from Sharon Gotcher Adams of Coyle, Pioneer Abstract Company, $1,500; Danita Francis of Stillwater, company not given, $500; Sharon Gotcher Adams of Coyle, Pioneer Abstract Company, $1,000; Steven Boone of Ponca City, Security Abstract Company, $1,000; Ben Crawford of Frederick, Crawford Abstract Company, $100; and Vernon Merrifield of Newkirk, Albright Abstract Company, $500.

McMahan's report for April 11th to July 7th, 2006, lists donations from Marty Askins of Duncan, company not given, $10; Charles Nichols of Chandler, $10; Beverly Jones of Jay, Grand River Abstract & Title Company, $1,000; Jim Blevins of Oklahoma City, Purcell Abstract Company, $2,500; and Connie Dixon of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Abstract & Title Company, $500.

The abstractor registrar in McMahan's office is J. Tim Arbaugh.

Next: Chasing those dollars

Jeff McMahan photo from mcmahancan.com.

Share |